Interesting. No way they moved on to a larger neighboring property?

I guess they could have moved but no way of knowing.

Hard to tell. I'm just not convinced that numbers are actually down to the point that hunting and other factors decreased the population as significantly as sightings have decreased. Helo and night hunting will put a big dent in their numbers but also pressure them in ways that could effect their movements and range locations.

I believe for certain their numbers are down, here we have a page of 90% of everybody reporting the same

Your place may be the exception

Now, I do believe they are the type animal to rebound quickly and may bounce back fast but as far as numbers being down, I believe for sure they are

Don't let up on the gas.

Bill Wilson asking opinions on hogs.....just somehow doesn't seem right, LMAO. Kind of like the teacher asking the students how to work a math problem.

But anyways.....

Bill I am 3-4 hours west of you and a little bit north. Much more open country, lots of cropland, mixed with mesquite pasture and shin-oak country. Drier and lots of sand. Our numbers are either down or they are packed in along the creek bottoms where me and most of the people I talk to really aren't seeing them near as much. Maybe we just aren't seeing them, but I really do think numbers are down. Opinions on reasons why vary.

Drought and cold? Maybe. For dang sure it has been dry. Pastures are in bad shape. Not much to eat. Not much water either and pigs stay close to water, won't spread out without it. But we have got a little rain lately and pivots are starting to run which lets them move around more and still be able to get some water.

Heli hunting- Yes we do have a pretty fair amount of it here. Ours is not the pay to take us up and shoot things kind of deal, ours is much more of a thing where landowners band together and pay someone to fly and do population control. Up here that is normally done twice a year, for 2-4 weeks each time. Fall once leaves drop but before it gets too cold to sit in a chopper without doors all day, and in the spring before the leaves get on the plum thickets and shinnery motts. This is right before planting season to knock pigs back before peanuts go in the ground. This year, spring of 2023, no one flew here that I know of. One of my hunting partners is a big local land owner who is tied into that group and he says no one flew. And as far as we know no one flew last fall (2022) either. But spring of 2022 they flew hard. Really hard. Spring and fall of '21 they flew (I went up with them one time) and 2020 they flew spring and fall as well. So several years of hard flying but not really any for the last 12 months. They really did hammer the snot out of them spring of '22 though.

Farmers and ranchers being the way they are, most don't spend money unless they see the need. Most of my family are farmers, so I know, lol. Last year peanut price was not good and due to price plus production costs being way up we had very little peanuts planted. In fact it was the least amount of peanuts I have seen planted here in over 20 years. We don't really do corn so peanuts are what gets hit here by pigs. No peanuts means not much damage, and not much crops drawing the pigs up out of the bottoms so that people can see them. Out of sight out of mind. Farmers didn't take damage last year, haven't been seeing them, flying cost is through the roof right now. Rancher friend of mine who always flies twice a year for coyotes did not this year. Coyotes are thick, but he says cost went up to $900/hour and it is just too high. And this is a guy who always flies because he hates coyotes so bad. So combination of out of sight out of mind, and high flying prices means no one justified spending the money.

But LOTS of peanuts going in the ground this year. Starting....now. Planting time is here. My son started yesterday. So the next 2-4 weeks is going to tell the tale. Are pig numbers really down, or are they going to start coming up out of the woodwork in the next few weeks getting after the peanuts going in the ground? I don't know. But I am ready for the aporkalypse just in case. Plenty of ammo loaded up for the HAMR and ready to roll on a moments notice if people I know start taking damage and I start getting calls.

Oh, and I will add as well. Lots more guys in the thermal game now than there were 3-4 years ago. And up here not all of them respect property lines or bother asking for permission. For sure more are getting killed night hunting. How many I don't know, but more for sure.

Trapping kind of comes and goes around here depending on price. A friend of mine whose family owns quite a bit of land has done well trapping this year. Pretty sure the other day at church he said he has trapped 180 something since November.

Not seeing any hog sign on our lease... No apparent tracks, no wallows, no rooted up areas, within the last 10 months i'd say.
have been seeing more Coyotes.

I'll be real interested to hear if they show up for the peanuts which are one of their FAVORITE meals?

Here on the ranch in Red River county I can hunt 5 nights and only see hogs 1 night out of the 5, but maybe kill 3-5 that night???? It's really weird.

On our place there is right around 250 mature pecan trees

We had a terrible wheat fields and almost ZERO pecans this year

I too will be curious if we can some better wheat and have a pecan crop if they return

If they don't, its gonna get kinda boring lol

Both of your posts, great info. Since there's no farming on our place and all the heli-hunting you mention is likely East of us, that could explain our numbers being stable.

I was on a very large ranch in NE Texas about 3-4 years ago and the LO was having helo hunts 3-5 times a year. The helo hunts were killing/crippling 300 to 500 hogs per 3 day hunt. Over a 2-4 year period that will put a major dent in the hog population plus change their normal range.

My buddy who traps the hogs sent me this picture yesterday. These two boars have been running together, and showing up where he feeds cattle. All he had with him was a single shot 22, he popped both of them in the head with it.

What I am starting to think around here is, the hogs migrated from the farmland/crop areas out to more of the cattle/rangeland areas when food on the crop land got scarce. I think when they crops come back the pigs will too, but it might take a little while for that to happen. maybe a few weeks, maybe several months. But they will be back.

Makes sense.

Yes, it will. With the #'s you provide, this sounds more like a conscious attempt at population control if not an all out attempt at extermination. I was under the impression that it was recreational, commercial pay as you go hunting.

Our flying up here is not recreational at all. It is flat out an attempt (yes attempt, because actual eradication is impossible) at eradication for crop damage control purposes. The years they fly hard they kill 800-2000 pigs a year in targeted areas in our county. Which is one reason it is pretty hard for us to try and enter a big pig contest up here. Flying and thermal crop protection hunting always starts at the top, shooting the biggest and working down. Last spring right around one of my normally very good hunting areas they flew it and in 2 hours they killed 138 within a 3 mile radius of where I hunt. There are still pigs around up there but that changed the face of our night hunting completely in that area. For now, lol.

Hardly any showing up on our places this Spring. Used to see 60+ during a night at our Delta County place, now 0 - 20 (last time I went - a couple of weeks ago - I saw none)

Which counties does this take place in?

I don't know about other places, I'm not tapped into landowners in them. But from my personal knowledge I am speaking primarily of Collingsworth County, and I know parts of Childress, Hall, and Wheeler counties. Flying is expensive so usually it happens where pigs are really getting into farmers pocketbooks and can figure out on the correct side of a profit/loss statement. Primarily places where irrigated peanuts and corn are grown, though pigs can really do a number on milo and other grain crops at times. But there is not as much money in cereal grains as there is peanuts and corn.

At any rate the financial reasons for heavy control are multi-faceted. Peanut seed is expensive, fuel to put it in is expensive, and something folks don't always realize is the optimal time frame for the planting window can be narrow. Which means not only is it expensive to replant, a farmer may or may not even have time to do it once you figure in storms and available moisture. Maybe he has already moved his equipment to another field miles away and can't get back in time. Plus many are often in a jam to get done so they can swap over and start planting cotton. If you don't go back in and replant, then you suffer from reduced yields, sometimes heavily reduced yields. I have seen large areas of multiple acres before where over 50% of the seed has been eaten. Because peanut seed is, well, peanuts. And pigs like peanuts as much as we do. They will put their nose down in a row and follow it, straight as a machine.

I'll put it this way. A couple years ago ONE of my sons peanut fields had $2500-$3000 in replanting costs, and he had already moved his equipment somewhere else and had to move back. It doesn't take long to pay for a thermal or a half day of flying at that cost, especially of you team up with a couple of like-minded neighbors. That year me and my hunting partners killed 47 pigs in and around that one circle. And only half of it was planted in peanuts, the other half was cotton.

We still have hogs but not as many as in the past. Last few years there has been a local nearby that is buying them. Maybe there is more of that going on.

I was talking to a 20 year friend and 50 year resident of Titus Co., I ask him if he was seeing more, normal amount or less hogs , he quickly answered , LESS. He said he felt like it was the disease that they carry and when they become stressed for what ever reason , it spreads to the entire range. He was mowing his target range today and found 3 hog skeletons that he HAD NOT shot and he doesn't allow other hunters without him along. It seems that maybe we could get TPWD to chime in , about the disease.

OS&W, the ranch owner I spoke of was doing it purely for the $$$. He has numerous contacts with fat pockets. Rumor has it that the LO has moved south and purchased another large ranch.

Well I've had 20+ hitting the back pasture last 2 days hour before dusk. Decided do go sit and wait for them an hour ago. Red dot was dead, so I took back up with iron sights. Hogs came in to 20 yards and I shot boss sow. Pigs and piglets scattered everywhere and I proceeded to miss next 10 shots. Over saturation of targets is what I'm going with.

If they stay gone, I’ll plant my first wheat crop for deer in 5 years.,

Yes they do. Of course, that goes for most hunters, particularly trophy hunters but also anyone trying to get rid of hogs. Everyone starts at the top. The biggest targets offer the most bragging rights for the easiest shots. They are also flat out just the easiest targets to hit because they are the biggest targets to hit.

Well I guess I have a partial answer to the question. This picture was taken by my hunting partner/farmer friend this morning. Breaking this field getting ready to plant. All those dark lines are rooting since the rain a couple of days ago. Peanuts were on this field last year. Possibly lends some validity to my theory that with it having been so dry the pigs were staying down in the wet bottoms. Now that it is warming up and we are getting some rain and pivots are running they are coming up out onto the flatland/cropland to feed and spreading back out. Going to need to try and hit these guys in the next few days.

That is just the pigs looking for leftover peanuts from last years harvest. You can use your imagination and think about what it looks like when there is nice fresh seed planted every few inches in nice rows for them to root down.