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Texas Losing The Feral Hog Fight
- Thread starter Magneto
- Start date
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Guided or DIY?
If you are willing to put in the effort and do the research you can have a good hunt on public land for just over $100(walk in hunting permit $48 and ~$55 7 day non-resident hunting license) plus travel and lodging. Over 50 WMAs offer some form of public hog hunting. Typically those with tighter restrictions or tougher access will have higher numbers and less hunting pressure. If you are willing to DIY but want more structure and less competition, you have about a month let to apply for public limited access hog hunts for next spring. Additional info for both types of hunts can be found on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. website and can probably answer some questions if you decide to go this route.
Single or multi day hunting leases are also available on private property. These are also unguided and many probably get more hunting pressure than most of the public land options.
Hog populations should be fairly strong anywhere that normally has plenty of water, typically the east central, southeastern, and coastal parts of Texas have the most water. The central-west Edwards Plateau region typically has good numbers of hogs too but is prone to suffering cyclic droughts so populations are subject to fluctuations. The Hill country lies in the eastern and southeastern part of the Edwards Plateau and tends to be a little wetter and have more stable hog populations. This area also has a number of other exotic species in huntable numbers, though they tend to move around a lot.
If you are willing to put in the effort and do the research you can have a good hunt on public land for just over $100(walk in hunting permit $48 and ~$55 7 day non-resident hunting license) plus travel and lodging. Over 50 WMAs offer some form of public hog hunting. Typically those with tighter restrictions or tougher access will have higher numbers and less hunting pressure. If you are willing to DIY but want more structure and less competition, you have about a month let to apply for public limited access hog hunts for next spring. Additional info for both types of hunts can be found on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. website and can probably answer some questions if you decide to go this route.
Single or multi day hunting leases are also available on private property. These are also unguided and many probably get more hunting pressure than most of the public land options.
Hog populations should be fairly strong anywhere that normally has plenty of water, typically the east central, southeastern, and coastal parts of Texas have the most water. The central-west Edwards Plateau region typically has good numbers of hogs too but is prone to suffering cyclic droughts so populations are subject to fluctuations. The Hill country lies in the eastern and southeastern part of the Edwards Plateau and tends to be a little wetter and have more stable hog populations. This area also has a number of other exotic species in huntable numbers, though they tend to move around a lot.
Maybe the golf course on west side of San Antonio:
Wild 400-pound hog removed from San Antonio golf course
I can't link to the picture, but it looks a big'un.
Also I would avoid the Waelder area, there's an old thread on here (INGO) about a bad experience there, and the guy who owned that hunting outfit had a long trail of complaints behind him.
Was looking at independence ranch but lots of neg reviews
And was looking at Langley ranch.
This will be our first out of state hunting trip. Basically we want to take home fresh pig but not from a the hunting version of a petting zoo.
Contact Walter at "My Ranch". Accomadations on the property, free reign of 1000 acres, plenty of hogs. I did a thread on it a couple years ago when I went with some army buddies. Great time, and a great place. I'd go back.
Maybe Texas can host a website where it links volunteers with land owners
Land owners would attract prospective shooters/hunters with different amenities
Those that offer ammo or lodging would draw the most/best shooters
Like a Airbnb but like a HogBnB
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Land owners would attract prospective shooters/hunters with different amenities
Those that offer ammo or lodging would draw the most/best shooters
Like a Airbnb but like a HogBnB
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
There are two ways to hunt hogs in Texas similar to what you proposed.
The first is called day leasing and there are several sites listing day leases in Texas. Lodging or other amenities are rarely included in the lease fee. Prices typically vary based on quality and desirability of the location.
The other is the Texas Annual Public Hunting Permit/Walk-in-Program. A $48 permit gets you access to all of the properties that offer hog hunting.
I recently went down to north Texas south of Dallas to hunt hogs with 3 Curl Outfitters... not bad other than Texas is just plain hot.
If I were to go again, I would likely skip the stand hunts. We could hear plenty of pigs, but they were staying down in creek bottoms and not getting up into the fields where the stands were set up. Folks said that is not always the case, but given it has been so hot and dry in the area they tend to stick closer to the water. Besides, hunting hogs from a stand is pretty much like hunting deer from a stand.
I would do the thermal image hunts again. These hunts are spot and stalk around the fields in the dark. They are MUCH more productive and MUCH higher on the fun factor scale. The down side of doing a thermal hunt is now I am wanting a thermal scope! Looks like I may have some horse trading coming up to get something put together. Yote hunting would be a whole different thing with one!
In preparing for the hunts, I did not take into consideration the timing of the hunts. I originally thought we would be out in the evening and back in around 23:00 or so. Well, hogs are much more nocturnal than that. Most of the action was not until late. We ended up not getting back to the lodge until 04:00 - 05:00 when hunting. My sleep schedule was pretty much screwed the whole time there. If I were doing it again, I would get my schedule more in synch before going.
All in all a good experience and something I would do again.... ended up with 10; the largest was a 200lb boar.
Texas is a long way off... might consider something like GA or the Carolinas for a future event.
If I were to go again, I would likely skip the stand hunts. We could hear plenty of pigs, but they were staying down in creek bottoms and not getting up into the fields where the stands were set up. Folks said that is not always the case, but given it has been so hot and dry in the area they tend to stick closer to the water. Besides, hunting hogs from a stand is pretty much like hunting deer from a stand.
I would do the thermal image hunts again. These hunts are spot and stalk around the fields in the dark. They are MUCH more productive and MUCH higher on the fun factor scale. The down side of doing a thermal hunt is now I am wanting a thermal scope! Looks like I may have some horse trading coming up to get something put together. Yote hunting would be a whole different thing with one!
In preparing for the hunts, I did not take into consideration the timing of the hunts. I originally thought we would be out in the evening and back in around 23:00 or so. Well, hogs are much more nocturnal than that. Most of the action was not until late. We ended up not getting back to the lodge until 04:00 - 05:00 when hunting. My sleep schedule was pretty much screwed the whole time there. If I were doing it again, I would get my schedule more in synch before going.
All in all a good experience and something I would do again.... ended up with 10; the largest was a 200lb boar.
Texas is a long way off... might consider something like GA or the Carolinas for a future event.
We arrived around noon on day 1. We were doing stand hunts on the first day. The stand hunts are unguided. However, the guide does take you out to show the layout of the property they have set up for stand hunting. It is approx. 1,000 acres of woods and fields with several stands / bait feeders. After that, you come and go from the lodge at the front of the property to the fields behind as you wish using your own trucks. Cost was $200 per hunter plus $75 for the lodge for that 24 hour period.
Day 2 was the thermal hunt. We went out around 6:30 that evening for an hour or so drive to fields with recent activity and hunted until about 3:00 a.m. (They claim they have access to approx. 65,000 acres) The thermal hunts are fully guided and they provide you with AR10s, ammo, night scopes, etc. They say these hunts are "guaranteed success". Cost was $400 and included the night at the lodge unlike the stand hunt.... so about $125 more than the stand hunt.
The guide will only take 4 guys out at a time on the thermal hunt, so a small group is better than a large group. We had 3. The guide was good at getting us on hogs.
The lodge is nothing fancy, but served just fine for what we were doing. It is a later model trailer on a foundation, 4 bedrooms with bunks and bedding, two baths with showers, a covered deck with tables and gas grill, a kitchen with all the stuff you need to prep meals, etc. It can accommodate up to 14, but we had the place to ourselves. They don't provide any meals but everything you need is there.
They also have a cleaning station and walk in cooler on site if you want to make use of them. Our plan was to bring back meat, but the guide said the pigs around there "taste like ****". Some locals we talked to said the same. So, it was more of an eradication hunt than anything else.
Damn... what a way to die:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-wo...-outside-home-in-unbelievably-tragic-incident
https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-wo...-outside-home-in-unbelievably-tragic-incident
