Cold streak gets embarrassing!

[437]

I'm on an AWESOME cold streak right now of 7 consecutive hunts w/o a hog in sight. Locked up the gate on my way out last night busted and chuckling at myself.....that's why they call it hunting not killing! Might break out the caller and see if I can nudge a hog out of the swamp next time....next comes stalking the swamp with gators it's getting desperate! Hope to update my colder than witch's titty thread soon....with a porkasaurus under ma foot.

 

[der Teufel]

It happens. When I first starting hog hunting (around ten years ago) I made 5-6 trips for every hog I shot. My average has gotten better, and a few years ago my buddy and I were up to 2-3 per hunt. We couldn't go out without seeing hogs! We got a little better at it, but they main thing is:
Rule #1 for a successful hog hunt — The hogs have to show up!

Keep After 'Em!

 

[Bacon8tor]

I haven’t seen any hogs my last two times out. Got spoiled getting at least one every hunt. Maybe I thinned them out too much!

 

[437]

It happens. When I first starting hog hunting (around ten years ago) I made 5-6 trips for every hog I shot. My average has gotten better, and a few years ago my buddy and I were up to 2-3 per hunt. We couldn't go out without seeing hogs! We got a little better at it, but they main thing is:
Rule #1 for a successful hog hunt — The hogs have to show up!

Keep After 'Em!

Ha I know it's crazy I'm still learning every time I go out. Had a good run for a week or so with the new rifle break in, but dang sour lately as the feeders have bled dry and rye has been eaten up. Always trying to learn these little buggers out swamp creatures and what brings them out. Spring turkey opening Sat morning gonna be lean hogging the next 5 weeks....sigh. Same thing as last year it just sucked horribly from about a month after rifle season ended(2nd week of Feb) through end of turkey. Got the roll barrels ready though b/c it's ON April 22nd when turkey is over!

 

[jglass]

I think dry spells are part of hog hunting but a chance for me to try different things. I found moving the bait pile a hundred feet or so brings out the hogs. They seem to know the old bait pile is a deadly trap. You can also try different bait, whole corn, cracked corn or regular hog feed. I think hogs are curious critters and always hungry so we need to take advantage of that. I had a bottle of sow urine that I would only use during slow hunting periods, sometimes it works sometimes it does not. After the hogs hear a few gun shots they change their feeding pattern and show up at the bait pile at 1:00 AM. No doubt the hogs are avoiding me.

I also learned when the bait pile goes cold to start a new bait pile as far away as possible. In my case that was 1/2 mile away only to find a new sounder of hogs that have not been shot at and feed in daylight hours. Hunt the new bait pile for a week then return to the original bait pile. Use trail cameras to monitor what the hogs are doing.

"Thinning out the hogs to much", is not very likely in Florida anyway. . They could be avoiding you and your bait pile but they are not very far away. We took 17 hogs out of a 140 acre lease. The lone boars seemed to disappear about the time I left but there was still a sounder of about 15 hogs showing up on my trail camera almost nightly.

I'm back in Illinois now, no more hog hunting until I get back to
Florida in November. I expect to have more hogs than ever.

 

[437]

It's amazeballs 9 hunts and no piggies on 5,500 acres. 2 weeks into turkey season and not a single bird taken with someone hunting all but a couple of days. I think the logging and 4+ month ongoing undergrowth brush burns have finally pushed the animals out and across the river. I spotted a huge sounder of them south of th river on the preserve property last week. Heck last year with green lights I'd average at least 1 hog every other hunt at a minimum.

 

[Ratdog68]

They will return.

 

[437]

They will return.

NO surrender here going back for more tonight. 2 trucks with 2 thermals per truck. ONe up north one down south.

 

[Ewilson]

I'm on an AWESOME cold streak right now of 7 consecutive hunts w/o a hog in sight. Locked up the gate on my way out last night busted and chuckling at myself.....that's why they call it hunting not killing! Might break out the caller and see if I can nudge a hog out of the swamp next time....next comes stalking the swamp with gators it's getting desperate! Hope to update my colder than witch's titty thread soon....with a porkasaurus under ma foot.

I have also gone from seeing hogs all the time to seeing nothing the last few weeks. I have been thinking maybe since spring has sprung here in east Texas that maybe they are foraging a different food supply, they don’t seem interested in corn since the grass has started growing around here again. Any thoughts?

 

[437]

I have also gone from seeing hogs all the time to seeing nothing the last few weeks. I have been thinking maybe since spring has sprung here in east Texas that maybe they are foraging a different food supply, they don’t seem interested in corn since the grass has started growing around here again. Any thoughts?

I have no idea, but I was leaning on the drought here in Central FL. We are on forest fire alert in a lot of the state(Tampa). That said same story last year and I was slaying them this time last year with a green light so that doesn't lend much to the drought line of thinking. It's probably simpler than that....they are animals and we are silly humans and we may not ever know what turns them on and just get lucky most of the time. I also try to put buck patterning into play with hogs just not able to do that they are funny critters....no pattern at all I can see other than chaos. They are into something we don't have b/c they are not coming out anywhere at all as we have the property wired with no less than 3 dozen cell cams among the members.....they just ain't here. You can't find a turned over piece of ground anywhere. We have tons of grass for them to eat with ~ 2k head of cattle, BUT we are corn-less b/c of spring turkey season. Last year we kept a couple of swamp feeders on and maybe that is why they stuck around? Heck I dunno.....all I know is this too shall pass....can't wait to update this thread with a downed hog!

Sat off a retention pond last night saw exactly 20 deer in 90 minutes, but not a single hog. Let me know if you have any golden nuggets...last night made 12 hunts and 4 1/2 weeks. WAs thinking about putting my HIllary avatar photo up on a fence post to see if one of the boars might mate with it?

 

[Ewilson]

I have no idea, but I was leaning on the drought here in Central FL. We are on forest fire alert in a lot of the state(Tampa). That said same story last year and I was slaying them this time last year with a green light so that doesn't lend much to the drought line of thinking. It's probably simpler than that....they are animals and we are silly humans and we may not ever know what turns them on and just get lucky most of the time. I also try to put buck patterning into play with hogs just not able to do that they are funny critters....no pattern at all I can see other than chaos. They are into something we don't have b/c they are not coming out anywhere at all as we have the property wired with no less than 3 dozen cell cams among the members.....they just ain't here. You can't find a turned over piece of ground anywhere. We have tons of grass for them to eat with ~ 2k head of cattle, BUT we are corn-less b/c of spring turkey season. Last year we kept a couple of swamp feeders on and maybe that is why they stuck around? Heck I dunno.....all I know is this too shall pass....can't wait to update this thread with a downed hog!

Sat off a retention pond last night saw exactly 20 deer in 90 minutes, but not a single hog. Let me know if you have any golden nuggets...last night made 12 hunts and 4 1/2 weeks. WAs thinking about putting my HIllary avatar photo up on a fence post to see if one of the boars might mate with it?

Yep, there like everything else in nature, find what their eating or when their breeding and you can pattern them but it changes as the seasons change we just have to change with it or wait for the season we know. As for the Hillary sign, there’s just some things a hog won’t do! I will let you know if I find a way to get them back on the feeder, I’m going to try a few different additives to my corn, maybe some oats or some kind of Pelletized hog feed. Best of luck.

 

[437]

Yep, there like everything else in nature, find what their eating or when their breeding and you can pattern them but it changes as the seasons change we just have to change with it or wait for the season we know. As for the Hillary sign, there’s just some things a hog won’t do! I will let you know if I find a way to get them back on the feeder, I’m going to try a few different additives to my corn, maybe some oats or some kind of Pelletized hog feed. Best of luck.

Good luck! I'll look into the pelletized hog feed at the store next week we are up for anything at this point. I do think this has potential for big boars though

 

[Ewilson]

Well I mixed a bag of Purina natures match pig feed with my corn, it’s small pellets and runs through my feeder fine. 2 days later my hogs are getting back on the feeder, maybe it’s coincidence but they are back on it. Their coming about 1 in the morning right now. I can’t make myself get up and go in the middle of the night but I have been going from 7-9 the last couple of nights hoping they will change their pattern. Hope to post a pic soon. I got my first bobcat pic the other night too.

 

[SheepdogM59]

I hear your cold spell. I’m on one as well. 5 nights in a row, 7 different fields over 3 counties and no pigs. Going out tomorrow night for night 6, fingers crossed.

 

[437]

Well I hope you put one on the board keep after it. After the six weeks and 15 hunts it took to get my streak out-of-the-way I can't say what in the world it was just hogs being hogs I guess. That was the most elusive they have been on our property hope that was a one time thing…six week sucked!

 

[der Teufel]

Rule #1 of successful hog hunting: The hogs have to show up.

 

[437]

Rule #1 of successful hog hunting: The hogs have to show up.

copy that! heading back out tonight i think hope they follow the rules of der teufel and co!

 

[PreacherBoy]

Finally got them coming to 1st feeder about 7:30 pm, killed one, they went back to 3:00 am. They're pretty safe from me at 3:00 am. Set up 2nd feeder about 1 mile from 1st, after about a week got BIG pigs feeding at 6:30 pm. I'm gonna whack one pretty soon, see if they change their habits. Hope to alternate between feeders and eliminate a few more. Spent the last few days trying to disc/drag all the hog roots from my hay field. Grass starting to grow, will be baling 1st of June but my hay guy sure hates a rough, torn up field.