Let’s get back to hog hunting for a bit…
A lot of folks have asked me why I bother to go hog hunting in the summer. “It’s so hot,” they tell me. “The hogs are all nocturnal. What do you do?”
Well, if we were as lucky here in CA as folks in TX, we could just go shoot them at night. But we can’t, and I’m not a huge fan of shooting big game in the dark anyway… but that doesn’t mean I stop hunting in the summer time.
Hogs are tough animals, with incredible sense of smell, decent hearing, and their eyesight isn’t as bad as some folks would like to believe. But they have a weakness that really comes into play when the weather gets hot. They can’t sweat.
For those who may have skipped basic physiology, sweat is the mechanism almost all warm-blooded animals rely on to control their body temperature. As the temps rise, the sweat glands kick in and the salty drops appear on your skin. The salty liquid evaporates quickly, causing cooling. It’s not the most efficient tool our bodies have, but it generally keeps us from broiling in our own juices (so to speak).
Since pigs lack sweat glands, they need a way to regulate their body temperature. What do you think it is?
Maybe you’ve always wondered about pigs’ affinity for mud and puddles. This is the reason for that. They get in the mud and water to cool down. The mud also helps with keeping off the flies and such, but the biggest reason you find hogs wallowing in mud holes, creek beds, and shallow ponds is because they are trying to cool off.
What’s my point? Good question.
Summer hog hunters need to find water, and they will find hogs. Patience and skill are required, of course, because simply locating water is only one small part of the challenge (OK, it’s a big part of the challenge if you’re hunting in the California summer). Once there, you still need to figure out when the hogs are using the spot, and then sit tight until they come to you.
Now, in some parts of the country there’s all kinds of water for the hogs to choose from. The southeastern and midwestern states have a reasonable amount of precipitation. In those areas, the hogs may move around from one hole to another. Then it’s a matter of using your skill as a hunter to figure out which holes they use the most, how recently they’ve been there, and when they might be back.
It’s pretty easy to spot a hog wallow, and that’s what you’re looking for. But you want a really fresh one…especially in a place with lots of water around. The pigs roll and root in the mud until they’ve got a regular depression worn into the ground. Freshness is indicated by wet splashes of mud and water around the wallow. You’ll also look for mud rings on nearby tree trunks or stumps that indicate where a hog rubbed against the tree after wallowing. If you find wet mud on a hot, dry day, you’re in business! Even better is to find water splashed up on the ground. Then you can be sure there’s a pig around somewhere, probably close…unless you blew it and came in with the wind at your back. Stop and start glassing hard. Look under trees, up against logs, and in thick vegetation like bushes or brambles.
Out here in the arid Californian climate, though, water can get pretty danged scarce. One of my favorite public land hunting areas offers two small springs in several thousand acres of land. If there are hogs around, they will be hitting one of these two spots. The trick is getting there when there are hogs around. They’ll boogie on out of there at the first intrusion of hunters, and they’ll travel a long ways to find a new water source. The trick is to get there before anyone else does. This is one reason I really like hunting during the middle of the week, by the way.
If the hogs haven’t been disturbed, it’s a good bet that they’re holing up somewhere pretty close to that water. Check the trails and look for fresh mud heading away from the wallow. Look for thick cover with plenty of shade. Then look for hogs. Glass hard into the thick stuff looking for the flick of an ear or the swish of a tail. It’s an old, but true, saying that you don’t look for the whole animal when glassing… look for parts, then put the parts together.
I’d recommend not going into the thick stuff after them, unless you see one that you think is really approachable. If you go into the thick bedding areas and get busted, you may very well have ruined that spot for days… if not for good. They’ll stay clear of hunting pressure, and if they find another spot a good distance away, they may stay in that new spot and never come back… at least not for a very long time.
So stay back, glass, and wait. Hogs don’t usually stay motionless for long. They’ll get up and move around every once in a while, then bed back down. If it’s really hot, odds are they’ll get up occasionally and come down to that water source. This is where the patience comes in. Make yourself comfortable and plan to sit until you either see hogs or it gets too dark. Pay attention to changing wind, and move only if you need to keep the wind in your advantage.
This is a great time of year for blinds and tree stands, by the way. The key, again, is to get comfortable enough to sit still for a very long time.
One of the reasons I love hog hunting is the year-round season. I’m sure not going to let a little heat stop me…in fact, that heat can really help if you know how to use it to your advantage. Find water and be patient.
Simple as that.
