With deer season over in most of the nation, hunters can switch gears and scout out other species or wait until next year.
For those who don’t like waiting, hog and coyote hunting offer lots of action with few restrictions. Add to that the fact that you’re doing the environment and deer herd a huge favor by removing some coyotes from the mix.
Coyotes continue to spread their numbers into every available space, forcing wild hogs to head north, as Bob Humphrey portrays in this Whitetail Institute post.
At first, the scene before me didn’t register. Acre upon acre of what had obviously been lush green fields was now a sea of overturned soil. Assuming it was the work of machinery, I naively asked my hunting companion, “What are they planting there?” He chuckled and replied, “That’s hogs.” Disbelief turned to awe as I noticed the somewhat random pattern of tilling. Staring at the devastation left me speechless.
Like many who live outside their range, I viewed feral hogs as sort of a novelty, targets of opportunity that occasionally showed up while pursuing deer or turkeys. I was vaguely aware they sometimes chewed up food plots and could be a nuisance at corn feeders, but I had no idea just how widespread and devastating their influence could be on the landscape.
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