Big Boar! Tractor was Useful During Hunting Season

[paulsharvey]

Looks like he went upto $450, and guided, so as far as paid hunts, it isn't bad at all.

 

[RB5]

RB5, I understand that side of it. I also know (kinda, more know of, and have bought beef from him), one cattle guy that has a ton of hogs. What he does, $350 per night, with his thermal, and he drops you in his box, is sell hog hunts. No idea how many hunts he sells, but between hogs, and a much more limited number of guided gator hunts, it's a significant part of his business. Think he might do turkey as well, but don't know.

Interesting. I might want to do that. I could set up a nice blind overlooking the feeder. Now you have me thinking.

 

[1 Old Man]

I had to say something about this. In Texas it is getting way too crowded in many places with all the people moving here. I used to be allowed to fish farm ponds when I was young. Now no one will let you on their land. Landowners are tired of all the noise and people. There are many reasons. One of them is that lots of these people just do not respect property owners. I have a neighbor that has parties. They have 10 acres that is all flat with nowhere to shoot safely. Not long after they moved out here the guys cousin was shooting a pistol at their pond and the bullets bounced off the water and hit my mother's mobile home at the front of our property. We found 3 bullets in the back bedroom, and I had to fix the holes. Police report was filed. There is a propane tank about 10 feet from where the bullets hit. Some city people that move out here think 10 acres is a lot of land. Then there are also cases where you have to have insurance for protection in case something happens. People will sue now even if it is not your fault. I have a hill and a large draw with safe places to shoot. Even with that I am still careful. It really is not worth the risk to allow anyone you do not know very well on your property these days. Even leasing for hunting there should be a contract that spells out what you can and can't do. Things are way different than they used to be.

This exactly. My FIL ended letting anyone hunt his property due to some idiot killing one of his cows. And that was years ago. One of my (newer) neighbors has less than 10ac and whenever they have a "party" his city relatives/friends all want to shoot their pistols. He has no proper backstop and most of those errant shots cross the property line and go into my back woods. We've had several discussions regarding this and it's slowed down considerably (now about every 3 or 4 months). Now I usually drive the SxS down to a mutual corner of his lot, park it with me just staring at whoever is shooting....and it stops.
Owning farm property you are worried about liability. Workers getting hurt, visitor getting injured riding
a 4 wheeler, some idiot shooting themselves, somehow a kid drowns while fishing etc Normal property insurance won't cover any of that especially if your farm does any type of commercial business.
We now have a very litigious society, it's changed the rural lifestyle.

 

[rockinbbar]

This exactly. My FIL ended letting anyone hunt his property due to some idiot killing one of his cows. And that was years ago. One of my (newer) neighbors has less than 10ac and whenever they have a "party" his city relatives/friends all want to shoot their pistols. He has no proper backstop and most of those errant shots cross the property line and go into my back woods. We've had several discussions regarding this and it's slowed down considerably (now about every 3 or 4 months). Now I usually drive the SxS down to a mutual corner of his lot, park it with me just staring at whoever is shooting....and it stops.
Owning farm property you are worried about liability. Workers getting hurt, visitor getting injured riding
a 4 wheeler, some idiot shooting themselves, somehow a kid drowns while fishing etc Normal property insurance won't cover any of that especially if your farm does any type of commercial business.
We now have a very litigious society, it's changed the rural lifestyle.

There are 2 types of land owners who have hogs.

(1) Those who have them and sell hog hunts.... Those guys want hogs on their places. The more the merrier when it comes to selling hunts.

(2) Those who don't want the hogs, and may, or may not let you hunt.

I fall into the rancher who does his own hog control. But I have to say I'd rather have the hogs than open up my ranch to just anyone wanting to blast away.

I hunt a lot of different farms and ranches, and it's usually by word of mouth about effective hunting methods, and doing things right, and not about the money to those land owners. I have never paid a dime to hunt hogs, and actually have much more land permission than I could possibly ever hope to get around to hunting.

 

[coast40]

 

[rockinbbar]

Contrary to popular gung ho hunter types: Killing wild hogs one or even 12 at a

Sadly killing one to twelve wild hogs per hunt actually increases their numbers over a 90 day period. Hunting them is enjoyable, I've done it. But if you want them gone you must trap 90% of the sounder. Otherwise you scatter them and they subdivide. I know every hunter thinks their abilities can take them out in no time. However, they're well meaning but uninformed. Trap them and only spring the trap when they're comfortable and 90% present.

Gung Ho Hunter Types...

I guess many may be "uninformed", but I count myself as one that's pretty informed as to the methods of hog control, because as a govt hunter (previous job), I also had a chance to contribute to the feral hog control plan for the National Forest Service, as I personally wrote much of it when it was adopted by them.

You are right about not being able to "hunt our way out of a hog problem"... We won't.

But I also disagree that shooting hogs leads to increasing numbers from a literal standpoint.

Sounders support a certain number of hogs, and females will breed when they get old enough, and hogs will split off from sounders on their own, even if left to their own devices. Shooting into sounders can scatter hogs, for sure, but as far as making females breed more, and increasing the hog population, I don't buy it at all. A dead hog is a hog taken out of the numbers, and won't increase anything, as sows of breeding age will breed, no matter how many you shoot, and new sounders will occur, no matter when you do.

Trapping the entire sounder as you mentioned,is a good control method, as is helicopter shooting in open country. Snares are pretty effective as well.

Shooting hogs on my personal place, and many farms and ranches I am called in to hunt DOES result in the hogs moving elsewhere and being someone else's problem. There are too many "safe places" for hogs to go, for any kind of control to be 100% effective.

 

[EddieWalker]

My ultimate solution to dealing with hogs is 2x4 horse fencing with barbed wire at the bottom. While nothing is 100%, I think this will keep them out for the most part. If they do managed to dig a hole under the fence, I should be able to find them and stop them from ever doing it again.

 

[rockinbbar]

My ultimate solution to dealing with hogs is 2x4 horse fencing with barbed wire at the bottom. While nothing is 100%, I think this will keep them out for the most part. If they do managed to dig a hole under the fence, I should be able to find them and stop them from ever doing it again.

View attachment 1858503

Yessir!

A net wire fence sure helps!

If they do start a slide where they come under, it's an excellent place for a snare. Only don't connect it to your fence..

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm thinking that coyotes will be my biggest issue with the fence if they start to dig under it. I know that when my dogs start to dig under their fence, I have to put a sack of concrete in the hole to stop them. That works with them, but eventually they try again in another spot. If a coyote digs a hole, it might lead to a pig making it bigger. I don't know if this actually happens with pigs or not. I like to keep the fence line mowed and clean so nothing grows on the fence. I also spray round up along it every year. Sometimes more. I've tried a few of the so called permanent sprays that are supposed to last all year, but haven't found one yet that actually works.

 

[RUSTBUCKET BRONCO]

one of my goats I butchered last December