Hey folks, I'm looking for a little advice. Im fairly new to hunting and am having to figure out everything on my own. Currently all i hunt is public land. Ive spent a couple days out on the Tawakoni WMA scouting and spent an evening/morning in the blind out there this weekend but didn't see or hear anything other than some coyotes. Ive found plenty of tracks and fresh rooting, but as far as figuring out a pattern i am lost. Is my best bet gonna be setting up a few game cams to get an idea of when they are moving? If anyone has any pointers it would be greatly appreciated, all i got this weekend was covered in poison sumac/ivy!

Not sure how much pressure Tawakoni gets during deer season... At OSBWMA did the archery hunts, tree stand gives ya elevated point of view, can see good distance... Specialy now with leaves off the tree... If ya finding fresh sign, move slowly around area, looking for trails droppings have bumped many hogs thick brush, fallen trees, tall grass... wish had the spare cash ta join ya, i need the exercise... Move alittle stop, move a little stop, scanning area for movement... i've had em jump up yards from me... stay with it, its a blast, i varied my camera in a fany pac, did more videoing than chooten... Best wishes...

Are there any creeks? If you see a trail cut into the bank at any point that's probably a hog trail. You can set up on it and hope you get lucky. It's my experience that hogs don't follow daily travel patterns like deer. They may come through an area once every three days. My cameras showed them coming back from private pastures around 10-11 AM.

Thanks for the advice! One thing i haven't seen much of is droppings. Next time i go out i plan on taking it a little slower and trying to make it further off the main trails. Gotta get my gear cleaned up and rid of all his poison ivy first though There is one area I've found with a small stream, no more than 3-4 feet wide that is pretty heavily warn but the tracks weren't fresh. There is a good spot to set up the blind in the area though so maybe ill give that a shot to.

Pawnee inlet area seems to have the most hogs at Tawakoni. It gets a lot of deer hunting pressure but thyere are a ton of hogs there. Hunt the northern section of that unit and get close to where the river runs through. They are there but with all the deer hunting and "other" activities, thye may be a little pressured still. Also I would not trust leaving anything you don't want stolen on public land, ESPECIALLY Tawakoni. Go to Cooper WMA also, goo hog population all around that lake and less pressure since it is spread a bit more.

I started on my own with no help either about 3-4 years ago. I only get to hunt in January thru march but I hunt or try to hunt 8 or 10 days each season. To date no kill yet.

I have only had 1 daylight sighting/shot and that was in February. And I freakin missed!!! LOL My heart was pumping like a freight train. I wish I would have checked to see if it was during the new moon but I am not sure and didnt check. Other than that I have seen hogs on 3-4 other occasions and every one of them has been in the last 15 minutes of legal shooting time making it hard to even get a shot. Its fairly dark in the deep woods that late. In the SHNF that is 30 minutes after sundown.

Very frustrating but I am thinking and dreaming of going soon. Just waiting on that darn plantar faciitis to go away. It just keeps hanging on and when it comes to pig hunting you better be prepared to put some miles in because they do move around so hunting around fresh trax/signs is imperative.

My current strategy is find fresh signs and then try to set up a shot based on wind and which way I hope they come in and wait for dark to see if they come by. I have also started to recognize signs like multiple trax from fresh to old heading in the same direction being the same size. That is a pig doing that same walk every day so another good set up for you. I learned that one last year when my only "almost sighting" occurred. I found trax doing that exact thing and after I set up in the wrong spot 50 yards away with no shot I went back and saw that the pig had walked those exact tracks again. I heard him coming and walk right on past me. Nothing I could do. If I would have stood up and walked he would have surely heard me since it was so quiet.

Big as U bee's if ya'd stood up, U could have followed fresh sign all the way back ta that little pigges home... just like in video i made when snuck up on dem sleeping hogs, scard de cheet outa em...
Just gotta stay at it... A pappy once said: every hour spent in woods, brings ya that much closer ta being in de right place ...

It gets so thick that you can only see 4 or 5 yards ahead of you. I know they are bedding up in there but man it is not easy to get in to. Which is of course why they are there!!

One day it will happen and hopefully in the next week or 2 because my foot is getting better every day. I figure the first day I need to put in at least 4 or 5 miles unless I get lucky and find them quickly.

My last trip a few weeks ago up to Cleveland was just worthless. Standing water all over the areas I like to hunt so I didnt even try and came back home. My foot was hurting so I wasnt in to exploring new areas.

I heard it wasnt so bad by Lake Conroe/stubblefield so I am heading out to explore a few new areas over by the lake and see how my foot does probably next week.

It gets eerie walking thru those woods after dark thinking about the boogeyman!!

you had chance ta get back down thar ?
Speedy recovery Bigfoot .... Last several years at OSBWMA been more exercise & videos than hunten, if find one that can do a solo back pack, en & chillen... hunters remorse tis setting it... Going & had a head start at birth... Best wishes ta all...