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WEB EXCLUSIVE: Outdoors: Are wild hogs getting smarter?

BY Luke Clayton, Special to Star Local News

Published: Thursday, March 15, 2012 3:08 PM CDT

I�ve know for a long time that wild hogs are smart.

I�ve learned this from firsthand experiences hunting and trapping them.

Wildlife biologists tell us swine rate very high on the intelligence scale when compared to dolphins and primates. If you�ve hunted them much, you are aware of the fact they are highly intelligent.

You might have noticed they have become entirely nocturnal in recent years.

About 20 years ago when wild hogs began to become plentiful in Texas, it was common to see them up and moving during daylight hours. Today, wild hogs are becoming almost entirely nocturnal. Dr. Robert McFarlane, who owns the 7,500-acre Big Woods Hunting Ranch in Anderson County, concurs.

�Our hunters annually harvest between 500-600 wild hogs each year on the Big Woods,� he said. �Just a few years ago, we could go out just about any time during the day and shoot a hog. Now, 99 percent of hogs taken here are shot at night. They�ve become almost entirely nocturnal.�

McFarlane could not be sure if pigs were taught the ways of survival by their parents, thus resulting in a much more wary animal than we hunted decades ago.

�Hunting pressure has to play a role in this nocturnal trend,� he added. �During summer months, when fewer people are in the woods, it does seem hogs move around a bit more during daylight hours, but not nearly as much as they used to.�

The trait to move mostly at night is likely passed on from older hogs to their young.

While it�s not impossible to see hogs during daylight hours, night time has become prime time for hunting them.

Hunting at night requires specialized equipment, some of which (like night vision, thermal imaging night scopes and goggles) comes with a hefty price tag. While doing articles through the years, I�ve hunted with manufacturers of this state-of-the-art night vision, but I�ve also learned that a fat bankroll is not a pre-requisite to a successful night hunt for hogs.

I hunt with a bow- or rifle-mounted light called the Hawg Lite (hawglite.com) that is highly effective in illuminating porkers at night. Hogs are not spooked by the light emitted by the red or green lens on the light. The lights are very strong and it�s possible to spot hogs as far out as 150 yards, but most that I�ve shot at night have been much closer. I�ve found these lights to be highly effective when stalking hogs at night or shooting them over bait.

Around permanent feeders and stands, I�ve used a unit called the Feed Light (ultramaticfeeders.com), which mounts to a tree or post and comes on automatically when the sun sets. The LED lights shine directly under the feeder to illuminate hogs when they begin feeding. With the use of the bow/rifle-mounted light system, hogs on the periphery of the illuminated area can be spotted and shot.

Actually seeing the hog at night solves only half the problem.

It�s necessary to get the porker in the crosshairs of the rifle scope or to put the appropriate sight pin on the hog in order to shoot.

Sighting the hog at night also requires some specialized equipment.

A sight-mounted light that illuminates the fiber optic sight pins on the bow solves the problem when bow hunting. When rifle hunting, actually putting the scopes crosshairs on the hog can be more challenging. I recently mounted a Zeiss Duralyt scope on my .270 and found it to be the most practical and effective method of aiming a rifle at night that I�ve found. The scope has a red dot in the center of the crosshairs that can be adjusted depending upon the ambient light. This scope, coupled with the red or green lens on the Hawg Light, makes sighting and shooting a porker at night a relatively easy task.

I�ve come to enjoy hunting hogs at night.

It�s exciting to listen to the sounds in the night woods.

I�ve had packs of coyotes startle me when they opened up with their nighttime serenade a scant few yards from where I was hunting. I once had a male bobcat walk by under the lights 10 yards from my ground blind. The sound of migrating geese overhead on a cool winter�s night is the essence of everything wild.

It�s important to be prepared to take care of the meat when night hunting.

I pick out a tree to hang the hog and, if the weather is cool, field dress the animal and hang him overnight. It�s much easier to come back and do the butchering the next morning.

Laugh for the week

Did you read my recent column, �You might be an outdoor redneck if �?�

Well, I wish I had included this one: You might just be an outdoor redneck if you bring a bottle of Harmon�s Sow in Heat scent to a buddy in church.

Yes, my hog hunting buddy Joe Dunn requested I bring him some scent for trapping hogs. The transfer took place at Victory Church in Scurry. My wife gave me a fit over this, but I�m sure Pastor Todd would think it perfectly acceptable � as long as the transfer took place in the parking lot.

Update from King Kat

Cabela�s King Kat Tournament Trail kicked off in the �Catfish Capital of Texas� at Lake Tawakoni.

Mother Nature threw a curveball to the more than 70 anglers as temperatures dropped 20-30 degrees from early Thursday and several inches of rain fell on the area over the span of three days. Making matters even tougher, winds shifted out of the east from 5-10 mph.

Teams had reported some potentially massive stringers of more than 240 pounds in the days prior to the event, but with the wind shift, the bite died down for many teams.

Taking first place was Michael and Teri Littlejohn from Midlothian with 106.6 lbs. They fished the north end of the lake, anchoring in 22-25 feet of water using shad. They caught more than 35 fish on the day and won $2,500 for first place. Biggest catfish was a. blue cat that tipped the scales at 67.45 pounds, landed by Daryl and Jason Masingale. The team finished second overall with a total weight of 97.75 pounds.

Listen to Outdoors with Luke Clayton at: catfishradio.com. Email Luke with questions or hunting and fishing news from your area via the website.

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