I have a trip planned in a couple months and I'm a little curious if you all can tell me how the hog population is where we're going? We plan to hunt about 120 mile West of San Antonio in the Rock Springs/Del Rio areas. We're used to hunting south of San Antonio in the flatter areas. It seems that the new area is more in the mountains with fewer sendaros (sp?) to corn. Any other information as to what differences I can expect would be appreciated too. Thanks.

62 views and not a single comment. This must be an area in the state that not too many hunt??

Rock Springs to Del Rio---
First, figure out exactly where you will be hunting.

Google Earth will give you the vegetation coverage when it was scanned. That brush out there grows somewhat slow so it should be pretty accurate.
The University of Texas Library has access to topo maps. This will help you determine the elevation changes.

On the maps, look at the roads around the ranch vs the elevations on the TOPO..... if the elevation drops, its a canyon.... if elevation goes up, its a hill.
REMEMBER THIS---- Just because there is a road there, doesn't mean you will be able to drive it. If it says JEEP TRAIL--- it really means MIITARY JEEP IN 4WD.
More than likely you will probably need to corn the roads and pick an elevated spot to shoot down from. You may be able to shoot A LONG WAY..... several hundred if not 1000 yards plus---- know your abilities and gun. My personal preference is 300 win mag or 7MM at a minimum (thats just me) but I have killed stuff out there with a mini-14 (good optics is a must).

Hogs are NOT gonna be BIG and they definitely won't be fat. Food out there is scarce so anything you put on the ground will be fair game for everything from ground squirrels to wild sheep, deer, or exotics.
People say diesel mixed with corn will keep the deer and other animals off of it, but that isn't true.... they are hungry and everything will eat it.
Corn as soon as you get there, then re-corn every chance you can. Hopefully once they find it, they will keep coming.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the information. It is helpful and I appreciate it. When I said that we usually hunt the flatter areas...we have visited Texas for the past 6-7 years always doing a late February, early March hog hunt. I've went through the same gentleman each time and he's never failed to put us on game. He will have feeders spitting out corn before we even get there. This time, however, the ranch he's putting us on is between Rocksprings and Del Rio rather than south of San Antonio. I have requested the exact address so I can view it on Google Earth as I am big into pre hunt preparations as you mentioned. From what I gather from one website, all of Texas is loaded with hogs...and form another website, there are hogs in all of Texas but not near as many in the mountain areas as there are in the eastern portion of the state. Part of our love of this trip is seeing the difference in terrain, vegetation, and types of animals. We also enjoy the warm temperatures that time of the year as we are from Missouri. This is why we choose the 15 hour drive down south rather than 4 hours to Arkansas or 8 to northern TX. Obviously, all of this means less if we struggle to see hogs. So, would you consider the hog population in that part of the state to be greater, equal or less than south of San Antonio? I understand that not everyone hunts the entire state of TX but thought I could get a general opinion. Also, should we expect to see javelinas in this area or are they all farther south? Thanks again.

I am sure that if you have had someone coordinate your hunting before, he will have you in a good spot to see some animals. There are also free ranging exotics in that area (some trophy class animals are there).
Its going to be much, much different than hunting South of San Antonio. You will either love it and it will get into your blood or you will hate it and you will spit going out the gate.
Javelina, maybe, just depends on the ranch and the terrain.

Good Luck.

I've hunted in the Rocksprings area a couple times... First time saw no pigs and a crap-ton of axis. Second time saw 2 axis and a crap-ton of pigs. I took home some axis doe meat.