Im totally jealous of you folks that have private land and can bait or hunt at night over open terrain with NV/Thermal.

Im considering a DIY hunt at a place yet to be determined. I may luck out and find a farmer who lets me on land and allows me to bait-

       What bait is a sure thing to toss today, kill tonight with? Fermented corn? Rotten something?

I may end up on Public Lands, daytime only- Spot and stalk or climb a tree and wait?
      How do you hunt an area you drove 8 hours to get to and "scouted by google maps"?

What type of terrain?

I know down here on public lands the swamps, bogs, and really thick areas are where we target. But even that differs from area to area. I usually drive the open roads and look for fresh rootings. And start from that point. Or find the swampy sections and walk the perimeter looking and listening for them. They can be pretty loud at times.

Fresh sign is always the main thing I'm looking for though. Hogs will move around a good bit unless there is a steady food source for them. Old acorns, pecans, and other mast crops could be high activity spots this time of year.

Good advice here pay attention to smell and cheap game cameras are your friend. Try to choose cold days they have to be up and about on colder days. As far as a sure fired recipe pigs are unpredictable one day a smell may excite them to run to it and the next it may cause a different reaction. I don't know if you can get away with it but a hog rub sometimes is as good if not better than bait.

Exact location is yet to be determined.

I have a NC license for a year, but may consider GA (possibly Ft Stewart) but would not rule out FL or Alabama or MS if things fell into place.

What is Hog Rub?

I've hunted Fort Stewart. Lots of hogs.

Pick the zones that border the Ogeechee River. If they haven't changed the zones I killed a bunch in zone "C" I believe.

Wear waders and creep the swamps. Bring GPS. It's an easy place to get lost in.

Walk the roads that are open. You will see sign fairly regularly down there. Look in he palmetto patches for tunnels, it is so thick in spots you have to get down on your hands and knees to crawl some places. Lots of fun. Haha

They do have some sort of sign in procedure so call ahead to determine the rules.

And be careful of the ponds. They have some good sized alligators in them.

I hunt on private lands and almost never bait.

This is absolutely consistent with my experiences.  There are three spots in particular that I estimate I have a 90% success rate, and combined those areas are probably about 150 acres in size.  And im not talking about a short period of time either - its been that way since i first started seeing hogs on our ranches back in the early 90's. I haven't ever been able to figure out why they gravitate to those areas, but its undeniable that they do.