Cypress Creek Hogs

Hog hunting can be a ton of fun, and it is a great way to accumulate some stand time when deer season is out. However after killing many, many hogs and helping to put a lot of others on them as well, I have found that there are generally 5 BIG reasons that some hunters will not take one home this Spring.

1. Smoking in the stand! It doesn’t help if you smoke anytime and have that smell on your clothes (much less any other smell) when you hit the woods. However it is MUCH worse to actually smoke in the stand. I believe that smoke smell just floats all through the woods and sticks to everything. And when a hog has such a great nose, you can bet that he will pick it up pretty easily and not come in to your stand.

2. Not taking the first GOOD shot. It is nice when a hog comes in to feed and stands (fairly) still for  an easy shot. However sometimes that hog will catch a scent he doesn’t like and run off or a big boar could be just cruising by looking for sows.  So always be ready to shoot, and then take the best shot you have at the very FIRST opportunity.

3. Missing. A hog can be a tough animal to hit when he is scurrying around eating, much less doing the fast trot that they do everywhere they go. So like I said in #2, take your first BEST shot. And that means standing still for most people in most conditions.

4. Hunting sign, and not hogs. Hogs travel a lot to find food, and much of that travel is at night. So just because you see tons of sign like rooting and scat doesn’t meant that spot is the best place to set up to kill one. You need to follow the trails that lead from their feeding areas back to their bedding areas to see exactly how far they are traveling to get there. If it is too far, then you need to get closer to where they actually live to have any chance of catching them out in daylight hours.

5. Hunting pressure. Hogs like to feed in the dark to begin with, so that already makes it hard to catch them out during shooting hours. However if you pressure them too much, they will either leave the area or totally confine their movements to after dark. So make sure and pick good stands that are easy to get to and get out of so that you don’t constantly bump them on your hunts. Also skipping several days between sits helps to keep them from feeling the pressure as well.

I know there are lots of reasons/excuses for not killing a hog, however these are the biggest 5 that I see on a regular basis. I hope that the next time a lowcountryhunting reader hits the woods in search of a hog, that being aware of these will assist them in bringing home the bacon that they were looking for!

Jeff

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