Public Land Hog Hunting Strategies

Public Land Hog Taken at Citrus WMA

When it comes to still hunting hogs, the most common approach is to bait them up. I've shot a ton of hogs over corn feeders on private property and there is no arguing that it is a productive method; but affordable access to private hunting property in Florida can be hard to come by. The other option is public land. There are tons of Wildlife Management Areas throughout Florida that have unreal Hog habitat, but there is no baiting of wildlife allowed on any public land. This means finding an approach that requires a little more brain power than throwing out corn and hanging a stand. In this post I'm going to share some tactics that I have picked up on from listening to others and from my own experience of hunting public land.

Hogs basically have three things on their minds:

1. Feeding

2. Staying cool

3. Breeding

We all know that hogs eat like, well... pigs. I raised a couple little wild hogs and I was amazed by how much they really ate. They would let the whole neighborhood know when they were hungry with their squealing and grunting. When I would bring them their mush they would go crazy over it like they hadn't eaten in years. Hogs eat and they eat a lot!

When my hogs weren't eating, they were trying to stay cool by bedding up under hay or laying in muddy wallows.

I ate them before they reached breeding age so I never did see how that effected their behavior, but I do know that mature hogs breed year around whenever they have the opportunity. Since it's an ongoing thing we're not going to target the hog rut like we do deer.

The secret to a higher success rate is between the bedding area and the feeding area. For starters we need to learn to read their sign. The most common hog sign is rooting because it looks like a land clearing crew went through the property. In my early days of hunting hogs I would set up over a heavily rooted area but never had any success. The reason is that most rooting takes place at night and can be a long way from where the hogs are actually bedding. Also, when hogs root up an area they tend to move to new ground rather than looking for food where they have already rooted. Rooting areas are not a great place to hang a stand but they are a great place to start scouting.

Once I find a rooting area, I look for trails leading to it. Hog trails are well defined and are often marked by dried mud caked on the grass and leaves. Once I find a trail, I start following it. When I do this I usually find myself on a little hog highway with side trails and intersections going in different directions. When I find the most well defined trail that leads to water, I've found the highway to hog heaven.

Hogs don't sweat and they run a high body temperature, so they look for wet areas to stay cool during the day. As long as it's somewhat warm out, which is most of the year in Florida, hogs are going to be bedded in a wet area. For some WMA's this doesn't help narrow down a spot much because the entire property is under water. But for the WMA's that are relatively dry, find the pond or the marsh and the hogs will be concentrated there.

I look for wallows, muddy rubs on trees and droppings. Also I will follow my nose. I've been able to smell the stench of a musky boar bedded up from 50 yards away. These are a sure sign that I'm near their bedroom. Typically, hogs are much more active at night, so if I can find a spot right outside of their bedroom I will have a much better chance of catching one during legal shooting hours. Once I'm confident I'm close, I try to control my curiosity from tromping into their beds and spooking them, which will often cause them to find a new bedding area. I will set up my stand on a main trail leading out of their bedding area. With such a spot I've just upped my odds of catching a hog coming back from feeding in the morning or leaving for the evening.

Winter Hog Bed In The Palmettos

Now there are a couple months out of the year when the weather is cold and the hogs will stray from the water and move into the higher hardwoods and pine flats. They will feed on acorns and usually bed under mature palmettos. When I see sign of this I will set up right on the edge of the palmettos. In these areas their trails are less defined and it's more of a matter of hoping they come out of the thick palmettos close enough to get a shot. I usually hear them long before I see them and if I'm on the ground I try to follow my ears and find a spot to cut them off.

While facing a big boar on the ground is definitely a little more unnerving than being safe in a treestand, there are many benefits to hunting hogs from the ground. First is the benefit of maneuverability. If the hogs don't come right to me, they are much easier to put a stalk on than deer. Also if I am archery hunting a big boar I have a better shot angle from the ground than I do from a treestand. I have shot several big boar from a treestand that were protected by their thick armor plate that covers the upper part of their shoulders. I'm shooting a 70 lb. bow and I have shot boar at 15 yards behind the shoulder and they run off with my arrow sticking a few inches in. They don't bleed at all on the outside and I never find them. From the ground there is the benefit of being able to take a low heart shot right behind their armpit. This is the only bow shot that will make for consistently recovering big boar.

One thing about hogs, especially boar, is that they are a lot tougher than a deer and a lot meaner. Even a good shot on a big boar is no guarantee that he will be dead in 20 minutes. Give him plenty of time and be very careful tracking. I've had some really close calls tracking big boar that weren't even close to being dead. They will let you get within inches before they jump up and charge! I've learned that the hands and knees blood trailing method through palmettos at night is a really, really stupid idea! Be ready to shoot, run, or climb a tree; maybe all three in order! Happy hog hunting.

It's Always Hog Season

Turkey season is done and over and I've been trying to satisfy my passion for the outdoors with fishing and diving. But there's just something about being in the woods that's hard for me to lay down all summer long. When I start feeling the off season hunting bug biting I think of hogs. Here in Florida there's no season on private land for hogs; so if your brave enough to endure the heat, mosquitoes, snakes, gators and skunk apes; it's game on all year long.

I haven't been fortunate enough yet to find private land to hunt hogs free of charge; so my go to spot is a private cattle ranch in Zolfo Springs that runs half day hog hunts for $100. I've been doing hunts with the ranch owner, Dennis, a sixth generation Florida Cracker, for about 7 years now and we always have a great time. It's not a guaranteed kill and I've definitely been skunked my fair share of times; but there are plenty of hogs on the property, not to mention the pleasure of always seeing deer and turkey. More times than not I have brought home the bacon.

Last August I did a morning spot and stalk archery hog hunt with two of my brothers, my nephew and a friend. I dropped the first hog, a nice 150 pound bar hog, by 8 a.m. and was waiting to get picked up by the rancher while the others continued to hunt. I was sitting on the hog in the middle of a dirt road while talking to my wife on the cell phone. A big boar came out of the swamp and began trotting down a fence line right towards me. I quickly cut the conversation short and got an arrow ready. The hog didn't even notice me until he was about 20 yards away. He stopped at the fence line and I poked a pass through shot behind his shoulder. He came right at me as I jumped out of the way! He ran through a small pond and into a cow pasture. I flung my last arrow at him and then watched him run into a brush line.

About this time the rancher showed up and we began following a good blood trail. A little while later we came upon the boar bedded up under a head of palmettos. He looked dead still accept for his ears that would flicker from time to time. Since I was out of arrows and didn't bring a gun, the rancher decided to use the only gun he had with him to try and put this huge boar down. A 22 pistol with snake shot; bad idea. He snuck as close as he could and took a shot at the boar's head. The beast jumped up and trucked down a thickly brushed ditch line. My brother arrived to see what the commotion was about and I borrowed his son's 243 youth rifle. We slowly worked our way down the ditch line. It wasn't long before we came upon a black boar that stood up and began walking away through the brush. I lined him up in the scope and dropped him. When we got to the boar we found that he was a monster, weighing every bit of 300 pounds! We also found that he was a different hog than the one we were tracking; we never did find that one. I headed back to butcher my hogs while the others continued to hunt. By the time Noon rolled around they had put down three more nice hogs. We were sweaty and exhausted but it was well worth the effort.

I went there again in December with my sons Israel and Judah. After sitting in the stand with no luck we did some spot and stalk hunting and came upon a group of hogs going into a cypress swamp. Israel got his first pig, a fat bar hog, with a little help from Dad. A week later in December I shot at a huge boar while hunting Citrus WMA with a friend. We were looking for blood in thick palmettos when I came upon a very large sow bedded up with piglets. She charged me from about 10 yards and I shot her in the head with my 30-06 while falling backwards in surprise and fear! At the end of the day I had a huge sow and two tender piglets, which were very delicious roasted whole.

So here's my dilemma; I want to go hog hunting again but still have way too much pork in the freezer to justify spending the $100. I did however just take out two bags of backstraps to thaw and I'm going to try to try to shrink that dilemma on the grill this Memorial Day. If I can find enough family and friends who want to have a couple good cookouts, it shouldn't be long before I can pick up the phone and give Dennis a call. I've got a brand new batch of arrows and my Matthews Switchback XT is rearing to let one fly through a fat Florida hog. I think next time I'll bring a gun too, just in case.

Spearfishing 2012: Round 2

Some people go diving for a magical underwater experience; a peaceful escape from the loud and busy world above. Not me; if I wanted a magical underwater experience I would just watch The Little Mermaid with my daughter. I think diving is a hassle. All the awkward heavy equipment that needs constant maintenance and refills, the headaches, and the feeling of being plain tuckered for the rest of the day. I dive for one reason and one reason only; to put as many fish on my kill ring as possible.

Today I filled my kill ring with fish and soon after I filled my family's bellies with fresh fish tacos thanks to a successful day of spearfishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Hogfish, Mangrove Snapper and Scamp were on the menu. There's nothing tastier than bringing high quality fish straight from the water to the frying pan and in my opinion there's no quicker way to get a mess of high quality fish than spearfishing.

This was my second day of spearfishing this year and the results were close to last week; lots of Hogfish, some nice Mangrove Snapper and an occasional keeper Red Grouper and Scamp. There were also plenty of Gag Grouper but they are still closed for harvest.

My first dive was in 30 - 40 feet of water with lots of rock piles. At one point I had a Hogfish lined up and then a big Gag Grouper swam right in front of him and stopped. I had to wait for the Gag to clear before I popped the Hogfish. At the end of the dive I found myself staring face to face with a huge Gag that was every bit of 34 inches. I excercised restraint and watched him slowly turn and swim off into the blue.


My second dive was a mitigation area near the pipeline in 60 feet of water with large chunks of concrete littering the floor. The visibility was better than the first spot and the Snapper were also a notch bigger. The clear water allowed for some good footage with my GoPro HD camera mounted on my head. Here's the YouTube link that tells the whole story. Enjoy! 

Managing Your Deer Property: Sometimes Less is More

Over the years I've read a lot of articles about managing your hunting property to enhance its potential to hold more deer: Food plots, supplemental feeding, bedding areas, creating water sources, planting trees and even fertilizing the natural browse have been covered thoroughly. Usually these articles end like some kind of commercial; giving you the opportunity to purchase the newest secret to make your property teem with deer come Fall; but I have accidentally stumbled upon a land management system that has had proven results long before hunting became a major marketing industry.

For years my brother Jacob and I have taken great pride in trekking up to our hunting properties in Georgia before the season opens to work on the land: Food plots, feeders, trail cams, shooting lanes, fertilizer, etc. We share our bigger lease with 18 other members and many of them drive up throughout the year to work on the property. In recent years there have been more food plots, more feeders, more mineral licks, more stands and more shooting lanes, yet less deer seen. What is going on? Maybe we need to stop asking Bass Pro Shops what deer want and ask the deer. But that is not easy. Whenever I get close to a deer on my hunting properties  they blow and run away as fast as they can before I can ask them a question. It's almost like they don't want me there. What a lack of appreciation for all the work I've done for them!

It's time to burst our bubble as land managers; deer don't want us and they don't need us. The best hunting property we could acquire, at least in my neck of the woods, is not a property that has been extensively managed but a property that has never been hunted. Native Americans understood this and they would move their entire tribe to find the illusive, untouched "Happy Hunting Grounds" rather than start planting food plots and putting corn feeders up to attract more deer. Sometimes the best thing we can do to enhance our property is just leave it alone.

Bucked out in the early years of hunting small lease

Besides our big lease, my brother and I also share a small lease. It started out as 250 acres owned by a farmer and leased by 4 of us. The farmer had not allowed hunting on the property for many years before we acquired it and the first couple years it was banging. I took 5 - 6 deer every season for the first three years. One of the members lived near the lease and he would routinely walk the property, check out all the stand set-ups as well as fill feeders and check trail cams. The hunting quality of the property slowly declined. Last year the farmer sold off all but 60 acres of which my brother and I continued to lease. I hunted the property one evening in September but besides that we neglected it, didn't even touch it.

Last week we went up for a final turkey hunt and to move my stands off the big lease; as I am dropping it. When we arrived to set up my stands at the small lease we were amazed at the amount of deer tracks on the fields. It looked like they were using the fields as a race track. We talked to the farmer and his wife and they have been seeing deer everywhere. He had sweaty t-shirts hanging around his blueberry field to try and keep the deer out of them. We walked down a little creek bottom to hang a lock-on stand and as I was half-way up the tree screwing in steps, a big bodied buck with his first nubs of velvet came tromping down the creek bottom right towards us. It was 1 o'clock in the afternoon and he was walking like he had thrown caution to the wind. When he finally looked up and saw my brother and nephew standing at the base of the tree at 15 yards he about jumped out of his skin! He felt secure because this spot hadn't any human activity in years.

On the ride home we had time to reflect on how human activity effects deer activity. I do still believe there is a place for food plots and supplemental feed stations but the pros must be carefully weighed against the cons  of disturbing the deer's sense of security. I know there have been times where I find an awesome spot for a stand with plenty of deer sign and I try to enhance it only to ruin it. There was a reason the deer liked to frequent that spot and for me to put up a feeder, cut shooting lanes and set up trail cams might ruin the reason they felt safe to come there in the first place.

I realize that land management methods work differently around the country, but here in the Southeast I am dealing primarily with swamp deer that want above all else cover and solitude. The best stand set-up I can find is the place that is most untouched by human activity. With that in mind I will have a lot less work to do this year before the season starts as I am taking a less is more mentality on the little piece of property I have to hunt in Georgia this year. Besides that, I will be hunting Florida Public Land and the same mentality most certainly applies there as well. These are just some personal thoughts about land management that you can feel free to agree or disagree with. I can hardly wait for Fall to put this theory to the test!