Posts Tagged wild hogs
Trip to the deer lease August 29
Even though deer season does not start for another 2 months, my daughter and I made a trip to the lease to take a look at the feeders and stands.
The good news, all of the stands were still up. If we get some strong winds – like from a hurricane – sometimes the box stands will blow over. To get them back up, you need either 3 or 4 men, or a tractor with a boom pole on it. The last time I had to stand one of the box stands up, we had 4 men with us.
The bad news, one of the feeders had been knocked over – I guess by wild hogs – and damaged pretty bad. The motor housing has been broke off, and the plastic drum was bent. This feeder will be brought back to the camp and replaced. The legs will be taken off and put on another drum, and the motor replaced.
What happens – the hogs get tired of waiting on the feeder to throw the corn out, or the battery will go dead,,, but either way, the hogs will hit the legs of the feeder until they knock it over. When the feeder hits the ground, the lid comes off and the corn spills out. The hogs then feast on the spilled corn.
Another one of the feeders – the motor would not test. Meaning that I held the test button in for a few seconds, let go, and the motor would not spin up.
The last feeder had a bent leg, so it was not filled up with corn. The timber company had been in there cutting some trees and the leg looks like it had been bumped by a machine. Next weekend my kids and I will go back out to the lease and bring 3 pipes with us to replace the legs.
One of the stands had 2 legs pull off of it last deer season. While my daughter and I were out there, we measured the legs. Next weekend we will bring the 2 replacement legs with us. This time, instead of using just nails, I’am going to use some drywall screws as well.
This is not the first time hogs have damaged one of our feeders. Back in August of 2008 hogs knocked one of the feeders over and broke the housing where the leg attached. When the leg broke off, there was a hole in the drum 4 – 5 inches across, which ruined the drum.
Post your comments in this forum thread about feeders damaged by wild hogs.
Tips on hunting wild hogs
It is believed that hogs were first introduced into the United States by Hernando de Soto in or around 1539. Recent excavations from some of Hernando de Sotos’ encampments in Florida have discovered jaw bones of pigs and other swine bone fragments.
Hogs are a true omnivore, meaning that they will eat almost anything. The diet of a wild hog can include grubs, worms, termites, acorns – anything that the hog can get its mouth on, its likely to eat. There are even stories of wild hogs killing and eating new born deer.
Several factors have contributed to a recent surge in hog populations.
1. For some reason, several states have passed laws prohibiting butchers from processing wild hogs. If a hunter kills a hog, and brings that hog to a butcher, in some states the butcher will not be able to process the meat. This has helped prevent an active hog hunting community of hunters from developing. There are a group of people that hunt hogs, but not to the degree of deer hunters. Most people that hunt hogs process the meat theirselves. This is something that not everyone wants to do.
2. More deer hunters are using feeders. In some cases, deer hunters keep their feeders going all year long, and as a result, supply the hogs with a year round supply of food.
3. Lack of large natural predators to keep the wild hog population in check.
4. Other reasons too numerous to go into here.