The Page Unit has a lot of hogs no doubt. I started off Sunday morning about 8AM and I saw hogs all day long. I wasnt off the trail for 15 minutes before a group of hogs ran by me. Im guessing I saw 25 to 30 pigs throughout the day. Sunday was action packed. I walked up on and scared a bunch of hogs bedded down and sleeping. I got 1 out of those guys as they ran. I also spotted another group of small hogs 30 minutes after the last group and busted 2 of them. The day was just non stop hogs. About noon I stalked up on an old boar just munching away on grass. I popped him in the shoulder and he came straight at me. Put 2 more shots in to him at 10 yards and closing to finally lay him down. My heart was pumping!! What a rush though. I loved it!! Saw a few more singles after that including the biggest hog I have ever seen. It was like a horse running in front of me. I had the shooting sticks up had the red dot on his nose and the darn safety was still on. Man was I pissed at myself. That was a stud!!! Put about 6 miles on the old legs and I was worn out by 3 pm and headed home with best hunting trip that I can remember. Loved it!!!

Went back out Saturday at 8 AM and what a difference a few days make. Im guessing the hunting pressure made these hogs nocturnal because I walked 6 to 8 miles this time and never saw a hog until 2:30 where I squeezed off a shot through the trees but I think it was deflected. I decided I was going to stick it out until dark about 4:30 I had another boar come walking by at about 100 yards but he was just too far through the trees to get off a good shot. So about 5 pm I am hustling back in and get on the main trail and a sounder of about 10 hogs walk out on me and this is no usual sounder. These were fat huge sows that I would say half of them were over 200 pounds or more. Just huge. SO I walk in the woods after them but they take off of course. I did mark that spot though and was back out there on Sunday the last day of the hunt. I showed up to that spot about 3 pm and decided to just sit in the woods in an area were I had some visibility and shooting lanes and wait for that sounder again. But they never showed up. I did however pop 2 more hogs while waiting on them.

I liked the Page unit


!!

Hope there are a few left that haven't gone nocturnal by the time I get out there! Won't be able to do that kind of volume with my muzzleloader. Did you take any meat off of them? Looks like lots of backstraps there.

I don't believe they ever go nocturnal out there. I've seen them at all times of day from September to January

I have had several leases that had lots of hogs yet you rarely saw one in the daytime.

I believe he is referring to this particular area where the hogs are only hunted for about 1 month out of the year. With no hunting pressure all year they are definitely not nocturnal all year long. But maybe now with all the pressure last week it either pushed them South with less hunting pressure or just moved them off the area we are allowed to hunt. Some went nocturnal also but once the hunting pressure is gone I am sure they will go back to their daytime activities.

I was wanting to bring some backstraps home but I killed those little pigs in the morning so I didnt think carrying around that meat all day would be a good thing. My last couple of hogs were old nasty boars so I donated them to the save a coyote foundation. Ill be in brierwood next week so plenty more opportunities for backstaraps

Yeah my mistake for not being clear. This is what I meant. People travel the NWR all year with hunting pressure for a couple of months. I have been on some of these properties from early season into muzzleloader. They don't seem to change there schedule. I assume because they get familiar with people? In Brierwood they don't even seem to care you exist. I had to walk within 50-60 yards before they would even lift there head and acknowledge I existed. But wouldn't run until I kept moving forward. For what it's worth Brierwood was two years ago. But here is a map of where I saw the most hogs during the 4 days. Based on the coloration and group numbers I feel confident these were different groups of hogs. These where groups of 6-15 hogs. The red X marks where I saw them. The shaded area is where I saw the most animal sign. The one lone black X is the only deer I saw while there.



Also, don't discount the big boars. Bigger animals have bigger cuts of meat. I'll take an old 300 pound boar over a 40 pound piglet any day of the week.

I would have to agree with you about the hogs not being scared of people at Brierwood. I had a few trot out in front of me last year like I was no big deal to them. They got shot also. But they weren't haulin arse to get away from that is for sure. Made for very easy targets. At Page they were definitely running away from people. Most of my shots were pigs on the run except a few of the boars I stalked up on at mid day.

Thanks for the map, I will head for the area adjacent to the darkened area in the Page Unit. Being a no longer tough 65 year old I will have to stick to the smaller pigs for eaters. What are they eating? Are there lots of Oak trees dropping acorns?