Public Bacon Questions - Caddo Grasslands Ladonia Unit

I'm a new hunter and I've recently been scouting and hunting the Ladonia unit of Caddo Grasslands.

I see tons of hog sign and have even seen one spook off at a watering hole in the afternoon.

Anytime I see hog hunts in Texas it's almost all at night.

My question is have hogs in this area become almost exclusively nocturnal? I'm curious if I'm wasting my time in Caddo if the hogs only move outside shooting hours.

I use scent killer and am usually in my climber 30 minutes before first light, after I sit a few hours I'll go and try to stalk with the wind in my face. I've been a number of times with absolutely no luck.

As I said, I'm new to hunting so maybe its just impatience, but if not I'd like to know so I can adjust my stratagem.

Thanks,

Myles

I'm not familiar with Caddo Grasslands, but in general:

If there's any hunting pressure at all hogs will quickly leave the area or become nocturnal.
Hogs cannot tolerate warm temperatures. In summer they'll usually be nocturnal, avoiding direct sunlight.
In winter, if there's little or no hunting pressure, they may be out during the day and often around sunset/sunrise.

I'd say we're approaching the better hunting season for hogs (cooler temperatures) so you might keep at it, but I don't know what else is going on in that area.

That's what sucks about public land, no night hunting, and probably for good reason. Hogs are usually nocturnal. As was said you can get them in the daylight in these cooler temps though. Several times I have shot hogs on my way to the deer stand before sunlight. Also shot some right before sundown. Being able to hunt at night will definitely increase your odds. Are you hunting a trail or water hole?

Well, using caltopo.com I plotted out some points near two large ponds. There's sign everywhere around them and the one hog I spooked I was walking out to my truck and pathed back by the small pond and it was there.

The place I've been setting up my climber is maybe 200 yards from the dirt road leading to the WMA, but it is on a cluster of trails maybe 50 yards from the pond.

I've scouted in much deeper and found several river beds and trails up banks that are well worn.

In terms of pressure, I've seen people every time I'm out there. But usually no more than maybe one or two groups of two, so I'm not sure what effects that has.

Again, I'm a new hunter so when you say they will quickly go nocturnal is what is the literal time frame there? If they are shot at once they'll never be seen again or is it a couple seasons of hunting that drives their behavioral changes?

Hogs are naturally nocturnal. Pressure just reduces daylight encounters. Sounds like you know the area and know where to hunt. Hunt it as early and late as you can. Be patient.

I hunt property that adjoins the Ladonia unit. Most of the activity we see is at night, but every now and then we get movement during the day.

As an aside, don't rely on the WMA boundaries shown on Google Map and Earth, it is incorrect. Make sure you use the boundaries shown on the WMA website.

All I know about hogs (since I am a Texas transplant - wife grew up here but didn’t hunt) is where I hunt on my buddy’s private land where he lives in Centerville. They seem to be completely nocturnal up around him. His neighbor runs dogs on them in the winter so that might have made them go nocturnal because of the pressure. We usually see hogs at the feeders between 9pm-1am and have jumped a couple during the daytime along the mud holes and along the creek bed that runs through his property. This is usually during the hot summer days. During the colder times, they seem to move around from farm to farm around the neighborhood and make their rounds while feeding at night. Have you tried throwing out some Sow In Heat or setting off one of those aerosol scent bombs yet? If the areas that you are hunting have thick brush then most likely the hog is going to smell or hear you and move along or hide and you will never even see them. So getting them to come to you is probably your best bet in that situation, from what my buddy tells me about hogs. I was using an Ozonics in my 4x8 hunting blind that is on a 5’ tower and 40 yards from my feeder and the hogs would come in and then run off like they could hear it running. They did this for 10 minutes. So my buddy told me to just shut it off and after that, the hogs came right in 15 minutes later. We had the wind at our face, using Scent Lok clothing and hoods and even had deer walk around 10 yards from the blind earlier that night. The hogs seem a lot more skittish than the deer on his property and there is a lot of pressure on the deer in his area. The guy at the counter at the shop that I trust where I bought it, told me that the Ozonics has worked for deer with him but he has had no luck with it while hog hunting. I was really amazed on how great the hogs sense of smell was compared to deer. Good luck and I hope you get yourself a pig.