What rifles other than sako's do you hunt with?

[hanco1]

Plenty sore ass Aoudads too, got this with a PSE

 

[hanco1]

Got this one with a 264 Sako

 

[deersako]

Great stuff guys

 

[South Pender]

What's the bag limit for pigs in Texas?

 

[Bucktote]

Great Pics.Hanco1!!
I agree with Spaher, Porkers are better in the winter, but still have to know how to prepare them for the table. We are blessed at our farm that we do not have any ferral hogs in our area. At a hunting lease I had in SC I planted sunflowers one Friday evenng. Came back Monday & hoge went down the rows & ate all the seeds./ My Interarms .243 was employed & the hogs were thus thinned out a little. But they rebound quickly. That was some years ago before cell phones & cameras, but we never had the quantity of those pests that you have in Texas. Can't kill them fast enough!!

 

[hanco1]

Ain’t know damn limits on know damn pigs down hear!!! You cannot kill them out, they multiply very quickly. I have trapped-killed hundreds on our lease, never makes a dent as far as we can’t tell. Creek runs through it, water is a necessity for them. We are just east of Lake Buchanan in Burnet county.

 

[gowyo]

A pig hunt is high on the bucket list. My AII .308 carbine and AR-10A4 would get the nod. My nephew and Brother in law just got back a couple weeks ago from TX. Bachelor party. 5 hunters, 4 days, only 7 pigs. Not the tally they were expecting.

 

[hanco1]

You never know about pigs

 

[Spaher]

My 2 cents: in 2019 we developed a mgmt plan to effectively eliminate all hogs because of their high reproductive rates, disease threat, parasite impact, damage to crop land, improve waterhole quality & wasting of hunting time on other game. The plan has several moving parts & I’ll try to set it out.
First: one part involved helicopter usage & we learned that a shotgun using 00 buckshot was most effective, meaning less shots per animal & impact of reloading on time & not losing targets in groups or sounder of hogs as cost of flying you want to kill every one in a group or singles you see. Ammo availability, cost & quality of shells (12 ga.) impacted shotgun choice. Pump shotguns are less problematic or more tolerant of lesser quality ammo but less practical & other auto shotguns tended to jam when shooting hundreds of shells in 9 hour increments. From pump to auto to tactical types with extended tube magazines to clip magazine types that proved unwieldy we settled on the discontinued Rem VersaMax Competition Tactical that comes with an extended tube mag holding 11 shells. Cleaned daily not had any jams and most efficient on time & shell quality type issues. Loading 300-400 shells in tube takes time & heck on fingers when rushing so best load in increments when alternating between 2 shooters. Next, plan & how implement…
(unless any objection(s) on going off topic as I’ll be happy to stop.)

 

[stonecreek]

Sock it to us, Spaher! We're ready for more on pig control.

 

[icebear]

Helicopters! I can hear "Ride of the Valkyries" playing in the background. I'll be watching for the next installment.

 

[Spaher]

Secondly, hogs are bad, period. They travel up and down riparian areas or rivers and estuaries as DNA sampling has shown they do not generally move away or across from one riparian area to another so migration is predictable. We had designed portable round traps with no bottom and 24" lips along the top making climbing out effective and no bottom as the 10-12' diameter traps with no bottom designed to move if a hog tries to burrow out and it gets pushed. We have been running 12 traps year round for many, many years and just keeping up with removing the reproductive number (an assumption).
So in 2019 after multiple hunts and every hunter having deer pushed out by hogs the decision was made to "bite the bullet" and begin by multiple flights starting in Jan., 2020. Cost of flights and shell usage a factor, but status quo was unacceptable. Plan was to fly and shoot all you see, when hunting deer everyone must shoot the first coyote or any hogs that show regardless of "trophy" or cull hunting; run traps daily and if plan implemented violently with no letup we should see a difference in coyote and hog numbers. Here is how that went by date and numbers removed:
1/15/20 8-9 hours 148 hogs
1/26/20 " 127 hogs
2/28/20 " 116 hogs
10/9/20 " 54 hogs
blind & trapping 225 hogs (estimated)
2020 total= 670 hogs (88 coyotes as there is no quarter on them)

2/2021 8-9 hours 64 hogs
10/2021 " 30 hogs
blind & trapping 30 hogs (estimated as count kept on sheet at skinning shed)
2021 total 124 hogs (34 coyotes)

2/2022 14 hours 16 hogs (10 coyotes)

In my estimation biting the bullet on cost and time in the first year significantly reduced the numbers where 2 days of transect flying so far in 2022 we only saw 16 hogs and killed every one of them along with any coyotes. Coyotes are more difficult as unlike hogs that run with loud sound from rotors or vehicles, coyotes will not run until you are on top of them generally speaking. When we say we have no hogs it is meant that for 2 periods a year there are no hogs present or seen, Yes, there will be migration but there is no recruitment via reproduction on the property and we use 1 person to continue to run traps (99% waste of time now but once a month catch 1-3 visitors). When any spoor/track or droppings seen then then he will visit there early in morning and evening to remove the hog(s) with a .22 Hornet caliber and if a trap uses a .22 LR (cost and efficiency issue). We have followed up our flights and post-season with trail cameras on food plots and/or feeders to verify the presence or absence of hogs with confirmed results on camera. The expenses involved with this plan were mostly up front as we have seen no to minute number of hogs, just as important we are seeing less ticks on deer (and us) as the hosts are removed along with cleaner water sources. We expect for higher body weights on WT deer as stress caused by hogs impact body condition. Our supplemental feed costs are reduced as well as the amount of prep time for planting, on equipment and fuel in the fall.
The downside is that there is little pork to barbeque and when an occasional female or young one is found it is promptly gutted, skinned and on the grill after chilling. Side note, even with 00 buckshot, most hogs of any size require multiple hits (up to 10 rounds) to go down so on the first year in 3 flights, each shooter shot about 400 times per flight, lots of shells, sore loading fingers and not fun after the first 100 shots. Early on finding a sounder of say, 15 hogs we usually shot all of them by shooting the larger ones first as the smaller ones will be in the area versus the older ones making beelines away towards creek cover. Shooting from a helicopter is unnatural as the seating & harness do not allow shooting ahead but usually to the side and behind so facing out at 45 degrees means bruising on the chest and arm, especially if sitting on the right side if you are right handed. Further note, most helicopters do not or cannot just hover as the Robinson 44 type (4-seater) are somewhat underpowered and have to keep moving to stay aloft, so horsepower is a big deal and affects costs. I'm sure I missed a lot of lessons learned based on field experience but that's about it on this side topic on how and why we will to continue this plan as we see the results on the ground. Additional note, obviously the hogs are left in the field and a haven for migrating buzzards and caracara with accompanying dreadful smell for a few days. Flying does stress other animals but for a brief amount of time on those days but offset by the removal of hog stress. Time of year affects visibility as in Jan/Feb there is little foliage and easier to spot targets as well as visibility affected by clear or overcast days. Hope not too boring ....long winded but lots of ground to cover…

 

[hanco1]

That’s a lot of pigs

 

[South Pender]

That's really interesting, Spaher. Thanks for the detailed analysis. It sounds as though, at least in Texas, hogs are basically varmints. How are they as table fare? Do disease and parasites make them inedible? We're wary of bear meat here, with trichinosis being a concern. Are your pigs safe to eat, and, if so, how good is the meat?

Another question. Where did these large numbers of hogs come from? Is it a case of originally-domestic pigs getting out of their enclosures and becoming feral--and then multiplying like crazy? Or were there indigenous, never-domesticated, feral hogs that simply multiplied greatly?

 

[Spaher]

Origin of hogs primarily domesticated that became feral although some European boar released for sport hunting & some inevitable cross breeding. Hogs not a native specie. Population explosion due to up to 3 litters a year of multiple babies & breeding at young age.

As table fare can be delicious if selected based on gender & size. We only keep fat females that appear healthy (v.lean) & young ones in the 10-25 lbs size. No need eat boar as they do have stinky meat. Treatment of kill is important as when we gut we do not let guts taint the meat so head shots preferred & pelvis cracked open to separate intestines & bladder intact. Latex gloves help & we use separate knives for gutting, skinning & quartering to prevent contamination. In other words do not let the hide or hair touch the meat. For cooking I like using coarse ground pepper & some “Montreal” style seasoning and if lots of fat after trimming maybe some sea salt, then sear the exterior of meat at high heat to keep juices in & then wrap in foil with a cup or two of water to “steam” it thru & falls off bone after 2-3 hours at lower temp on grill. If small or thin pieces then just grilled. Tastes better than store bought if they’ve grazed crops or on a partial diet of corn. See photos.

 

[icebear]

Spaher

I am incredibly impressed with the professionalism, intelligent thought, and environmental promotion of your operation. Congratulations.

 

[South Pender]

Spaher

I am incredibly impressed with the professionalism, intelligent thought, and environmental promotion of your operation. Congratulations.

Fully agree.

 

[stonecreek]

Another question. Where did these large numbers of hogs come from?

There have always been feral hogs in most rural areas since small farmers used to simply graze their hogs on open fields. But the population explosion began in the 1980's after the passage of the Clean Water Act in the 1970's.

Hogs are subject to many of the diseases that impact humans, including gastric diseases cause by bacterial infections. Small towns used to simply dump their sewage into the nearest creek. When hogs drank it they got sick and died. Then, along came the Clean Water Act (the stick) and along with it came low-cost government loans and grants to upgrade city sewage systems to bring them into compliance with the act (the carrot). Tens of thousands of small towns turned their polluted sewage effluent into sanitary discharge, so when pig populations were no longer held in check by disease, well, guess what happened?

Just another of those unintended consequences which sometimes occurs when you fix one problem but create an unforeseen one at the same time.

 

[icebear]

There have always been feral hogs in most rural areas since small farmers used to simply graze their hogs on open fields. But the population explosion began in the 1980's after the passage of the Clean Water Act in the 1970's.

Hogs are subject to many of the diseases that impact humans, including gastric diseases cause by bacterial infections. Small towns used to simply dump their sewage into the nearest creek. When hogs drank it they got sick and died. Then, along came the Clean Water Act (the stick) and along with it came low-cost government loans and grants to upgrade city sewage systems to bring them into compliance with the act (the carrot). Tens of thousands of small towns turned their polluted sewage effluent into sanitary discharge, so when pig populations were no longer held in check by disease, well, guess what happened?

Just another of those unintended consequences which sometimes occurs when you fix one problem but create an unforeseen one at the same time.

I hadn't heard that before. Talk about irony. And, of course, the Law of Unintended Consequences, which I hammer into my students in my Foreign Policy seminar.

Thanks for posting that very interesting and informative piece of information!

 

[deersako]

Now we are talking fellas.

My CZ .17H is what’s keeping me amused at present -