# 48 sightings, 27 kills



## wintrrun

Wow!
I want to go Heli-Hog Hunting!


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## danner

Now that is an infestation!


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## cabledad

Here is why they should be shot on sight. http://www.cbs19.tv/story/16666386/cbs-19-special-report-east-texas-hogs


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## Linda G.

I've hunted hogs in Florida and Tennessee, once with dogs, once without. Pigs are smart, but I don't think they're any smarter than a lot of animals...and they root for food, which would be difficult to do in a normal northern Michigan winter when they would have to root through two feet of rock solid snow for three to four months...this winter is very abnormal, so I believe we will probably see more hogs in this state next year. 

Not that I've ever talked to anyone in person who has ever seen a wild hog in Michigan, or seen one myself...like someone else said, I get way more cougar reports than I get hog reports...LOL


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## TVCJohn

Linda,

I've hunted hogs quite a bit in Florida over the years. We do it on the full moon over crops where they're doing damage. You can't use artifical light. You can see them easily once your eyes night adapt. Looking at the the numbers and comparing to other states with prolific numbers, I don't think the sky is falling yet in Michigan. To give an idea of hog numbers....I was driving down I-95 just south of St Augustine during Christmas. Seen lots of root along the shoulder of the interstate maybe for a 5 mile stretch. These were just the ones in plain view. Pretty brave critters considering the traffic. 

With all that said....until the MI DNR creates rules that foster opportune times and ways to hunt hogs, I don't think they're real serious about addressing the hog "problem" here. If I was king for the day....I'd immediately allow night hunting for them when they are most active. It's also a two-way street. As Okie noted on one of his posts a while back, I suspect the private land owners/farmers would have to adjust their thinking too and give permisssion to responsible folks to come shoot the hogs. So until it's taken serious....... 

John


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## Bonebreaker

If you have ever hunted hogs in an area KNOWN to hold them, one thing would become CLEAR. Hogs leave a TON of sign. 

It IS TRUE, that hogs can and DO hunker down in the thickest, most impenetrable areas of a given territory, and they WILL allow hunters to walk in close proximity to them without moving...but they CANNOT hide the damage they do while searching for food. Hog sign is different than ANY other animal found in Michigan. 

Between firearms season, archery season, small game season, bear season, predator hunters, trappers ect. ...an expanding hog population would be a much more popular topic of discussion. Bait piles, corn feeders, food plots, bird feeders...and STILL very few reported sightings. Trail cameras by the thousands...standing guard 24/7/365...and nobody produces any photos. As far as I am concerned, there are VERY few hogs, or people are keeping them secret.

If hogs EVER become a serious problem in Michigan, it will be areas of PRIVATE land that protect the hogs. Let some guys that grew up hunting deer on PUBLIC land go after them and they will wipe out any hogs alive.


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## 9

Bonebreaker said:


> If you have ever hunted hogs in an area KNOWN to hold them, one thing would become CLEAR. Hogs leave a TON of sign.
> 
> It IS TRUE, that hogs can and DO hunker down in the thickest, most impenetrable areas of a given territory, and they WILL allow hunters to walk in close proximity to them without moving...but they CANNOT hide the damage they do while searching for food. Hog sign is different than ANY other animal found in Michigan.
> 
> Between firearms season, archery season, small game season, bear season, predator hunters, trappers ect. ...an expanding hog population would be a much more popular topic of discussion. Bait piles, corn feeders, food plots, bird feeders...and STILL very few reported sightings. Trail cameras by the thousands...standing guard 24/7/365...and nobody produces any photos. As far as I am concerned, there are VERY few hogs, or people are keeping them secret.
> 
> If hogs EVER become a serious problem in Michigan, it will be areas of PRIVATE land that protect the hogs. Let some guys that grew up hunting deer on PUBLIC land go after them and they will wipe out any hogs alive.


Thank you Bonebreaker for a refreshingly commonsensical post regarding our State's hog issue!

I've lived for 65 years and trapped for 56, 40+ of which I've been trapping in an area specificly described to me by the DNRE when contacted by them as *"overrun", "infested" *by hogs! As I've become more experienced with age and my cumulative experiences in the field while trapping, my tolerance for the lack of commonsense becomes an insult to my intelligence especially when I spend close to 300 days a year afield either scouting or trapping this specific area!!! This type of occurrence results in what some folks perceive as a certain crustiness of my interpersonal skills if not a lack there of! Needless to say, they haven't contacted me since, of which I wholeheartedly thank them!

Yes I've observed hog sign within my area. A smattering of sign and one area of about 1/2 acre of rooting. I've also seen folks trying to trap hogs in such a manner that makes a person shake his head and walk away. I ask these folks if they were setting on sign because i'd never sern any sign there nor was there at the time of my question. The answer-"what sign are you talking about?". 

I've also observed several instances where apparent hunters have tried baiting hogs on public lands using piles of diesel fuel-soaked, shell corn and layere-up piles of soaked newspaper. Soaked to such a degree that it created oil slicks that could be smelled as well as seen covering wetlands.

So how it adds up from my perspective and experiences that I see more far more people sign where there is no hog sign and hog sign where there is no people sign! It is what it is!


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