We have pigs!!!

[ishot3bucks]

Need some help? I live in Michigan and 2 years ago a "fenced" hunting preserve had pigs get out. Well a long story short...they are everywhere!!! We are told there are now close to 1000 pigs in our hunting area. The DNR and the Department of Agriculture has given us the OK to shoot away!

I never saw any signs until this year. The ground is tore up and starting to see prints in the ground. Last week a cousin of mine was hunting in a tree stand for deer and had 12 pigs run by!! We didn't know if we could shoot yet, but now we are going to unload!


Any advice on how to get these pigs to show-up to pre-hung tree stands? Is it any easier in the winter, when grubs and grain are gone? Any advice would help...broad heads for bows or gun caliber?

Thanks!!

[Dom]

Hello IS3, Boar have a mind of their own and go where they want when they want, however, you can increase your chances, especially in winter, by putting some corn out in the same spot every day. I'm not sure if you've got ferals or some strain, so they may go mostly nocturnal, unless the area is quiet and they're undisturbed. In the fall w/good acorn mast they will wander where the best food is in the most undisturbed area. Are you talking only bow, or shotgun w/slug? I think I remember you're downstate (saw Clinton Township on your shirt!), so it'd probably be shotgun w/slug. Forget buckshot. But if you can use rifle you can't go wrong with a 30-06 and 180 grainers. I wouldn't go any lighter than a .270, of course, pigs come in all sizes, so you could go lighter with small ferals.

And waidmannsheil on your deer, nice pic, Dom.

BTW, can you hunt them at night? If so, that is by far much easier in winter with snow cover and a quality scope.

[rick savage]

they are going farther north every year

[RLL]

Wild hog populations can get out of control quickly. Why? Fast reproduction.

Hogs can have litters twice and sometimes three times a year. Their litters range from 4 to 12. Their gestation period is only 115 days. They typically breed at 6 months old ... although I've seen some breed as early as 4 or 5 months old. I've trapped pigs that were hardly past their watermelon stripe stage ... weighing less than 40lbs ... and already pregnant.

So, consider that you start out with 1 male and 1 female ... that all the litters are ONLY 6 piglets ... that the litters are half male and half female.

By the end of Year 2 ... you now have 52 pigs.
By the end of Year 3 ... you have 247 pigs.
By the end of Year 4 ... you have over 1,100 pigs.
By the end of Year 5 ... you have over 5,300 pigs.
By the end of Year 6 ... you have over 24,700 pigs.

Hogs in the wild typically live 6 to 7 years. What these numbers don't reflect is the impact of predators, of hunters, etc. They also don't reflect the impact of litters of 8, 10 or more piglets.

Bottom line. Once wild hogs populate an area they are like cockroaches. You ain't never going to get rid of all of them. Think about it ... 2 hogs can easily result in over 1,100 in as little as 4 years.

So now consider your 1,000 pigs. In 4 or 5 years, they could have grown to a population of 1 million. So kill all you can ... cause there will be more tomorrow.

[8X56MS]

I help with hog control every year at our hunt camp up in South West Georgia. We bait them, hunt them with lights, and kill every sow, boar, and piglet we can find. Still can't get rid of them. Feral hogs give a whole new meaning to the term 'varmint'.

[ishot3bucks]

I shot a wild boar!! Near Roscommon...125lb female. Department of agriculture and the DNR took blood samples and a ton of information!! I just brought it in to get processed! This could get fun!! Shot it with a 12 gauge slug, it went about 30 yards! We are very excited for this "new" hunting experience!!

Saw 5 or 6 running with that one. Our property is getting torn up!!

Ishot3bucks!!

(wish I knew how to add pictures!)