Forums.NitroExpress.com

I've done a little hog hunting down south, mostly TX but a bit in MO and OK.

The Oklahoma hunt was a bust: the guy (friend of a friend) thought he was about to be overrun by hogs when they gradually expanded their range into his neck of the woods. I circled his ranch, cross-cut it into sections of about 40 acres each, and followed down every waterway, but found only a few--old--tracks. I suspect he just had a hog or two wander through, and panicked when he saw the amount of destruction they did.

The Missouri hunt was just incidental: I was visiting friends when a passing neighbor complained about some pigs that had torn up his truck garden. Since the guy was a market gardener, this was a big deal for him! We quickly put together a hunt, and got a half-dozen adults (biggest was maybe 250# live weight) and 12 or so littler ones between 3 hunters. That weekend we staged a barbecue and party for the "neighborhood", and generally had a blast. Good times.

The Texas hunts were a bit more involved.

One was incidental, a quick hunt at the request of the landowner, heavy brush so I used a pistol. It was a good hunt.

One was a "guided" hunt that was a gift from a then-girlfriend. It has been about a decade, but as I recall I heard the fee was $250/day per person for 2 hunters/1 guide, up to 2 pigs per person per day, with a 2 day minimum booking. That included transportation (if needed) from the airport to the ranch, dressing and cooling the meat, and meals; there was a bunkhouse available to sleep in or pads for RVs.

Due to an emergency they were short a guide; rather than seeing someone's hunt cut short or cancelled, I volunteered. Both of my hunters (a grandfather/granddaughter pair) got one pig over 300# and a couple smaller ones. Hunting was mostly from towers, but I arranged for each of them to get to spend some time on the ground stalking and tracking. They were both fine shots and good sports, it was certainly the most fun I've ever had as a guide.

One hunt was on a ranch in south-central TX, and they had a for-real pig problem. I was working with a biology student studying lung parasites (I think that was it, anyhow--we collected samples of lung tissue and a tooth from each). Had I been trophy hunting and selectively shooting, it would have been no problem to get a good-sized pig every morning and every evening.

All that said, if I were going to try to hunt pigs I'd probably look at TX. Check the DNR for maps showing pig populations by county, then look for a good guided hunt in the areas with high pig populations. Make sure the outfitter has access to large tracts of land (some of the operations down there are working in small areas--I've seen websites indicating some are guiding areas as small as 40 acres!). Some of the outfitters guide for other game, and you might be able to book a hunt for pigs and an exotic or two.