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Straight Shots
Summer Hogs by Jim Matthews 8/16/01
I've been on hog hunts the past two weekends. Two weeks ago, eight hunters took six hogs, and this past weekend, there were five hunters who shot 10 hogs The hunting was excellent, and that is an often overlooked fact of summer hunting. Most hunters seem to think of hogs as something to pursue in the late winter or spring. I just don't get it. Yes, the weather is nicer then and the hillsides are green but the predictable part about summer hunting is that pigs need to water in the heat.
Whether you hunt on private land or on public land, a key element will be the availability of water. On the Turner's Outdoorsman/Mike Raahauge Shooting Enterprises hunt the first weekend of August on the Tejon Ranch, one of the hunters did some preliminary scouting, found a water hole the hogs were using, and nearly sat in a lawn chair and killed two meat hogs - one with a rifle and one with a bow.
Sig Schreiber of Crestline figured out the essential thing about summer hog hunting: water. The only problem with sitting on water is simply whether or not the hogs will come in during shooting hours. There are a lot of variables involved in whether the pigs will be moving while it is still light.
If pigs are bedding in an area some distance from the water they are using, hunters have a good chance of seeing hogs going to or coming from the source both early and late in the day. But they might not reach the water until long after sunset or leave it long before sunrise This requires that hunters more time in scouting to find the likely routes of travel between bedding and feeding areas and how water relates to the equation. Watching saddles or canyon corridors between bedding, feeding, and water areas can then be a good bet.
If bedding areas are close to water, your are likely to see the hogs in the morning as they get a last drink before bedding down from the heat. But you are far less likely to see them in the evening before dark because they are reluctant to move much until the sun is well down and things are really cooling off. There was a huge boar coming into the same water to wallow and drink each evening on a Tejon hunt this past week, but he was not coming to the water until well after shooting light was gone. Twice I sat on this water in the evening, but we only saw and heard the big boar after dark.
When the hogs are feeding can also play a key role in when they come to water. If you are hunting ranches where the hogs are feeding on crops, morning is generally a better time of day to hunt simply because it stays cool longer and the hogs are likely to stay out later. I hunted at Camp 5 when we literally would see hogs at a galloping trot leave barley fields at 8 a.m. on a summer day, long after they should have been bedded down.
Many times hogs will actually bed down in a mud wallow and stay there throughout the day. My buddy Durwood Hollis, likes to tell of the time they saw a big boar at mid-day lying almost completely submerged in a cattle trough. This past weekend there was a big group of hogs in a muddy bog at 10 a.m., long after they should have been off bedded somewhere. They had obviously been bedding in a nearby thicket that was muddy throughout the day. With their bedding ground so close and the bog actually still pretty cool, the hogs had been feeding on the grasses around the water until late in the morning, allowing us to spot them.
One of the, other positives about summer hunting is that the hog meat is often much better than other times of the year, especially the big boars. Several of the hogs taken on the Tejon Ranch this past weekend were big boars, and all of them were sweet-smelling and would make great roasts, chops and hams - not just grinding fodder for sausage. With most of the sows already bred and trailing piglets - there is little breeding activity right now and the boars are in good condition.
It's essential that you dress and skin your hogs immediately this time of year and then get them into a locker as soon as possible so the meat doesn't spoil. We had ours quartered or boned and in ice chests quickly so the meat didn't go sour.
Hog hunts are a great tune-up for other big game hunts later this fall; and while many guides cease guiding this time of year, those who do are often booked up solid these summer months by hunters who know how good the hunting can be and how delicious the meat is this time of year.
Summer Hogs by Jim Matthews 8/16/01
I've been on hog hunts the past two weekends. Two weeks ago, eight hunters took six hogs, and this past weekend, there were five hunters who shot 10 hogs The hunting was excellent, and that is an often overlooked fact of summer hunting. Most hunters seem to think of hogs as something to pursue in the late winter or spring. I just don't get it. Yes, the weather is nicer then and the hillsides are green but the predictable part about summer hunting is that pigs need to water in the heat.
Whether you hunt on private land or on public land, a key element will be the availability of water. On the Turner's Outdoorsman/Mike Raahauge Shooting Enterprises hunt the first weekend of August on the Tejon Ranch, one of the hunters did some preliminary scouting, found a water hole the hogs were using, and nearly sat in a lawn chair and killed two meat hogs - one with a rifle and one with a bow.
Sig Schreiber of Crestline figured out the essential thing about summer hog hunting: water. The only problem with sitting on water is simply whether or not the hogs will come in during shooting hours. There are a lot of variables involved in whether the pigs will be moving while it is still light.
If pigs are bedding in an area some distance from the water they are using, hunters have a good chance of seeing hogs going to or coming from the source both early and late in the day. But they might not reach the water until long after sunset or leave it long before sunrise This requires that hunters more time in scouting to find the likely routes of travel between bedding and feeding areas and how water relates to the equation. Watching saddles or canyon corridors between bedding, feeding, and water areas can then be a good bet.
If bedding areas are close to water, your are likely to see the hogs in the morning as they get a last drink before bedding down from the heat. But you are far less likely to see them in the evening before dark because they are reluctant to move much until the sun is well down and things are really cooling off. There was a huge boar coming into the same water to wallow and drink each evening on a Tejon hunt this past week, but he was not coming to the water until well after shooting light was gone. Twice I sat on this water in the evening, but we only saw and heard the big boar after dark.
When the hogs are feeding can also play a key role in when they come to water. If you are hunting ranches where the hogs are feeding on crops, morning is generally a better time of day to hunt simply because it stays cool longer and the hogs are likely to stay out later. I hunted at Camp 5 when we literally would see hogs at a galloping trot leave barley fields at 8 a.m. on a summer day, long after they should have been bedded down.
Many times hogs will actually bed down in a mud wallow and stay there throughout the day. My buddy Durwood Hollis, likes to tell of the time they saw a big boar at mid-day lying almost completely submerged in a cattle trough. This past weekend there was a big group of hogs in a muddy bog at 10 a.m., long after they should have been off bedded somewhere. They had obviously been bedding in a nearby thicket that was muddy throughout the day. With their bedding ground so close and the bog actually still pretty cool, the hogs had been feeding on the grasses around the water until late in the morning, allowing us to spot them.
One of the, other positives about summer hunting is that the hog meat is often much better than other times of the year, especially the big boars. Several of the hogs taken on the Tejon Ranch this past weekend were big boars, and all of them were sweet-smelling and would make great roasts, chops and hams - not just grinding fodder for sausage. With most of the sows already bred and trailing piglets - there is little breeding activity right now and the boars are in good condition.
It's essential that you dress and skin your hogs immediately this time of year and then get them into a locker as soon as possible so the meat doesn't spoil. We had ours quartered or boned and in ice chests quickly so the meat didn't go sour.
Hog hunts are a great tune-up for other big game hunts later this fall; and while many guides cease guiding this time of year, those who do are often booked up solid these summer months by hunters who know how good the hunting can be and how delicious the meat is this time of year.
