I live in the midlands of SC in a very rural area.  West of Columbia, East of Greenville.  I have never seen a hog on all the acres I see turkey, deer, and a few coyotes.  There is no swamp here.  Someone mentioned you really need the wetlands for a thriving hog populatioun - we have streams and ponds, is that not enough?  

So are you in an area where there once were no hogs, and now you are over run?  I think Florida doesn't count as your climate and access to water pretty much guarantees survival for any species except polar bear.

Texas is over run and nothing like Florida..

Dbl tap..

I hunt near orangeburg along the edisto. Plenty if swamp. There is a creek and a pond on the property. They have only killed one or two hogs in the last 5-6 years. We know there are hogs around there but for some reason haven't infested this area yet.

Apparently they are moving up into SE Colorado from Oklahoma.

I trapped 7 this weekend an hour after I set it.

You need a food source as much as water.

Acorns and agricultural areas with crops such as corn and soy beans will sustain them.

Also, some wild boars will inter breed with domestic hogs. Once they get a hoof hold, their population will explode as they can have multiple litters a year.

We have them all over TN now. From the MS river to the Smoky Mtns.

I have hunted the pigs in Elberton, GA, so they are not that far from you.  They are coming.

They are fighting them in areas around here too.

My understanding is as long as there is food and water they will thrive, they have no natural predators.

DEC was doing bait and shoots and incentive programs and currently has a shoot on sight open season on them for anyone with a hunting license.

As much as I would like to hunt for them I really don't want them to show up and wreck havoc on our bird and deer populations.

"Trapping Feral Pigs, and Other Parables of Modern Life"


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2949909/posts?page=35

If those damn things can make it in the scorching desert of Big Bend National Park then they can surely make it in South Carolina.

I saw a map a while back of the hog populations in SC over the years and it was very clear from the maps that the hogs were making g a slow creep up the waterways into the middle of SC. They are coming. I was in a club in chester county for several years and their sign was just starting to show up in the area. The state will likely be full of them eventually.

I killed a hog in Fairfield County last week.  There were eight of them brazenly walking up to a feeder to polish off what little of the corn they hadn't already eaten.

These threads make me laugh.  Everyone bitches, but I can't seem to google or find a post on a forum anywhere where someone says "come help me out for free".  Nope, it such a problem they want $300-$500 a pig for guys to come hunt them.

Feel free to correct me by inviting me down.

What sucks is that people for the most part are just terrible. You let a few strangers on your land to hunt and they trash the place, leave gates open etc.

It really sucks too, I don't have my own private land to  hunt and getting permission is tough from strangers, I have a few local farmers that are more than happy to let me on to coon hunt, but I also call to let them know when I will be in there, and I don't behave like a jackass.

I agree with you though, anyone complaining about the problem and then charging an arm an a leg to let you on is just putting up a front. I would be more than happy though to put down a refundable deposit, or even a small fee (like under $50) for an opportunity in a good spot. People were having the same problem when the hogs went crazy here, there were reports of crop lands getting rutted up and how bad the pigs are going to be, but every farmer you asked to hunt on basically slammed the door in your face, and they aren't out there shooting them.

Things get especially bad this time of year because everyone and their brother thinks of themselves as a monster buck hunter, we grow them big, but no one has enough land around here to actually influence the population and be selective about harvesting, if you shoot a deer bigger than your neighbor though just watch the impending shit storm.

I haven't shot a buck in 3 years, I usually fill my doe tags, then wait for my buck tag to switch to either sex in the late season and go smack another doe. They taste better and the big dry ones have tons of meat on them.

What's your trap set-up?

I've got a creek crossing my property and I'm seeing evidence of hogs this fall for the first time.  Need to do something, but I really don't feel like spending too much time hunting them.

Would you want a bunch of swinging dicks you know nothing about wandering all over your property shooting shit?  I don't think so.

wild boar spread pretty quickly, we have lots of them in central and south GA, up here in the mountains I think feral hogs (domestics that have gotten away and gone wild) is the bigger problem. I was in a hunting club years ago that had a big feral hog problem, the DNR came in and trapped a bunch of them, club members killed the rest, I never saw a live one while I was there.



That being said, you don't need a swamp, any water source will do.



 

Nope, I sure wouldn't, but if I actually had a problem I would organize something on a site like this and take out a bunch of burgers and start BBQing for guys that wanted to come.

We used to hunt them with dogs every weekend and figured their moments out pretty well,  but it all depends on the climate and food/water.  They follow water during heat and brush during the cool. They swim better than a dog so the only real natural boundary is drought or development. They do not need swamps to thrive, but rather a good food supply and any water at all.

They are highly dependent on water during the summer to stay cool. Out of water they make mud, which they lay in for the sunny hours. Mostly feed at night, 0300 was our prime time.

They love acorns and certain roots/grubs etc but will devastate a farmers field or food plot in hours. A plus is that a good dog hunt will run them out for months. They travel miles a night, and we've had dogs bay them up 10 miles from where we first found them.

People usually didn't pay us to get them but did let us hunt their land whenever we wanted. They really tear up property. I'm always surprised to see these ranches asking $300 to shoot a sow.

What?  Did you read my thread?

I am in NE Texas, 20 mi south of the Red River. 90mi NE of Dallas.
rural property
rural neighbors,
local production farmer plants corn, sorghum, soy and winter wheat for over 2000 acres around me.
2 year round creeks
5 stock ponds with in rifle shot.
neighbor has laid out corn, sorghum, and mash made of both, sacks of potatoes and sweet potatoes.
we've had ZERO Piggies for 2 years of attempting to bait them in.

Found this map of feral hog population.




 

We have in GA and it is eaten up with them. The best way to control them is trapping them. We build large pen traps, and bait them for several weeks without setting them. You want the hogs to get comfortable coming to the feed so that the entire pack/litter/whatever you call a heard of hogs comes pours into the pen. Set it after several weeks and catch them all at once. If you only catch a few of them, they will be wary of the trap and are less likely to get them. Its kinda like how if an elephant population needs reducing, they kill an entire heard rather than one or two here and there. We have caught groups as large as 25 to 30 hogs this way.

Just shooting them when you see them will do nothing to control them, and if properties surrounding you aren't doing their best to kill them as well, you might as well pound sand. As a previous poster said, they reproduce very quickly which makes it near impossible to control. My club's biggest problem is that Fort Benning is pretty close and nothing seems to be done to control them there.

Really? I haven't heard anything about them being bad in TN . I may have to call some relatives with farm land and see what's up

ETA: Where would be a good location to place your shots on a hog? Just in case I get lucky and spot one on the farm while visiting this Christmas