Chapter 1

 

Our story begins like many others. It has been quiet lately as Fall creeps into South Georgia. The acorns dropping by the thousands, providing wild hogs with one of their favorite sources of nourishment. Trying to pin down a travel pattern or schedule for the hogs is exceedingly difficult. Yet still we watch and wait.

Hog Cutters is watching 23 cameras, one of which is for a new landowner. The owner contacted us for information about trapping a small group of hogs on his family’s property. He has been working the land and has only come across this one small group. Josey stopped to look at the land and a plan was made for removal of the small sounder.

Josey found an area the hogs have used for feeding, and our normal process began for drawing the group in. Working in competition with the acorns, Josey baited with corn, peanuts, and Texas Hog Bait. This time of year, you must make the bait incredibly attractive to wild hogs, or they will eat all around you and move on.

Once a bait location was established, and the trap partially installed we watched and waited. The hogs began crossing through the partially constructed trap. The hogs seemed to quickly lose any hesitation when in and around the trapping equipment. The trap was finally made ready and the pin pulled. It was now just a matter of time.

As usual, Josey’s plan of getting to sleep from 8pm to 3am was foiled. After about 2 hours of sleep, the Jager Pro app started throwing notifications. The previous nights being so quiet, I was pleasantly surprised to see the small sounder filing in through the gate. The hog’s body language showed they were likely sticking around for a few minutes. I placed the call to rouse Josey from his sleep. “Hog’s on the ground”.

The gate was dropped on 4 wild hogs, accounting for each of the ones previously seen by the landowner. Little did we know the night was just beginning. During Josey’s drive to this property, we received another alert from the Jager Pro app. An older single boar has been crossing through a bait site on several occasions, traversing the woods between peanut fields. Although the farm was 2 counties away from his location at the new hog trap, Josey thought this might just be the night he could cross paths with the boar.

Come back tomorrow for Chapter 2……….