Hogs, Scent, and How to Fool Wary Hogs

LDhunter

New member
OK... I have been thinking about my spring/summer hog hunting here in Florida because deer season is almost over (2 weeks) here in the panhandle.

The few hogs that show up on my hunting lease are very wary and only come at night if at all.

First I need a strong attractant because I'll probably be drawing them from afar so I'm thinking of the old trick of putting some corn in a bucket and adding a bunch of water and maybe something else(?) and putting a lid on it and 'cooking' it in the sun until it's nice and RIPE!

Then I'll use a post hole digger and dig a 3' deep hole in my food plot right under my feeder where my cellular game camera will be and putting a light on the bottom of the feeder that only comes on when the hogs show in case they leave between the time the cellular game camera tells me they're there and when I get there or if I spook them when I get close to get in my stand (82yds away).

I'm sure they'll be back but I don't want to have to sit and stare in the PTS233 (thermal rifle scope). I can just sit back and let the light make me aware when they're there.

If it turns out that the light spooks them I can remove it and just go back to waiting and and looking through the scope.

Now to scent problems. I will want to keep my scent to a minimum by not touching the ground at all with my feet if possible so I'm thinking of just driving my truck out and freshening up the corn or just checking for how much is gone.

Does anyone know if driving my truck out to the corn and staying inside will leave enough scent to scare them away? I'll be driving on sand and grass roads for at least a mile before getting to the food plot so any road smells might be minimized.

Does anyone else use this technique for spooky hogs? Does it work or should I just descent my boots as well as possible and not worry about it? By the way I HATE rubber boots but can/will use them if necessary. My hogs are very spooky because the surrounding hunting leases hunt them hard.

Another question. I have a lot of bears and I mean a lot. At least 5 different bears, two of which have cubs, have made an appearance on my game cameras eating corn from under my feeders in the last couple of months. We can't hunt or even harass bears so I'm wondering if they'll like the soured corn too. I suspect they will but am looking for someone with experience.

Thanks,
$bob$
 
I am thinking from a predator trapping view point, consensus is that you may can minimize your scent you can not eliminate it. I personally would not worry about your boot tracks.

I think that the hogs could track you to the feed spot for instance. I would let them associate you with feed. Maybe feed at the same time of day if possible. The pigs will figure that out pretty quick. So you blast one or two every 3 or 4 days and make the fun last. That would be my plan if I was trying this deal.
But you are doing the doing and I am just cheering.
Let us know how this goes.

For a fact domestic pigs will attack you for a pail of feed.
 
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I have hunted and killed a lot of hogs. Just yesterday I shot a boar at my feeder about 30 minutes after walking past the feeder and checking the level in he barrel before getting in my stand.

Like deer hunting or any other try to stay down wind of your game. Bears will certainly be attracted to anything you put out for hogs and will be drawn to smelly baits even more than the hogs. For sure you need to be careful not to mistake a bear for a hog at night.
 
My lease is 25 minutes from home and over an hour from work and I work a lot so I can't go very often and that's why the cellular game camera is used to give me an idea when they're there to optimize my time off.

I guess I won't worry too much about scent but I'm worried that these hogs are so harassed that I'm thinking that any tiny bit of scent of a human will send them packing.
 
Oh... And does anyone have a good "recipe" for some hog attractant or a way to treat corn to make it especially appealing and to make it smell enough to attract hogs from far away?
 
I don’t know if this works or not .
But I’ve been told adding Diesel Fuel to your corn mixture will deter Deer , Raccoons, Etc.,
(Maybe Bears) , But hogs will still eat it. Might be worth a try.
Also add Salt.
 
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I wouldn't recommend putting diesel on corn particularly if you have turkeys in the area. Turkeys and most birds don't have a sense of smell and will eat the corn. Killing off a lot of birds isn't good.
 
LDhunter,
Good to see ya around. Been awhile, hope everything is going great for you down there in Floriduh!
smile.gif
 
GC,

Yup... It's all good here. Our deer season is about to wrap up the 25th of February and I'm after a great buck that keeps showing up on my game cameras but so far no daylight showings...

$bob$
 
Good luck with your buck! I tried to snooker a big old buck all season with my bow but never got a decent shot. He chased a doe rings around my tree one evening but I could never get him to stop for a shot. On the hog topic, I saw one of the biggest boars I've seen here this year. Again from my climbing tree stand while bow hunting and he was just never in the right position for a shot. Monster hog though... maybe I'll run into him again. Quite a few hogs in the Ozarks now.
 
Originally Posted By: YellowhammerI wouldn't recommend putting diesel on corn particularly if you have turkeys in the area. Turkeys and most birds don't have a sense of smell and will eat the corn. Killing off a lot of birds isn't good.
Good Advise
 
OK... I kept thinking and thinking about a hog attractant and ran across this post on TexasBoars.com

Here's the link and the post is about treating corn for hog bait.
https://texasboars.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=576

It's the 4th post down from the top and the post text is below this line.
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"back in the day I did this kind of stuff for years, instead if killin' hogs I studied them.
Over a period of couple years I did several tests with different bait - in many locations.
Soured corn, kool-aid corn, HOG IN HEAT, and so-on.
:arrow: Long story short = Soured corn consistently got the worst results.
:arrow: HOG IN HEAT corn, hands down, was first choice and found the quickest.
For those interested in reading:
When given a choice of soured corn VS dried corn strait from the bag the hogs would eat the dried corn first (I observed these tests from the stand). Did it over and over. Less dominant hogs in groups were forced to the sour corn. Dominant sow always chose the dried corn and would fight to stay on it! WHen HOG IN HEAT came in the picture it ruled! SO I won't say any more about it.
I also used KOOL-AID corn in side by side test. The kool-aid corn actually scared some hogs. BUT, once they got a taste for it (grape or strawberry) they preferred it sometimes over dried corn.
Then came tests to see which corn attracted hogs, this is much more difficult because creating a base line comparison ruling out chance is almost impossible.
Dried corn was consistently the most successful when tested on top of the ground. Big Boar (where they roamed alone) would even leave soured corn on the ground and not eat it all when provided their fill of dried corn.
#Although in some situations, if the corn was in a "PILE" the pile would scare some hogs. Especially big lone boar. Now I always scatter it or bury it. Never pile it up.
KOOL-AID corn ran a close second but ONLY after they were educated to it. Again, some hogs were reluctant to approach the strange aroma. Once they got a taste for it, they would choose it as well as dried corn and I believe in some cases.
Burried corn, KOOL-AID corn seamed to be the best (not includng HIH which ruled). I think the KOOL-AID reacted with the moist ground and made it work better and last longer.
It would even out last HOG IN HEAT because impregnated the ground so well.
:arrow: Consistently last place was soured corn. They will eat it, but they clearly did not prefer it.

I have alway wanted to test BEER / LIQUOR.
#1 to see if it would get them drunk and stupid. - I still think that a drunk hog would go in a trap! :?: :?:
But, I gave all my traps away and I'm to old to sit and watch hogs for that long. I just shoot'em. Generally got more into necropsy studying bullet impact / wound channels. that was easy to do with a steady supply of hogs and skinnning them for clients was steady. That's a whole nother story."
 
Soooo.... What I'm thinking now is that the easy route will likely be the best anyway... Just fill the feeder with dry corn and let it run and put my cellular game camera on it and rock and roll. I'll know when hogs are there and I can show up anytime they're there and only have to refill my feeder every couple of weeks.

Sounds simple huh? Mr Murphy is probably lurking in the shadows somewhere around here though... LOL
 

Probably the best attractant I ever tried was Hog Cheese in a 5 gallon bucket. It worked really well if you could get it mixed with some corn without puking. If you ever got it on your boots it made for a long ride home too.

I have simplified things now and just use Apple corn from Walmart.

I also found a local guy that sells a roasted soy bean and corn mix. I might try a 90/10 mix of that just to see if it does better than the Apple corn.

LD..... I see you finally got into the cell cameras. They are worth their weight in gold when your hunting plots are 40 to 60 miles from the house. I am running 3 cameras on feeders and I have 2 more for floater placement on dropped corn.

HloVcV5.jpg
 
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Yeah... The cell camera saves a lot of gas and frustration and I'm going to buy more pretty soon but wish I could get one that uses Verizon instead of that crappy AT&T which has spotty service at best.

Which ones are you using?

Thanks for the tip on the apple corn. I've used it before with great success on deer and for some reason didn't even consider it for hogs but with the pleasant aroma that travels for long distances I guess I just missed and obvious choice.

I now have a Flir PTS233 Thermal to compliment my Pulsar N750 NV so I'm set for night hunting some hogs.
wink.gif
 
My best baits for difficult to attract pigs is let 25 pounds of corn soak at room temperature water for 4-5 days and then spread that out, they smell it from miles away after it begins fermenting.

If you want to skip the water and use a couple cans of cheap beer to wet the corn and let it sit, that works even better.

Also, I always have several gallons of black strap molasses that I use to dribble on rotten logs, tree trunks, and sometimes mix in with corn a bit. Hogs can smell that from a mile away and eat the rotten logs you pour it on.
 
Originally Posted By: LDhunterYeah... The cell camera saves a lot of gas and frustration and I'm going to buy more pretty soon but wish I could get one that uses Verizon instead of that crappy AT&T which has spotty service at best.

Which ones are you using?



These are the cameras I am using. I have 3 Verizon and 2 AT&T units

http://www.hcooutdoors.com/products.html
 
Dang... Cellular game cameras are so expensive. That doesn't count the cellular service either... LOL

I'm very happy with my Bushnell Wireless but of course AT&T doesn't work well around here and now the Bushnell Camera price has come way down (Amazon). They're about the cheapest out there. I'm going to call them and see if they're going to release a Verizon version today. If not I'll try your suggestion.
 
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