bushpig hunting

[heldog]

I will be heading out to South Africa this coming summer for the second time.
The question I have is regarding Bushpig.
Last year we hunted these Bushpig on bait and a tree stand with a flashlight.
When the pigs came to feed around 7:00pm the PH would spot the pigs with a night vision binoculars then he would put a spotlight on the pig he wanted me to shoot.

Is this a normal setup?

Besides using dogs what other methods have you used?

Has anyone used red filtered light for spotting, like in varmint hunting?

 

[widowmaker416]

Heldog! or should I say "pig hunter"

I've taken 6 bushpigs in Africa, (Zimbabwe). everyone has been spot and stalk, and all where taken in the day light hours. One was taken just as it was getting dark, we where on a bushbuck walk along the river bottom when my PH spotted this hog, and a good one at that!

I attached 2 photo's of pigs I took, the one on the rock was taken just after I shot a Kudu on top of this mountian. We headed up to where the kudu ran, as we crested the top my Ph hear a pig rooting, the rest is on my wall!

The other Photo, we were checking Leopard baits, this one and 5 others were sleeping on, what was left of the bait! they feasted all night!

You can see the sun rising behind me!

So as to your question, I've heard of hunters taking their bushpig that way, with a light. but I haven't had to, I like it more in the day light hours. You might try river bottom walks just before dark, never know what you'll find!!!

good luck and have a safe trip!

 

[widowmaker416]

here's my other bushpig......................................

 

[jjhack]

Bushpig can be very difficult to hunt on a general bag plains game hunt. They tend to be nocturnal and in limited geographical areas. When they are around they are easily taken with bait or hounds. They can be easily taken near argiculture as well, and usually the hutners are welcomed to remove them.

It's best you research the outfitter and speak to his past successful cleints before booking a dedicated bushpig hunt. Very VERY few outfitters look at bushpig as a serious trophy but rather an incidental trophy on a "real" hunt. Because of this few outfitters really do the research to find them and learn of the best locations.

The reason being BushPig trophy fee is low and not valued as an income species. If a Bushpig trophy was worth 1000.00 bucks the general feeling among outfitters would be finding them and knowing exactly where to get big ones.

We have bush pig but not in the numbers that make them a reasonable expectation. I have a location in Natal that has lots of them but it's an expensive and dangerous area with a ton of snakes, lions, elephants, and bush so thick in the rain forest that visibility is very short. Not to mention the likely hood of lots of ticks is 100%. Probably why they are in high numbers there. Nobody likes to hunt the rain forest!

 

[heldog]

The normal routine is that we hunt hard for plains game in the morning and then head out at night to a tree stand over some bait, then wait for the action to start. When a big boar is spotter with the night vision the PH will shine a white flash light on the animal, this gives you about 2 or 3 seconds to get a bead on him then take a shot.
To give me more time to shoot I was thinking about using a red filtered flash light or red filtered spot light to give me more time to take the shot.
Can bush pig see “red” light?

I will be hunting in the Natal province and this is my second trip.
Last year we hunted bush pig for 8 nights. The wind was never right so the pigs came under our tree stand but would wind us and run away.
We built a tree stand in anther area but only got small pigs to approach the bait.

I also scared up 3 big pigs while tracking Kudu but no shot was possible.

 

[doorman]

As far as bush pigs, we have always used dogs. I have about 6 trips to Africa. We used a shotgun to take them with. They can be very hard to hunt. It took my wife and borther in law about 30 min. with dogs, but for mine we chased him for about 3 hrs. with dogs. And a good PH will know where to find them if they know that you are species hunting.To find a good Outfitter go to SCI in Reno next weekend see ya there
Doorman

 

[sdbowyer]

Widow. Those would have been contenders in the best pig photo contest. Those are beautiful! When I go to Africa I'm doing a species hunt cause I want one of those on my wall.

 

[widowmaker416]

thanks sdboyer!

I joined this site alittle to late to put up any photo's for the contests, maybe next time. I have taken 6 bushpigs in Africa, I don't think I ever was hunting for them, explain: We would go for long walks, one time we were tracking a small herd of Kudu, when tracking the "hit" Kudu my PH hear a bushpig rooting around, the rest is in the salt. Another time, we were looking for bushbuck along the river just before dark, that's when I got another one. Checking Leopard baits in the early morning resulted in yet another pig! I enjoyed taking the pigs that way then with lights, don't get me wrong, I do like to night hunt.

I'm mounting all of them lifesize, along with my 14 Baboons!

 

[BGH831]

Man thoose are some ugly SOB's