Wild hog hunting in PA?

[BearTitan]

koli,

I don't think there are any hogs out here in western PA. I could be wrong though.

[Koli01]

I was planning on driving over to Bedford. Only about 1.5 hrs for me. Not bad.
I drive 2 hrs sometimes to hunt groundhogs.
And it all still beats going to TN or SC.
And I'm not much into a "canned" hunt. Would rather just roam the woods and enjoy nature and maybe get a chance at a ham. bacon, chops. MMMmmm
I'm gettin hungry, must be time to go shootin.

[papgrove]

Pa game commision said you could use any legal firearm, bow, or crossbow. No license required, blaze orange if required for hunting licensed game, if any is in season. Other than that they are not considered a game animal. The tracks are exactly like deer except only six inches or so apart, in deep snow you can cee where their bellys drag. In non snow seasons without a tracking and holding dog.GOOD LUCK!

[Tomcat088]

The tracks are a little different than deer if you know what to look for. I never see either of those tracks in snow, but in dirt and mud they're a big different. I know you PA guys are used to having it easy tracking in the snow and what not, but you CAN find pigs without dogs or snow. It's quite easy to see pig tracks in the dirt, especially as wet as ya'll have it there, and even easier to find places that the pigs have been recently rooting up. I'd suggest to you looking for the rooting up places, if it's a pretty big area than you know that you have a decent number of pigs, and that's of course where you want to be. Just realize that pigs don't follow habits the way that many other animals do. They may feed at 2pm at one spot on one day, and at 5pm the next. We usually hunt them at night with a spotlight, and they're eyes don't glow the way other animals do, so you gotta keep your eyes peeled. I understand that's not an option for you fellows in PA, but still, find a place or several places that are close in proximity, and just keep making rounds until you catch them on one of those places. It's not that hard gentlemen, we do it all the time, without snow, or dogs.

Edit: Make sure that you take a large enough caliber rifle, and the right bullet for hogs. I will tell you straight up that a .223 probably isn't gonna get the job done very well for you. In my experience, fmj's work better on hogs than ballistic tip or hollow point bullets, because of how heavy and thick pigs are.

[cas]

Go to Texas LOL, they now have well over 1 million ferral hogs. There is quite the demand for this Texas ferral hog meat in Europe for some reason. I believe it is $15 or so a pound you can get. Saw this on ABC with charles gibson a few months ago. These ferral hogs are destroying parts of Texas

[papgrove]

The tracks are a little different than deer if you know what to look for. I never see either of those tracks in snow, but in dirt and mud they're a big different. I know you PA guys are used to having it easy tracking in the snow and what not, but you CAN find pigs without dogs or snow. It's quite easy to see pig tracks in the dirt, especially as wet as ya'll have it there, and even easier to find places that the pigs have been recently rooting up. I'd suggest to you looking for the rooting up places, if it's a pretty big area than you know that you have a decent number of pigs, and that's of course where you want to be. Just realize that pigs don't follow habits the way that many other animals do. They may feed at 2pm at one spot on one day, and at 5pm the next. We usually hunt them at night with a spotlight, and they're eyes don't glow the way other animals do, so you gotta keep your eyes peeled. I understand that's not an option for you fellows in PA, but still, find a place or several places that are close in proximity, and just keep making rounds until you catch them on one of those places. It's not that hard gentlemen, we do it all the time, without snow, or dogs.

Edit: Make sure that you take a large enough caliber rifle, and the right bullet for hogs. I will tell you straight up that a .223 probably isn't gonna get the job done very well for you. In my experience, fmj's work better on hogs than ballistic tip or hollow point bullets, because of how heavy and thick pigs are.

Tomcat, thanks for the advice, I just wanted everyone to know that hog hunting in Pa. is not a walk in the park. The area is about 10 square miles that goes from 900 to 2500 feet covered with last falls leaves and mountain laurel. Pig tracks are more rounded in the front than deer. A friend of mine from Arkansas told me they bait with corn and strawberry cool-aid from the pack poured on the corn? He also said they like diesel fuel poured on a tree stump to rub against? I think baiting them would be my next try.Papgrove

[Koli01]

I believe a hunt should be a challenge.

If you are going to bait then you may as well go to the range and shoot some targets then stop at the store on your way home and buy some chops.

That is unless you really need to get rid of the suckers like they do in TX.

That's my .02

[Holleta]

Read an article in PA Outdoor News (not a PGC published publication), seems the PGC is blaming those that hunt wild hogs for "spreading" the hogs everywhere. They claim if hunters left the hogs alone then the almighty PGC would be able to catch them in their traps and the "problem" would be over for good. They claim hunters prevent the hogs from being trapped by "spreading them out" and even go so far as to accuse hunters of vandalizing the traps. I guess hunters are to "blame" for the gross mis-management of the deer herd too....huh? Perhaps Global warming? AIDS? It's probally all the fault of PA hunters.

[papgrove]

I believe a hunt should be a challenge.

If you are going to bait then you may as well go to the range and shoot some targets then stop at the store on your way home and buy some chops.

That is unless you really need to get rid of the suckers like they do in TX.

That's my .02

I have hunted game large and small all my life and I think that deer bear elk and moose are easier to hunt than pigs, they are harder to find than anything I have hunted yet. If you havent hunted them in Pa. try it then e-mail and let me know what you think. I've been there and i'am not a lazy hunter. The guys I hunt with are reluctent to go after a couple of hunts, because the odds are against seeing them, and these guys drive deer from morning till dark every day of the season.

[papgrove]

Read an article in PA Outdoor News (not a PGC published publication), seems the PGC is blaming those that hunt wild hogs for "spreading" the hogs everywhere. They claim if hunters left the hogs alone then the almighty PGC would be able to catch them in their traps and the "problem" would be over for good. They claim hunters prevent the hogs from being trapped by "spreading them out" and even go so far as to accuse hunters of vandalizing the traps. I guess hunters are to "blame" for the gross mis-management of the deer herd too....huh? Perhaps Global warming? AIDS? It's probally all the fault of PA hunters.

You know every year they sell less hunting licenses and less young people are hunting, if the pagc was smart they would try to help hunters instead of treating them all like criminals.Soon we wont need the pagc and it will all fall under the dept of natural resources I say the sooner the better, they brought it on themslves. The way they made up for loss of license revenue was to offer more doe and green tag license, hunters are not their primary concern anymore,I would like to see their finincial report, see where (all) their moneys come from. PapGrove