The pigs on our lease have become way to comfortable. Last year I only saw them one time during daylight. The year before we killed 2 big boars and saw them about 25% or less of the time we sat in our blinds. This year we have pictures of all hours of the daylight hours and fewer deer pictures because of them.

So I decided I was going to go sit in my blind since it was 37 degrees and see how the hogs were effecting the deer movement. I walked up on a group of 12 or more smaller pigs and sows and when I got to my blind there were 9 bedded up in a big pile about 90 yards in front of my blind in one of my cut out shooting lanes. I have never went hog hunting with a gun prior to the season opening, but I was going to make an exception this year because of so many hogs on camera. I was really wanting to wait on a big boar so I held off till I finally saw one with a small group about 50 yards thru the thick cover. He was easily 300+ but just would not move out of the thick cover. As it got darker and colder (35 degrees by now) I knew I was going to shoot one of the smaller boars if the big one stayed in the cover. Finally the big boar chased 2 smaller boars away from him and I was able to confirm it was the bigger one and he gave me a very small window thru the mesquites and when he walked back thru the small opening I let the big dog bark. I think I may have shot to early because it was a neck shot and they all ran in different directions. It was almost dark and made it difficult to spot any blood and I only looked close to where I shot since there was no way I knew what direction he ran. My main goal was to try to get them out of their comfort zone, run them off for a while or make them go nocturnal. In all I saw 6 different groups of pigs for a total of 50+. I really do not like shooting any firearms at out lease prior to the season , but I do not think it will do as much damage to the deer hunting as the hogs do since they are keeping the deer off of the feeders. I do not like feeder pens , but I may have to go that direction if things do not change. Thoughts.

Semi-auto or lever rifle and just get a bullet in them, anywhere, and as many as you can, as often as you can. Some traps will help, at first, then they'll get wary.

Semi-auto or lever rifle and just get a bullet in them, anywhere, and as many as you can, as often as you can. Some traps will help, at first, then they'll get wary.

What he said! I have the same hog problem. I got 3-:80 to 90 pounders this past weekend.

Hogs are more bothered by rifle fire vs deer, but hogs being present will run your deer off. I'd shoot the hogs now.

You have to do some nervous system damage or they'll eat every bullet you throw at 'em. My spot is where the neck meets the body.

Charlie

Noticed the same this year on our place. A lot more hogs and they're a lot bolder.

Congratulations! You have a hog sanctuary - a property where hogs live largely unmolested, in peace and happiness, being fed by largely absentee owners/hunters.



Are you trophy hunting or trying to deal with a problem? Sounds like you are trophy hunting and that isn't going to do much for your problem. Boars do not control the sounders. Sows do. You may have done the sounder a favor by killing a boar that was actually unwelcome in the sounder.



This is the WRONG mindset and probably a great reason why your hogs are so comfortable where they are on your hunting land and eating the foot you intend for the deer. People seem to have this religious belief that gunshots will scare away deer for months or some such nonsense. That might be the case in places where there is no hunting at all, but deer get used to gunshots. Deer will get used to people. Deer do not seem to get used to hogs, however. If you don't actively work to kill off your hogs, you aren't going to see as many deer.

And, if you have your choice of what hogs you are going to shoot, shoot the sows for crying out loud. They are the ones that bear young. Of you have 10 sows and 10 boars in your area and you can only shoot 9 of them, are you going to shoot 9 boars or 9 sows? Mind you, 1 boar can impregnate all 10 sows in a matter of days, but one sow can only get pregnant once at time. So do you want all 10 sows dropping young or just one? Which program is better for trying to reduce the number of hogs in your immediate area?

You have to start trapping.
I agree with a semi-auto (or be efficient with a lever or bolt gun) that you have a better chance, but a group of hogs can move 10-15 feet in the first second after a shot is fired, yes we timed it. That means they will clear a normal blind clearing in seconds, and you are shooting them on the run after that first shot. Pigs don't just stand there and let you play arcade, the best you can hope for is lining them up for twofers or that some pigs will return. You mentioned seeing 9 and then 12 pigs (21) while going to hunt. If you can get two each hunt, that is a lot of trips especially considering that you won't always get pigs.
You must be vigilant in hunting or trapping. Never stop.
Good luck.

Shoot a smaller caliber suppressed and shoot for ear.

To put it Mathematically:
+ Hogs = - Deer
or
- Hogs = + Deer

Find you a local CELLULAR trapper. They will eliminate your problem in short order and the deer and turkey will thank you. Every landowner we trap on using cellular traps reports a rise in deer and turkey populations. We now have a 2-3 week waiting period. Cell trappers collect pigs at night, thus preventing a spoiled hunt. Most likely those deer are hanging out nearby where the hogs aren't. Don't use a box trapper, and dang sure please don't plop a single box trap by your feeder if you're truly intent on getting rid of the sounder.

Interesting - seems the sounders on my cellular game cams will mostly disappear when a boar becomes a regular at one of my feeders. When the boar gets taken out - the sounders move back in.

Oddly, I have quite a few pics lately of multiple deer and a single boar eating together at the feeders. All younger deer. No pics of deer and sounders together (not surprising). Haven't seen this before 2020.

So, yeah, waiting to kill the great bit boar probably didn't help the situation at all.

Heck, I have 3 bunches of them on my 133 acres.

Unlike others, I do find that shooting at a feeder makes deer avoid them. And, when the pigs show up, deer immediately leave the feeder.

Right now, I'm too busy to mess with them.

They also get trap shy quickly.