Texas hog hunts

[eyes']

Hey, has anyone ever go on one of these? Me and 3 other buddies are thinking about taking a trip down south in February to shoot some pigs... Any suggestions on outfitters???

Thanks in advance,

eyes'

[xedge2002]

I've been down in Texas the last 4 years and we are booked to go again in early March. It is a blast, pigs are actually a lot harder to hunt than you think they would be. Their sense of smell and hearing are unbelievable, I would say by far better than a white tail. If they hear or smell you they are gone and you won't get a shot at them. They are a lot faster than what they look too. Their eyesight flat is flat out horrible though, if the wind is right and you don't make noise you can move around some and they won't see you. Last year we went with Krooked River Ranch (http://krro.net/www.krro.net/main.htm) They offer an unbelievable hunt and take real good care of you too. They have 50,000 acres with 80+ stands to hunt from that they could think of, when we got there and asked them they weren't even sure how many they had. We were there for 3 days and would have never hunted the same stand twice except the last day it was supposed to get snowy and icy so they threw up some ground blinds for us. They have bunk houses with 2 people per room, they wake you up in the morning (by pounding on your door), by the time you get dressed and ready they have breakfast ready to eat and shortly after you are done the guides take you out to your stand. Then they pick you up in the late morning and our guy would take us with him and scout some areas and see if we could stumble on some pigs driving through the area. They make lunch for you back at the lodge then you get about 2-3 hours to sit and nap or watch tv or whatever you want to do. They take you out again in the evening and you sit till a little after dark when they pick you up again and bring you back in for supper. The food is really good, one guy that went last year gained about 5 pounds from eating down there. I can't tell you enough how much fun it is to go pig hunting, they are tough as nails and actually taste a lot like domestic pigs.

If you try to vital shoot a pig good luck because your chances of finding it are slim to none and slim is on his way out. When you shoot a meat hog you want to shoot them in the head so they don't run off into the brush. If you are shooting trophies you want to shoot to break the front shoulder or if you are comfortable shoot the spine. If you get the shoulder you also have a pretty good chance at the vitals but if you don't break the shoulder it will run on you. Last year one of our guys shot a female sow that the guide figured was about 250lbs. He hit her with a 300 short mag in the shoulder. They found some blood and bone fragments at the spot he hit her, they trailed the blood for about 100 yards in the dark but then decided to let her lay overnight and hope she stiffened up. We went out the next morning to look for her and followed blood for about 1000 yards then all of the sudden it dissapeared. The guides figured she ran through the brush and found some other pigs laying in there, she rolled in the dirt a little bit to plug the hole and then lead all of the other pigs out of their. Since she was the biggest they all followed her and with them walking on the dry soil pounded her blood trail into the ground and covered it up.

The couple of years before that we went with a different outfitter and didn't have real good luck, they didn't take care of their feeders and really didn't care about you once they had your money in hand. They would talk it up that they always seen pigs around the stands but it rarely happened that we seen them.

Depending on which outfitter you go with I would definetly suggest either buying or rigging up a light to put on your gun. We rigged some up that we can put a flashlight on our scopes so we can see the pigs if we are night hunting. You can hunt pigs 24/7/365 down in Texas. If you go with KRRO you don't really need the gun light because they pick you up around dark or shortly after.

Sorry it got a little long but pig hunting is a blast if you have the right outfitter.

Josh

[eyes']

Thanks x!!! Anyone else have any more info???

[Heidi]

A buddy of mine got a trip for us cheap on EBAY down in Oklahoma. Mind you, the hogs were in a huge penned area. I shot one from a stand over a feeder. They didn't come into the other two feeders that night. The next day, the guide used a black nosed baying dog that found the hogs and cornered one. The guide then "released the hound!" Meanest Pit Bull I have ever seen followed the sounds of the other dog, located the hog and charged in and clamped onto the first body part it hit. Most violent thing I have ever seen!

My job next...........Grab my long blade knife, pick up a front hog leg and stick the pig. Once dead, the guide had to use a stick to pry open the dog's mouth off the dead animal. After witnessing what a pit bull is capable of, I can't believe they are around children. I was a bit nervous sticking my hand near that dog's head, but it wasn't about to let go of that pig. Sick thing is..... that is my kind of fun!!

This is one way to go I guess.

[jparrucci]

The hunt described by Heidi in my opinion borders on unethical. In fact, I would not consider it hunting. If that is what you are after, why not just buy a butchered pig? Shooting a penned animal over a feeder required no skill, no hunt, no fair chase, nothing of the sort. I try to be fairly opened minded and not rip on other people on here, but this one crosses the line in my book.

We as a FM community should not be supporting this type of behavior. Letting the dog catch and kill a caged animal? How is this considered hunting? If that is the case, then me going to the store to buy a T-bone is hunting-without the cruelty. And people wonder why groups like PETA have a voice-if us "outdoorsmen" did not behave like this, they would have much less to critize us about.

[chucker34]

Ditto. It's one thing to "hunt" a penned animal with an ethical shot by bow or firearm that quickly dispatches of the animal. That's fine if thats what trips your trigger and its legal. But no animal, wild or penned deserves to be treated like that. You can say, "big deal, either way the animal is dead," but its apples to oranges and you know what I mean without further explanation.

[eyes']

Alright, now back to the subject... I am looking for a place to hunt free ranging hogs, without dogs... any help???