Pig eyesight

[doccherry]

Thesis: Wild pigs see a lot better than many hunters realize.

Support for thesis: Many first-hand experiences in the field.

Ok, guys, I brought this up a few years ago and got hammered in this forum, but I'm bringing it up again because of another experience that happened this past Saturday. Evan Bouret and I were hunting here on the Big Island at first light. We were standing close together watching a jet-black pig amble down a hill toward us. 200 yards away it sauntered into a depression and dropped out of sight. It reappeared about 125 yards away and immediately froze in its tracks, eyes locked on Evan and I. The wind was in our faces, so he didn't scent us. It whirled around and took off back up the hill. I mentioned to Evan, who is a highly experienced pig hunter, that pigs see a lot better than most hunters give them credit for. He agreed.

Here's additional evidence. I've personally taken 42 pigs here on the Big Island during the past 4 years and a large number in California before that. There have been many occasions when the wind was in my face and a pig---usually a solitary pig---would see me, freeze, and then whirl around and run off, at distances up to 300 yards. I know they saw me because the reaction is always the same. They're waddling around in some direction, they freeze in their tracks and lock on to me, then whirl around and take off. Wind was not a factor in the incidents I'm speaking of.

What is interesting, now that I really ponder this issue, is that most of these encounters---maybe all of them---involved a solitary pig.

OK, have at it.

Aloha.

 

[Fugaloo]

I am no expert, but I would suggest that it has to do with UV brighteners in your laundry. If you stand out because your fabric is glowing to them, even though the colors look natural to you a pig will pick up on that, I think. It goes without saying that animals just see differently than we do. I am colorblind and some colors just don't pop out to me the way they do to most people. If an animal like a pig can see a different spectrum of light than you are unaware of, and although you look at your clothing compared to your surroundings and it seems to blend; that animal will see something that doesn't look natural, or he has already learned that man made fabric is danger. Just a guess as I am not very well versed in animal biology. and like my tag line says, I am just talking out my azz most of the time.

 

[shovelerslayer]

Doc,

No need for ANYONE to hammer you, it's a great topic. My humble opinion from my experiences was that the pigs saw movement from far away, but were fairly easy to fool if I just stayed completely motionless. Saying that, when I have been spotted by a pig from a large distance (>100 yards) I ASSUMED it was due to movement. On occasion I have got within 20' of a feeding pig without being spotted. One of these pigs was in a flat pasture where the grass was about 3" tall, and I crawled slowly up to him to shoot him with a .44 pistol.
I had always heard that pigs were basically blind, so I have kind of just believed it. Maybe we have been wrong!

P.S. I missed the pig with the pistol.:bag-on-head:

 

[myfriendis410]

I use a UV lowering detergent on my hunting duds and am pretty conscientious about it. I have been spotted at better than 600 yards by some cagey boars. Not so much the sows, but the big solitary boars are spooky. I think that the hogs don't so much have poor eyesight as that they sometimes just forget to use their eyes! And if they are head down in the barley, they don't have a clue.

 

[JNDEER]

My experience is much less than yours, way less.....But I have been able to sneak up on some pigs and get within 20 yards one time and even as close as 6 yards with no terrain break and me being out in the open. I don't know if there eye sight is bad or if they just have a "no fear" mentality? See deer and other spooky game will feed and look...feed and look...repeat etc. But I think some pigs just feed and are care free because they don't have the fear of predators like deer or other small game have?? Just a thought....I know there is no way in hell I could have gotten that close to the pigs if they were deer..the deer would have had me pegged long before I got that close.

 

[spectr17]

I think I posted this back on the other thread Doc. I grew up on a farm in Iowa and then later hunted around a lot of hog farms in MO. One farm I had to cross a fenced in area that held hogs and whenever I approached the gate the pigs got antsy. When the farmer went to the gate to feed the hogs they ran to greet him. When I approached with the farmer the hogs were antsy but not as much when I was by myself. At 200 yards them hogs knew the difference between the 2 of us even with us both being the same build and wearing carhardt overalls.

Another trip to Choppers I watched a boar spot my truck at about 75 yards. He eyeballed the empty truck for about 1 minute before he lowered his head to feed.

On another trip to Choppers I stumbled into 3 sows while roosting some turkeys. I was able to get my bow and ease back to the rear wheel of my truck to check them out for a shot. They were about 30 yards away and feeding. Once I saw they were all pregnant I just watched them and when I shifted my weight one of them saw my foot move under the truck and they all skeedaddled.

Pigs see just fine IMHO.

 

[Pinseeker]

I just have one experience to go on. I tend to think that their eyes aren't that good.

On a bowhunt a couple years ago, we spotted a 4 pigs on a ridge a couple hundred yards across a ravine. We took off down the ravine and headed up the other side with the wind in our face. We used oak trees for cover and followed the pigs as they were feeding away from us for about 100 yards. Approx 50 yards past the point where we first saw them feeding, there was a barbed wire fence. The guide held my bow as I slithered under the bottom wire. This whole time the pigs were in plain sight but continued to feed away from us. I got under the wire and continued the stalk staying tucked close to the oak trees. The last 15 yards, there were no more oak trees, but I lost sight of the pigs just over a little knoll. I crouched down and made my way forward. I went to full draw and stood up. When I stood, there had to be 30+ pigs of different sizes all looking in my direction at about 20 yards (that's when my heart went into overdrive). They all locked on to me and froze. I stood there in full draw for a good minute trying to find a broadside shot. One big white-haired pig was standing on the other side of an oak tree, quartering slightly forward with the front left leg about 4 inches in front of the tree. I decided to try threading the needle to get the arrow behind the front leg without sticking the tree. I was able to slowly rotate my body for the shot. Still none of the pigs budged. I finally pulled the trigger release and let the arrow fly. A split second later, I heard the arrow ricochet off off that oak tree with a clean miss. I missed by about 1/2". As soon as they heard the crack against the tree, they all turned and ran in the opposite direction.

I was wearing full camo with a mask. They obviously saw me; but couldn't identify me as a threat until I let the arrow fly. Had their eye sight been good, I think they would have split right away instead of having a showdown for a good 60 seconds.

I wouldn't surprise me one bit if your pigs have improved eye sight due to their diet.

 

[easymoney]

IMHO, pigs have fair eye sight but much poorer than other big game and no two encounters are really the same.
I have stalked up to within 15yds of them, had them walk past me even closer when frozen still in the open with no cover and had them run off when I was skylined in a barley field at 100yards away. My point is if you move very slowly you can usually get fairly close if the wind is right and your profile low, but also if you are in an area hunted hard and you move alot or skyline yourself the game is up. They are very smart with a good memory and much like dogs, are place sensitive, in that if something bad happens to them repeatedly in a given location, they will avoid that place...

 

[EvBouret]

pigs eyesight gets better depending on the food they eat? hehe...maybe if their diet consists of only carrots. Bit hard to draw conclusions from one experience right?

I believe pigs have good eyesight, but sometimes for what ever reason don't use it to their advantage. I have snuck within bow range of many pigs. And have also been busted (visually) at 200+ yards. When pigs are feeding they usually are really into what is right in front of their face and may not take the time to look around for danger. They also make a lot of noise when they eat that may cover your noise.

Do all you guys but into the whole UV thing? I haven't done much research, whats the consensus?

 

[myfriendis410]

My hunting partner and I have sneaked?- -snuck? -in close to hogs on many occasions and have gotten right in the middle of them without their knowledge (like ten feet). The hardest part was trying to stop giggling like little kids! I'll say it again: if they choose to use their eyesight, it's pretty good. If you compare it to deer it's poor, but compared to some hunters, it ain't bad!

 

[Wild1]

I think it may be hard to generalize - for instance, what if we said humans have great eyesight...? All humans...? There may be a few factors in any given experience: are they feeding...? are they looking to mate...? is it a young or old pig...? is it movement they are seeing, or can they see anything if it is still...? I suppose you should hunt with the assumption that they can see fairly well, instead of the other way around.

 

[RIFLEMAN]

The eyesight of a hog is better than we give them credit for, but worse than their peers. As is widely known, their sense of smell is highly developed and they seem to rely on it most when detecting danger. Evolutionarily speaking, this has served to de-emphasize the need for significant vision.

There have been a few times while deer hunting, where I snuck up to within 10 to 15 feet of hogs just for the challenge of it. As with stalking up on deer, avoiding eye contact by looking at them from just below the bill of my hat, freezing when they look up from feeding, and trying to minimize my profile are fairly effective. There were times when they looked right at me from mere feet away, but because I was frozen and my scent didn't carry, they were not alarmed. I also make sure that I avoid sneaking up on them while perfectly erect, but rather, hunch my back in a somewhat exaggerated fashion...I have a theory that animals are alerted by a figure walking perfectly straight. This strategy seems to be especially effective in low light conditions of dawn and dusk. Seeing their reactions once they do realize what I am and watching them scramble to get the heck out of there is hilarious and certainly worth the time and trouble of getting close up. I got to within 20 feet or so of a bull elk one time by doing this, and when I said, "Hi there" in a calm voice, he got up so fast that he ran into a small oak tree and fell over on his side before he finally made tracks out of there. He was the very anti-thesis of gracefulness, and I actually felt guilty afterwards for sneaking up on him like that.

 

[559hog]

I got to within 20 feet or so of a bull elk one time by doing this, and when I said, "Hi there" in a calm voice, he got up so fast that he ran into a small oak tree and fell over on his side before he finally made tracks out of there. He was the very anti-thesis of gracefulness, and I actually felt guilty afterwards for sneaking up on him like that.[/quote]

LOL, that made my day :lol bashing sign:....

I believe pigs have good eyesight, nothing spectacular when compared to other big game animals though. I've only encountered a group of wild pigs once, so I really can't say, but when I harvested my first hog, I was looking at maybe a good 20-30 pigs. I was chasing a little boar, and everytime I set myself up for a shot, the pigs would look up at me. I layed still for a few minutes and they would go back to what they were doing. As soon as I moved again, they looked right at me, and it pretty much ended up being a game of cat and mouse, me being the cat, and he being the mouse . One thing I did notice was that when I was crouched on all 4 like a pig, they didn't seem to mind me. As soon as I layed down on my belly, it was obvious they saw something else and seemed spooked a bit. I got up on all four again and pretended munched on grass, and they didn't mind me. Yes I really did munch on grass and I checked for poo first.

 

[weekender21]

I've been busted a few times outside 100 yards but only when I was moving. From my personnel experience hogs can't see very well at all if you're not moving.

 

[DFG_Bear]

Maybe the next time I go out to trap and collar some pigs, I'll bring my optometrist. We'll answer this question once and for all.

No joke, my optometrist in Montana (when I lived there) wanted to go catch bears and measure their eyesight. I think it may be possible with pigs. Anyone an eye doctor out there? I can just hear it now..."is it better one, or two..."

 

[RIFLEMAN]

Marc,

Maybe the next time I go out to trap and collar some pigs, I'll bring my optometrist. We'll answer this question once and for all...I think it may be possible with pigs.

I certainly think it would be a worthwhile effort. There is certainly an appetite for the information among hunters and scientifically speaking, would probably give you biologists insight into the extent to which their eyesight lends itself to their habits, competition among their peers, survivability, etc.

Anyone an eye doctor out there? I can just hear it now..."is it better one, or two..."

:rotflmao: