Posted on 08/26/2019 7:19:10 AM PDT by w1n1
A Year-Round Season means Anytime is Hog Hunting Time - As the shadows lengthen across the golden grass-covered hillsides of California, I am perched on my chosen spot and glassing the valley below. The endless oak trees dotting the landscape are a parched palette of brownish and mottled green colors, and the foliage seems to be clinging to the promise of moisture sure to arrive.
I sit with my binos glued to my eyes and scan every shadow on the hills looking for a dark spot moving along, like a hungry ant searching for leftover picnic crumbs. And soon I spot it – the horizontal line of a spotted feral pig’s back above the screen of brush below.
I notice the straight tail and unmistakable pointy ears of the pig bouncing along as it tills the ground with reckless abandon. I scan the area around it and pick up several others feeding and my adrenaline starts to surge. The hunt is on!
I grab my crossbow and take a moment to plan my stalk. My greatest enemy at this moment is the wind, so I squeeze the bottle of wind check and send a wisp of powder spiraling into the air. I can see about a dozen pigs feeding alongside an oak tree and I begin my stalk.
Ever so slowly I creep along "pulling" the group into my effective shooting range. They are grunting and snorting along their own way, letting me know they are completely consumed with their dinner buffet.
With my binos raised to my eyes I spot a medium-sized dry sow and I adjust my course. As I creep closer my rangefinder reads 62, 48 and finally 23 yards. The wind is perfect and I am moving like molasses so the group has no idea there is a predator lurking in their midst.
The spotted sow I am after is quartering to me and I float my crosshairs over the desired point of impact. My heart is pounding and with steady tension on the trigger the bolt is on its way. I hear a solid impact and watch as the sounder explodes in all directions. I have finally taken my first public-land pig with a crossbow. What a rush! Read the rest of hog hunting.
I used to hunt Russian hogs with my Plott Hounds in East Tennessee...They were big boys...Anywhere from 200 to 600 lbs...
Most of the time, we would have 5-6 dogs on one hog...
Went to Texas to hunt Javelina once...They would be down in a ditch called an Arroyo...The first time we turned a couple dogs in, they were attacked by maybe 12-15 of these little hogs...We had to get our dogs to the vet...mean little SOBs, the Javelina...
Wasn’t there a war against them?
Javelina are usually quite shy, but if cornered, or if their young are threatened, they’re nasty. They can tear a dog to ribbons. But that’s nothing compared to what they can do to a garden!
When the dogs started chasing a couple, they were squealing and the little guys came from everywhere...We ran to get to them and started shooting, not get pigs, but to save our dogs...They got cut up pretty good...
I’ve watched and filmed Plotts fighting Black Bear and Russian hogs before, but it wasn’t anything like those little Javelina ganging up like they did...That was our one and only trip to hunt Javelina...
We decided to stick to East Tennessee and Canada...
Just spent most of the summer in Oklahoma and worked with quite a few hunters.... they were telling me how huge the feral pig population is there. I gather that the population has drifted north from Texas.
They’re also prevalent in New
Mexico and Arizona.
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