First let me say this forum is nothing short of excellent. I found my way here following some discussions on the ATN Xsight and have poked around quite a bit.

I am active duty in Virginia- the land of no hogs on my hunting lease. Each year I take my step son on a hunting adventure in search of hogs. To me hogs are tastier than venison and hunting at night with NV or Thermal is beyond waaaaay cool! My search for land in NC to put my new Thermal scope to use continues- but your stories of hogs on top of hogs makes my tastebuds salivate! When I retire from 20 years of service Summer 2017, I want to book a Helicopter Hog hunt in TX. 2017 is forever away.

I know an outfitter is the best bang for the buck, but what is the reality of a visitor coming to Texas for a DIY Hog Hunt? I have learned my Active Duty status gets me resident license pricing. What is the availability of public lands? Anyone tried a trip like this? Successes? Points of Improvement?

Kyle

DIY Hog Hunting on public land is pretty much hit or miss. The highest likelihood for success is hunting feeders or food plots which you don't find there. If you're gonna travel all the way from Virginia, you might as well hedge your bet and line up a reputable outfitter.

And BTW.. Thank You for your service!

^^^^^^^^^^
What he said.

And I thank you for your service also.

I found the forum in the same way, looking for x sight info. Seems like a great place to come.

and thank you for your service.

I would check the outfitter section on here for hog hunts. You should also post on that section like you did here what you are wanting to do.

You will have plenty of responses on what your options are and I know some give discounts or trades to military members.

The more you stick around and get to know others on this forum chances are good someone like me will invite you to hog hunt for free to thank you for your service.

Good luck.

for your service. Most of my hog hunting is public land WMA . Not sure what all ya need for out of state licence. None that i know of have night hunts. Each one of WMA have their own rules, check lowere in form listing. Their are some good out fitters on here. Best wishes.

X2

The WMA have funny rules. The one near me is currently open for hog hunting March 1. - April 30, but they only allow hunting sun up to sun down. I believe this will be true of all the WMAs. I do know folks that are taking hogs off the. Walk way in, drag hog a long ways out

Texas msg be a big place, but most of our land is privately owned.

WMA are mostly walk-in-drag-out . i carry light back pack by adiidas its mesh type, some trash bags if get hog, cut along back, ack straps, around the quarters roll over & repete. On some of the bigger WMA finding hogs is easy part. Surrounding privet land gets presure, day & night, & hogs bed up in hard ta reach thick areas. No garrentees last few years been seeing less & smaller hogs. A good outfitter, chance of hogs might be better & night hunts, depends what kind of hunt ya want. Most WMA not open year round, few archery hog. Best wishes.

Kyle, first...let me say Thank You for your service Sir!

With regards to a DIY hog hunt: It is certainly 'possible', but my advice would be to spend some time contacting one of the MANY outfits offering hog hunting. Your hunt/experience will be so much better for it.

Here are some of the reasons why:

1. Decent hog hunts (if you do your homework) offer a much better chance of success. They are conducted on private land with folks that know what they are doing. Costs can be quite reasonable.

2. On public land (of which there is little in Texas) you have no control over who else is there or what they are doing. Probably an WMA anyway, so there might be additional fees and there will certainly be 'restrictions' (possibly no night hunting).

3. On public land, you are going in 'blind', you will have no idea where the hogs are...and will spend your first couple days 'scouting'...which is wasted time for a non-resident with limited time to hunt.

As concerns your license, Texas offers a special 5 DAY NON-RESIDENT license (type 157) for $48.00. It is good for any 5 consecutive days and also allows you to take certain varmints or (non-game animals), That is a screaming deal! IF your step son is under the age of 17, he can hunt under the special youth license, for $7.00

You will need to have completed some type of Hunter Safety course in order to purchase a hunting license here (some exceptions apply), or pay a deferral fee (can only be done once).

I have no affiliation with this outfit, but it is representative of what is available to you and they have an excellent reputation: http://www.texaswildhoghunting.com/

Best of luck. We hope you will have a safe and enjoyable time...while in our Great State.

Flint.

Kyle

The best way I know to find hunts for free is to trade hunts with other people. If you know of a great place or have a great place to hunt for any kind of animal (and you will be surprised at what people will want to hunt), put up an ad on the lease or outfitter section to trade your hunt for a hog hunt. I have done this a couple times and each time my in box is full of pm's regarding the trade. I am doing 2 traded hunts this year and have averaged about 2 hunts for the last few years.

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

Kyle, Thank You for your service. I 100% agree with all of the advise above. However, if you was do it yourself look up Army Corps of Engineers Lake Lavon. Review the regs online some of the sections (areas) allow shotgun slugs from rifled barrels. Google map the areas and look for the pipeline sendaro. Acess point fm 325 and make a left on the pipeline.

Everyone-

Thanks for the warm welcom and solid advise. I kept trying to post replies over the weekend from my Iphone without success.

Kyle

I agree, but prior positive experiences in MS have made DIY hunts more fun than canned paid hunts. In MS, I got to meet the locals, have coffee at the local diner, tell stories and observe humanity removed from the rat race of life.

Using Thermals, we drove a bunch of back roads, made notes and approached people with a "hello" and a handshake. We have open ended invites back to MS, but Ive never killed a hog in TX!!

How quick can yo do a hog like that?

I know that there is a hog hunting place near Culpepper, VA named Rose Hill.

They hunt hogs at night and are much closer to you than Texas.

Just thought you may not be aware of their operation.

Rmocarsky

long drive to kill a pig but if you're set on it I'd follow the advice already given, line up an outfitter. Other than that its gonna be public which isnt gonna be much good if you're only staying for a couple days.

never timed myself. Years of working at foundry, 8-24 hours using idiot stick, some called me easymoney just laughed & said moledigger. bending over boxes up ta your waist, picing up stuff half & more your own weight, puts lot of wear & tear on back, under 40 yrs old, seen doctor, said had back of 80 year old person. didnt need no fancy english ta figure out easier eay ta get hog out. huntsolo & try figure easier way. Only reason kinda hurry, tis it agravates me back. As most have said, is mostly privete land. Tough getting permission. Around here, hogs pretty thinned out. Back whin first got on THF, was still seeing alot of hogs at OSBWMA, videos in public hunting if mod's havent pulled em. they are older videos. Tis the worst hunter on here, can't even get hogs ta come inta food plots & corn feeder. My income keeps me limited of places ta hunt. Finaly scraped few $ & it was swampy. Had good time, much needed exercise. Again no hog, hunting at night on WMA, tis why can be a hot spot. Finding hogs was always easy for me. Best wishes. my first hog hunt at night was a blast. Its high-tech now.