Jody's Game Camera
Hog Kills Bambi!!
they will destroy your property. eat all the deer food. I have seen deer at a feeder where hogs came and ran the deer off. The deer will leave the area and not come back. do all you can to get rid of them but of cource you can't, they will only multify as fast as you kill them. If you hunt them they become very smart. The big ones aren't even good to eat, not like pork chops you buy in the store.
one of many taken this summer
I totally agree that hogs will run the deer away, eat your feed, and ruin expensive food plots. We have hogs on our lease and we enjoy hunting them all year. The hogs do seem to lay low during deer season and we rarely see any, even on camera. Since they can and do reproduce so rapidly, we use any means available to control the population during the off season. We have eaten hogs from 20# to 520#, the meat is great and I actually prefer it over deer. Call me lucky, but I have never killed a hog that was 'unedible'. When we kill a large boar, we usually cut a piece of meat off and fry it in a skillet to make sure it doesn't smell strong. I cooked a pork stew with a leg off a 160# boar at work this week and the guys loved it. I guess my point is, if you have hogs, make the best of it. They are fun to hunt and great to eat!
I love the idea of taking a piece and cooking it before you clean it!! I will do that every time now.... I have one 2 years ago that was strong musky taste to it and it really wasn't that good, but the rest of the ones we took were great!! I also heard that you bring a brush on a handle like you use on your car and soap them down and brush and rinse them before you clean them to keep the oil on the outside from getting to the meat. What do you think of that??
We usually rinse them off with the hose, but havent 'bathed' them. In my opinion, you can't be too clean. We use latex gloves and when we skin them, we split the hide down the belly and 'undress' them, with little or no hair and dirt getting on the meat. Some people cut the nuts off, I don't think that does any good, what is in their blood is already in there. It isn't like cutting them and feeding them out for a couple of weeks.
We too have many hogs on our Deer Property. Deer of course will not eat with them because they are mean, and coons just wait their turn. They have destroyed feeders and root holes around where the feeders spread corn and such. We have to move the feeders several times a season to keep water holes from developing. Even still I do not want to eradicate them, just control them to an extent. I am addicted to stalking them with my bow or pistol. Shot a 125# sow last week before work. They are fun to hunt especially since their numbers increase your odds of getting some action on a hunt. However they should be kept in check. I have found that the best way to do so is kill one or more of a group while the group is at a feeder, I can almost completely assure you that no hogs from that group will come back for some time, and just do the same with each group if there are many. The same goes with traps. Use them or corrals. Generally once you catch one or more that group will leave the area for a while and/or aviod feed locations.
Thanks SBLedHed for that valuable information... from what I hear, you probably won't be able to erraticate them anyway!! Good info though!!
This is nice having positive feedback from eveyone and no one being a smartellick.... Thanks for all the good and positive feedback, I'm loving it!!
It is nice to have positive conversation. There are so many negative people on this site that just look for arguments and don't take kindly to any correction. But yea. The corral idea is probably the best since you have the best chance of catching multiple hogs, you might have to make phone calls to get some help cleaning and find people who like pork. Oink!
Hogs will tear up a hunting lease. You will NEVER see pics with hogs and deer. At least I havent personally. They will eat all the food and run the deer out. They can have a litter every 6 months...up to 10 piglets or more. Get control of it quick. We hunted them hard at a lease I was once on. I thought we had killed them all. No one seen any for a few weeks...than my camera got this pic......