All of us let the young bucks walk (unless you live in east Texas) (only kidding) but what do y’all think about letting young boars walk?

Call me crazy but I’ve started doing this.

Killing a bruiser male hog is awesome.

Really enjoy getting the tusks out and mounting them.

But if we let the small boars walk and focus on killing sows, then we have more opportunities at trophy boars and prob do a better job of keeping the pig population down by focusing on killing the sows.

What think ye?

This is assuming there’s only one hog at the feeder and it’s an adolescent male. Do you take the shot or no?

I don't let any pig walk, PERIOD!

Shoot on site.

Everyone I see is a fair target, old, Young, big or small.

Trophies are not made by letting them walk, protecting them, and feeding them a special diet. Pets are made that way, but not trophies. Trophies are made by the animal surviving everyone trying to take it year after year until it has survived so long against the odds to be the biggest, baddest, hardest to kill.

I shoot whichever hog presents the best target at the moment, which usually ends up being a bigger sow or boar rather than the frisky piglets and shoats. They're all fair game though and I don't usually have enough time to ponder and examine. A lone hog gets shot at no matter what it is.

this ^^^^^. Shoot then all on sight or you will regret it.

Kill em all and let God sort em out.

"Trophy" hog

If you want a chance at a big hog with big cutters, you're better option would be to kill a sow with piglets, catch the male piglets and castrate them. Bar hogs get bigger faster than uncut males. On the conservation side, these hogs will definitely not contribute to the overpopulation problem. But most will simply shoot all hogs on sight due to their destructive nature.

I indiscriminately shoot hogs.

I don’t think the big ones need any help to survive. I’ve often watched them let the young and dumb ones lead the way, only approaching a feeder after the others have been offered up for target practice. Shoot the smaller ones if you want an eater, but there’s no other good reason to give a big hog a pass.

OK....I'm calling you 'Crazy'.

IF you aren't the owner of a high fenced, trophy hunting preserve..then shoot any and every hog that you cross paths with.

Your proposal is SO incredibly 'counter' to what most of us are trying to do (reduce the Feral Hog population) that I don't even have words for it.

My first question for you: Are you a Land OWNER with Feral Hogs on your property?

Eliminate all of them anytime you get the chance. They are invasive and don't belong.

Yes sir, its family land near Dekalb, TX. However, we don't rely on the land to produce crop or anything like that.

If I was reliant on my land for income, then yes, I would kill hogs indiscriminately.

I mainly just target sows and follow up shots on the piglets when given a chance.

Unless the muy grande boar steps out, in which case I will always shoot him over anything else.

Hope that clears things up

On our place no way we are going to make a dent in the population. I have been told we'd have to kill 70% of the resident population to keep #'s constant. There's three of us hunting about 17k acres. I've killed a bunch this year but see so many groups with 10-15 football sized pigs, nothing we can do is going to matter. So, I kill the ones that are the most of a challenge and that would be big, loan boars. There's plenty.

I love shooting big boars and I do think they are a harder target than big deer. In our neck of the woods, big (250+) pigs are rarer than big deer, warier, and cannot be patterned or dumbed down by things like the rut. It really is right time right place if you want to shoot one. Given that, I am not asking for more of them. I know enough slip through our guns and traps and enough live on the land independent of hog proof feeders, that they will always be there to shoot.

In most areas were pigs are prevalent you could shoot every pig you saw and it wouldn't make a dent. That's what we do and have seen first hand eliminating by hunting does not impact populations in the long run. However, cumulative hunting pressure as well as fencing off food sources (hog fencing feeders) make your property significantly less attractive than your neighbors, so we do see less pigs than surrounding areas. Some will still be there though and that is enough of a hunting opportunity for me

I’ve killed enough that I’m not wasting anymore time or money doing any mounting of tusks, head or skull. Shoot them indiscriminately then snap a pic if they got nice tusk then drag em off for the buzzards and coyotes.

I think if you were on my lease and let any hog walk you'd be off that lease in a hurry!

I hate em all and everyone I hunt with does as well and not a damn one gets a pass at any point in time!

I have no interest in killing any damn hog no matter the size of it or the size of it's teeth.

I'm curious, are you the landowner or do you lease? If you lease, how does your landowner feel about letting them walk?

No hog or coyote gets a pass EVER!

If someone was hog hunting my land and let hogs walk, they would not be welcome back.

I get the theory. If I see a sow and a boar, I shoot the sow every time. If I only see one pig though, it's gonna get shot no matter what it is.

I stopped killing all hogs and having carcasses laying all over my place because I found a large increase in the coyote population when doing this. Coyotes kill fawns so now the pigs get a pass unless I want one for the smoker.

Had a lease in San Saba years ago, just hunt family land in East TX now.

The landowner wasn't up anyone's a$$ which was nice.

It was more about the comradery and enjoying the hunt.

Sounds like some of yall run a dam military base when it comes to hogs.

I like hearing everyone's opinion though.

Never....will ruin a deer hunt to shoot a hog or coyote any day of the week.

Kill them all. I don't even bother picking them up.