Three years ago I built a food plot with the intention of using it to trap hogs in the off season. While I didn't get a whole lot of positive encouragement - mostly "that won't work", I stuck with it and adjusted it as I met with success and failure. You can read about it here:
Texas Sized Hog Trap
Texas Sized Hog Trap Round 2
Summary - this is a 1.5 acre food plot with 32" high tensile hog field fencing from StayTite. T posts are 6 feet apart. The gate is 10' wide. The whole thing cost about $600, but I had the Tposts from old fences that we ripped up. The hunt area is 80 acres, but my neighbors have 110 acres.
Year one I trapped maybe 4-6 hogs but really didn't put a lot of effort into it. The first hog I trapped was a 300 pounder so I knew the set up worked.
Last year, I trapped 120 hogs and the numbers climbed quickly when I added utility 2x4 fence on the inside to keep the strippers from going through the big squares.
Key points on this trap - the size of it keeps the hogs from realizing they can't get out. They run the line, hit the cross fence, run it, hit the next corner, etc. I added cattle panels to round out the corners to keep them from piling up in a corner. The gate is 10' wide so the hogs feel comfortable with the space. The trigger is 75' in to allow as many hogs get in as possible. The food plot has brush and plum tree groves to allow the pigs to bed down and feel safe and to get out of the sun.
One final note - there is no way to load out live pigs. My goal is to kill every single one of them. No hogs leave alive. And my neighbors take nearly every hog. One is an 82 year old retired preacher who processes them and lets people who are in need come get them from his freezer. However due to the ammo shortage, I may have to build a chute and ramp to load them out and haul them to a buying station. Or shoot them with my bow.
So now the bell has rung on round 3 and I've decided to go mainstream with this live thread by moving it out of the Do it Yourself and into the Campfire.
This year I set it literally the day after deer season ended. It always seems something goes wrong. I thought I'd move the trigger in more, but it was too far away for my cameras to pick up. Then the new rope stretched some but now it is fine. The feeder battery went bad. Then the timer went bad. And the deer were so aggressive at the corn under the tire they triggered the gate. One thing after another. And, since January 4, I've not seen any hogs any where near the trap.
I replaced the timer last night. I also had some corn meal in the garage that was attracting mice that I decided to dump out. I must remember that corn meal smells very sweet and is very strong. It was virtually a powder so the scent carried very well.
I left the scene at 4 pm. By 6 pm, the deer were in the plot. By 605, there were hogs all around the outside of the trap. Then, they went in. And out. And in. The feeder went off at 7 pm and the hogs scattered. But they quickly came back. And they found the corn under the tire. By the time they dropped the gate 1 pig left but I caught 5 last night. I'll shoot them this afternoon. We trapped 5 in the box trap last week, so we are at 10 hogs killed for 2021.
The buck is at the tire. This is the first pig to enter the trap.
I'm pretty sure one of these made it out before the gate dropped.
As you can see, there's more work to be done.
At midnight 30 they look pretty relaxed. They've been trapped for almost 5 hours at this point.
I'll post the LDP later. My best friend CamoQuest is coming over with her son to help me shoot them.
Texas Sized Hog Trap
Texas Sized Hog Trap Round 2
Summary - this is a 1.5 acre food plot with 32" high tensile hog field fencing from StayTite. T posts are 6 feet apart. The gate is 10' wide. The whole thing cost about $600, but I had the Tposts from old fences that we ripped up. The hunt area is 80 acres, but my neighbors have 110 acres.
Year one I trapped maybe 4-6 hogs but really didn't put a lot of effort into it. The first hog I trapped was a 300 pounder so I knew the set up worked.
Last year, I trapped 120 hogs and the numbers climbed quickly when I added utility 2x4 fence on the inside to keep the strippers from going through the big squares.
Key points on this trap - the size of it keeps the hogs from realizing they can't get out. They run the line, hit the cross fence, run it, hit the next corner, etc. I added cattle panels to round out the corners to keep them from piling up in a corner. The gate is 10' wide so the hogs feel comfortable with the space. The trigger is 75' in to allow as many hogs get in as possible. The food plot has brush and plum tree groves to allow the pigs to bed down and feel safe and to get out of the sun.
One final note - there is no way to load out live pigs. My goal is to kill every single one of them. No hogs leave alive. And my neighbors take nearly every hog. One is an 82 year old retired preacher who processes them and lets people who are in need come get them from his freezer. However due to the ammo shortage, I may have to build a chute and ramp to load them out and haul them to a buying station. Or shoot them with my bow.
So now the bell has rung on round 3 and I've decided to go mainstream with this live thread by moving it out of the Do it Yourself and into the Campfire.
This year I set it literally the day after deer season ended. It always seems something goes wrong. I thought I'd move the trigger in more, but it was too far away for my cameras to pick up. Then the new rope stretched some but now it is fine. The feeder battery went bad. Then the timer went bad. And the deer were so aggressive at the corn under the tire they triggered the gate. One thing after another. And, since January 4, I've not seen any hogs any where near the trap.
I replaced the timer last night. I also had some corn meal in the garage that was attracting mice that I decided to dump out. I must remember that corn meal smells very sweet and is very strong. It was virtually a powder so the scent carried very well.
I left the scene at 4 pm. By 6 pm, the deer were in the plot. By 605, there were hogs all around the outside of the trap. Then, they went in. And out. And in. The feeder went off at 7 pm and the hogs scattered. But they quickly came back. And they found the corn under the tire. By the time they dropped the gate 1 pig left but I caught 5 last night. I'll shoot them this afternoon. We trapped 5 in the box trap last week, so we are at 10 hogs killed for 2021.
The buck is at the tire. This is the first pig to enter the trap.
I'm pretty sure one of these made it out before the gate dropped.
As you can see, there's more work to be done.
At midnight 30 they look pretty relaxed. They've been trapped for almost 5 hours at this point.
I'll post the LDP later. My best friend CamoQuest is coming over with her son to help me shoot them.
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