If anyone is willing, my group and I would love to come down and hunt hogs for a day or so. If anyone has land to do such let us know, we can try to cook the hog as wellI Message me directly to contact.

$48 gets you access to the Sam Houston National Forest, 160,000+ acres. One of many places you can public hunt. I took this one the other day in the Sam -

There are several places/people that have been recommended here for paid hunts. You will have to do some searches.
It’s very doubtful you will find someone that will let an unknown group hunt their property.

Nice! Any tips for first timers to SHNF? I plan to start taking bi-weekly trips for day and overnight hunts for hogs.

This!!

Just saw your question Brad. Scouting is the best way to locate areas. Believe me, when you see a rooted up area you'll know it. You'll find these areas where it looks like a dried up stream bed starts. Follow that downstream until you find the rooted area.

Some other things to think about:

1. Never, repeat - never, use your rifle to check out a curious dark "thing" in the woods. Buy a descent pair of binoculars. Use them religiously. Draw up the rifle AFTER you already know your target. When you get out of the truck, put your binos on and set the focus to 50 or so yards. This helps you "see" through the underbrush.
2. Most of your shots in the SHNF will be at close range, 20 to 50 yards because it's so darned thick. If you use a scoped rifle with a variable scope set it to the lowest setting. Wait until you have a clear shot so you are not shooting through the twigs.
3. I own a tree climber. It sure is nice to see over the undergrowth. If you go this route know how to use it and be safe with it. You can really bust your [censored] with one of those.
4. If you wanna keep it after you shoot it, keep in mind how far you have to pack it out, carry it out, or cart it out.
5. Watch some videos on cleaning and care. Just remember if you want to keep it, the pig turns to food as soon as the bullet arrives.
6. When you scout, pick up your feet and look where you put them down. A loud twig snap is a red alert to hunted game of all types.
7. Pigs don't know how to be quiet (like a deer). This is your advantage!
8. Baiting is normally not legal in the national forest. Check the areas before you go so you know up front if you can bait or not.
9. The THF Public Hunting forum has great info. https://texashuntingforum.com/forum...ortunities-and-areas-in-texas#Post348583
10. Keep asking! We might not all be online at one time, but this group will take the time to help.

Awesome tips, thanks - I appreciate it! National Forest Hunter's blog and YouTube has been really helpful as well. Upon his recommendation I'll be scouting the Winters Bayou (near Cleveland) area of the park in the coming weeks and will post back my success or failures.

Awesome Brad, I look forward to hearing of your success. Always keep in mind, hunting the SHNF isn't a lease. It's hard, and anything you take is earned. It took me 3 years to learn what I know and I'm still learning. Ha, a lot of it has been learning what doesn't work.

Let's keep this thread going. There's bound to be other public hunters willing to contribute.

Im sure there are plenty of outfitters able to handle your group. Check the outfitters section here on this forum. Nobody is going to let a bunch of yahoos on their land to go shooting up the place for free if that is what you were thinking.

Good luck and give us a report of how it goes.

Ive got a lot of experience huntin the Sam but I am a pig hunter not a deer hunter. Ive killed a few does but that doesnt interest me at all. Killin pigs is my game. Time in the field unfortunately is the best provider of meat on the ground but there are a few things I have learned about hunting pigs I will gladly share.

First of all I have learned that the pigs will abandon an area easily. There today and gone tomorrow. They move a lot so dont get bogged down going to the same spot. I do have favorite areas I like to visit often but sometimes my honey holes are devoid of pigs.


For me I have a simple plan when setting off in a new area. I like to walk the creeks or the low lying areas and look for fresh wallows. Not 2 or 3 day old wallows but wallows where you know they have been there in the last 12 hours. Once you can find these types of fresh signs then you know you have found the right spot. Once I find that spot I will next try to figure out which way the pigs are coming from. If you can figure that out by tracks on the direction then you are golden. Set up with the wind in your favor and park it. I always hunt pigs in the afternoons. This time of year i want to be in my spot hunkered down by 3:30 or 4. And just wait for them.

I also like to spot and stalk. For me that is walking the creeks and areas where I see tons of fresh signs. Fresh signs is the key. Again wallows are my biggest indicators along with tree rubs and such. Dont give up. It took me a long time and lots of patience to get my first kill. But now I can go and have something on teh ground every other trip at least. Hunting public land is tough so bagging an animal ids a trophy. The Sam will hone your hunting skills big time. I am a much better hunter than several of my friends who are long time big time deer hunters who have never hunted anything but in a stand and under a feeder. I will put my skills up against their's any day of the week with their 30 years of hunting experience on their leases vs my 8 years of hunting public lands.

Thanks very much for your insights. Like you, I too prefer to spot and stalk. Your advice about following the water source is something I've been told to never forget, thanks for the needed reminder. I've planned out four potential spots in SE SHNF thus far based upon their water sources. As stated earlier in the thread, my first spot will be around Winters Bayou near Cleveland that I plan to check out ASAP (probably in the next few weeks). Your insights on the time of day are greatly appreciated as well, it is good to know that if I can't make it out there early in the day that I may still have a shot - though I plan to go dawn to dusk most times.

Trophies don't concern me, as I am a meet hunter which will hopefully help me as well, as I'm more concerned with bagging one, than bagging the one.

I have hunted the winters bayou area and it is loaded with hogs. But be careful. I quit hunting the area because I kept running in to shady characters that were out there growing marijuana or doing some other illegal activities. Especially on Red rd.

I have never had any luck at all hunting pigs in the morning. I have actually never seen a hog in the morning but I am sure they are still moving around a little bit. Stick to the afternoons for best hog activity.

Wow, thanks for the heads up!

Another piece of advice I have learned about the Sam Houston National Forest is that it is not a very healthy tract of trees. The trees are dying and they are losing them at an incredible rate so anytime you sit down always look up. Make sure there are no dead branches above you. I wont even walk under dead branches anymore Im paranoid of getting hit after a few close calls. So be aware of that.

That's something I wouldn't have even thought about, thank you! I plan on trying to get out there Sunday for a scout - can't wait!