Any one have any tricks they use to get more hogs to show up in the daylight for morning hunts? We are about 10% at best with lots of feeders that go off at 7am. Have tried different feed times, we don't hunt the same stands within 3 days of each sit, etc. The 10% drops to about 1% if it gets cold. They aren't overly hunted as we try to keep a 7-10 days in between hunts. Any tricks would be welcome as we rarely even hunt them in the morning anymore. Thanks

thar a reason ya can't hunt @ night ?
put trail cams out ta find when they move best
Warmer Temps more movement under darkness.
couldn't afford the NV nor Thermal, got my AR set up
Mil-dot over barrel Green Lazer under. Set for close range...
Hogs usual hit early morning, used trail cam ta narrow down sitting time.

Like deer hogs can learn ta pattern hunters...
On deer leases, mostly doe's (no doe tags) hit feeders, food plots
during day light hours... Bucks scurted around them...

as pappy once said : one must learn ta think outside the box when hunting...

Sorry, not much help...

Best wish's...

Feral hogs are simply hard to predict....and harder yet to 'condition'.

Hunting 'pressure' will be defined by what the HOGS determine, not what hunters may feel is a reasonable time period between hunts.

Also, any activity (doesn't have to be hunting) that disturbs the animals can have the same effect as hunting pressure.

During the Fall, Winter and Spring.....hogs are pretty much Diurnal (active in the daytime) and might be seen at any time, but often in the morning hours and late afternoon.

As temperatures begin to rise (late May into June) it seems they become more Crepuscular (becoming active in the twilight hours) into early night.

As Summer heat takes hold....it has been my experience to see hogs only during the very early morning hours or well after sundown. Preferring to seek shade, stay cool and sleep during the day. Travel, feed, water at night .


All of the above are generalities and exceptions apply. But in every case....hunting pressure or other disturbances will cause hogs to react.

You can feed all you want....but if the hogs don't feel safe or aren't so famished as to abandon caution, they aren't going to show at a certain time just because you want them to.

Have you tried giving the smart watches and sending them reminders of when and where they need to show up to be killed? Seriously, nobody here has ever discovered a way to make hogs show up to be shot at any sort of scheduled time. Used to be that people are just wanting hogs to come in the daylight (no NV or thermal) so they could shoot them, but you not only want them in daylight, but in the mornings and on a consistent basis. That would be be a bit of a triple miracle. So yeah, nobody has figured out how to make them even show up in daylight, either.

Seriously, a lot of what flint said is spot on. The reality is that the best way to get nocturnal hogs is to shoot them in the day time. Hogs are naturally diurnal and don't even have eyes particularly well adapted for nocturnal activities (as compared to deer or coyotes, even though hogs still see pretty darned well at night), but if they feel pressured in the day, they will either go somewhere else or go nocturnal. If you pressure them enough at night after that, they just tend to go somewhere else. I have yet to hear of anyone successful pressuring free range feral hogs at night to cause them to be diurnal.

I have a buddy that gets excited when he has daylight pics of pigs sent to him by his cellular camera. He will send them to me, thrilled. Invariably when I ask him when the last time he hunted his place, it was usually several weeks ago. Regardless of the time of year, the hogs will go back to being diurnal if they aren't being pressured and for a few weeks at a time, his place is a hog sanctuary because nobody is hunting it. The hogs are comfortable and unpressured except for one weekend every 4-8 weeks and deer season.

Keep in mind that unless you have a high fence setting, the hogs are going to be traveling a few miles daily as per their normal routine. What goes on at your place isn't all that influences the hogs and their wanderings. This often comes up with "patterned hogs" that fail to show up when they have been patterned. Patterned hogs are patterned at individual locations like your stands. Well, the hogs have a whole life, probably more than 23.5 hours a day, where they are engaged in other activities and dealing with other issues outside of being at your particular stand. Maybe on the way to your place one or more of the hogs got hit by a vehicle on the road. Maybe the neighbor next door is plowing his field, the one the hogs cross on their way to your place. Maybe the hogs found a new food patch and are now spending more time there than they were, or maybe the food patch got consumed and they are showing up to your place at a completely different time as they no longer spend 3 hours in the food patch.

I second the cameras. That will tell you what you need to do. I put mine on video mode as I found I can get more info that way.

[quote=Douglas Tipton]I second the cameras. That will tell you what you need to do. I put mine on video mode as I found I can get more info that way.[/quote]

Same here.

I keep my cameras out 365 days a year and keep them on video mode. I live on my property so I can check them often. Something other folks might not be able to do. But IF you can....video mode will give you some idea which direction they come from, how they interact (if a group). If nervous acting or calm, etc....

I'll second or third or whatever what the guys have already said here. One more thing to add is that this time of year (at least around me) things are still a bit green and there are more options for the hogs to eat. So your feeder is not the dinner bell you expect. Once summer gets here and dries things out, they'll be a little more predictable at the feeders, but not completely "set your watch" predictable. And even then, getting them to come in during 'daylight is not easy. I don;t even try anymore and just set mine to go off after dark and hunt at night. A lot cooler for me too.

The best way I have found to get them to show up in the morning? Plan to hunt at 9pm.

While this sounds funny, it is truer than most of us would like to admit.