I hope that everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend! I know we did… while we didn’t do much, we enjoyed having a quiet few days around the house and in the yard.

My wife and two boys finally came back from California last week, so we just spent time together and didn’t go anywhere. However since my wife had a been traveling so much lately, she didn’t mind at all. And the boys acted like their kiddie pool was just as good as the beach. Plus, when we were done outside, we could come inside for some big buck and predator hunting videos! Always a great way to spend some family time together.

With life back to normal around here, I am hoping to get back to some hog hunting/trapping very soon. And I know that others have the same exact idea since that is about all that you can shoot during the summer. For those that are either just starting out or that are looking to increase their success rate hunting or trapping, I am going to lay out a few of my techniques that should make a big difference.

Obviously the first step is locating and securing access to an area that has a good hog population. If you don’t do this, you are already getting off on the wrong foot. Don’t get me wrong, you can pull some over from the neighbors or kill one here or there while deer hunting. But that isn’t the same as having a good native population to exploit.

Once you have the access, you need to key in on how the hogs use the property. Most likely you will see hog tracks all over the area, however they will only be using some of those areas at night. So don’t be fooled in to setting up an area that will be tough to hunt. Look for the thickest cover you have that is close to the water they need so much. That will most likely be the best spot to hunt. If you are trapping, that will also be the best spot, because while you can also trap in those areas they use only at night, you will catch more hogs where they live all of the time than where they feed sometimes.

Once you have your area picked out, start loading it up with corn, and my special ingredient Hog Wild. I know that everyone has heard of using sour corn, brown sugar and cool aid, diesel, etc. These all work, but not as well as the Hog Wild. They also all have their own drawbacks such as weight for the sour corn and pollution for the diesel.

As for how to load up the area, it just depends on if you are hunting or trapping. If you are hunting, spread out your corn in a 30 foot circle. This makes it easy for a big pack of hogs to all use the area at the same time without some running others off. If you are trapping, do the same (we will change it up later). Then spread the Hog Wild all around your circle of corn. It will probably take the whole bag to really cover the area and really stink the place up. And that is the key. The hogs will find the corn eventually, but why not get them on it within just a few days. That way you can start hunting/trapping asap.

The hog wild’s yummy stench will flow in the wind currents all over your hunting property, and if you have any hogs at all around, they should be coming in pretty good within a week. At first, just a few hogs will arrive, so you can probably wait a few days before restocking your corn/hog wild pile. However every night they will bring more of their buddies with them. And before long, you will have to restock your area every other day. When you have to do that, you are ready to hunt or trap.

Tomorrow I will finish this post on how to maximize your hog hunting/trapping, so make sure and stop back by. This week I will also be finishing up my series of posts on managing your property for big bucks, and this time I will be keying in on how to kill those big bucks that you have grown. Once those are up, I have two special posts coming. One will be on “why I hunt”. Arthur over at SimplyOutdoors.net wrote a great piece on why he does a while back and challenged others to do the same, so now it is my turn. Then as soon as I get the pictures to go with it, frequent contributor Gillian (that is her great hog picture at the top of this post) has a wonderful story about her husband and his tracking dog!

I look forward to sharing all of this with you!

Jeff

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