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Another Great Night... this time with a friend

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  • Bowhntr6pt

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    Finally got a chance to hook up with a good friend. Weather was fantastic... moon was screaming so we made sure to set up with the moon to our back and stay in the shadows.

    Managed to snatch up a few hogs on the way to our first stand...







    After finishing a stand with no luck we decided to stalk up on a group of hogs that were across the field about 700 yards away. We skirted the woodline to get a nearby highway to our back and managed a count down simul kill on these two porkers.



    We moved to the location where I shot the black coyote last night and within 30 minutes this one came in... John pole-axed him... 175gr. FGMM from his suppressed LMT did the job.



    Shortly after we spotted another one about 500 yards across the pasture but it was headed in the opposite direction... maybe next time.

    All in all we got seven hogs and one coyote... best of all, we finally got some hunt time in together.
     

    Bowhntr6pt

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    Sometimes my BIL will get the hogs... these were left for the coyotes... the ranch is flat over-run with hogs, they are tearing up the pastures. Seems the more I kill, the more I see. Actually a good problem.
     

    SAWMAN

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    Remember sir . . on that ranch,you must kill 70% (some say as high as 80%) of the hog population EVERY YEAR to maintain the same sized herd as it is today. Most farmers,ranchers,landowners,refuse to believe this or understand this.
    Get to it . . . --- SAWMAN
     

    Bowhntr6pt

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    Remember sir . . on that ranch,you must kill 70% (some say as high as 80%) of the hog population EVERY YEAR to maintain the same sized herd as it is today. Most farmers,ranchers,landowners,refuse to believe this or understand this.
    Get to it . . . --- SAWMAN

    I believe you...

    Worked on it again last night...





     

    Bay Ranger

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    Remember sir . . on that ranch,you must kill 70% (some say as high as 80%) of the hog population EVERY YEAR to maintain the same sized herd as it is today. Most farmers,ranchers,landowners,refuse to believe this or understand this.
    Get to it . . . --- SAWMAN

    Are they that prolific? How many litters will a sow have in a year?
     

    Bowhntr6pt

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    Are they that prolific? How many litters will a sow have in a year?

    Interested in the answer as well...

    All I know is several we shot this past week appeared pregnant and it seems I'm constantly shooting pregnant sows. In fact, we saw small piglets as well running around.
     

    SAWMAN

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    Me and a buddy go to siminars that are put on by Fla FWC. It is pretty much an all day session with a number (and variety) of speakers. Game biologists,college professors,others like Mark Hainds (read "YEAR OF THE PIG"),and local game wardens. People who have spent their life in the study of feral hogs,coyotes,and deer.
    THOSE ARE WHO I CHOOSE TO DELIEVE.
    Florida WILL become another Texas. I see it in the mental attitude of hunters,"conservation" people,farmers,ranchers,and the good ol' boy know it alls.
    Luckily . . . the places that Bruce and I hunt . . . the land owners are believers. ---- SAWMAN
     

    Daezee

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    Are they that prolific? How many litters will a sow have in a year?

    I did not do an extensive search, but this is the first "hit" I came across:

    A female can have her first litter at 7-months old and she can have around 12 to a litter. Fifty percent of those would normally be female and these hogs can have up to three litters a year.

    Another hit said they average 1.5 litters per year with an average of 6 piglets per litter (that seems more reasonable to me).

    In our experience here in NW Florida, if the trapper/property owner is good at trapping (before they hogs get trap shy), the population is reduced enough that it can be difficult to successfully hunt (few hogs) for a year or so before the hogs have multiplied enough for good hunting. In 2018 hogs were successfully trapped multiple times (last batch Dec 2018), but by the summer of 2019, we were asked to come out, as they'd gotten trap shy and multiplied. In all of 2019, hogs would not enter the two traps.

    So, anyway you look at it, they can increase pretty rapidly.
     

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