Ponte Vedra porkfest

[Big Bend Brian]

My neighborhood has a lot of hogs and they’ve again started rooting up more yards to include re-rooting some common grounds that the neighborhood just re-sodded from a previous rooting. Getting em one at a time isn’t making a dent so I borrowed a pig trap to help correct the problem.

(I think it’s OK to have a little fun with your kids as you’re working on a neighborhood pig problem………)

After carting it out to a spot with some help from a neighbor the kids baited the area.





One hour later I went back to set up some game cameras and there already was a hog snacking on the bait. Looking good…..

After four days of baiting the hogs were comfortable entering the trap. With 3 different sounders and a couple of singles coming at different times of the day/night it looks like there are approximately 20-25 pigs.










This trap is open on the top and dere can jump out







With the hogs committed to entering the trap the rootstick was set and the trap made ready. The idea behind the rootstick is that the hogs enter the trap and first feed on the two thick rows of bait (one on each side of the interior edges of the trap). As more hogs enter some get displaced off the large piles and one pig will find/move to the small pile of corn that’s covering the rootstick. As that pig eats the small pile it “roots” the stick off it’s 2 points of contact thereby releasing the door trapping them.


Trap & rootstick set


Rootstick ready to be tripped

Next morning:
As I walked up to the trap I could see the door was down and as I walked up to the trap the smallest of the 3 pigs hit the hog panel HARD and got its head and front shoulders out but it became stuck. With it’s excited LOUD squealing a large pig ran out of the woods and charged the trap and I started backing off. The pig unstuck itself & stopped squealing and fortunately the pig (sow?) ran back into the woods.


3 hogs




Kapn Skinny & future sausages


--------------------------------------
A week later………….Over Spring Break my daughter & I spent a week in the Key West sailing so I secured the door OPEN and while we were in the Keys my son kept the trap rebaited every couple of days…… now baiting only inside the trap to get them acclimated to entering without fear and concentrating their numbers in the trap:





















Now that the hogs are comfortably entering the trap…… the trap and the rootstick is set for tonight..................



Brian

[MudDucker]

A Ponte Vedra neighborhood should step up to the 21st Century method of hog catching!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsFXhGoDnW0

[dombern34]

some thermal and a suppressed rifle would put a dent in them for sure. along with that trap, you should have them under controlled soon!

[DAWG FAN]

I can tell you that most deer can not jump out of that trap. They will ram the panels until death. Seen it many times. If you check it daily when set you will be able to release them before they kill themselves. I will say when they go in my smaller traps like this one they are extremely cautious and very seldom trip it.

[Big Bend Brian]

A Ponte Vedra neighborhood should step up to the 21st Century method of hog catching!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsFXhGoDnW0

That's funny. This is a low budget operation! 3 bedframes, some hog panels and shelving parts to make the door and the door track.
Brian

[Big Bend Brian]

The next set trapped 2 boars although the game camera photos showed that throughout the night there were multiple pigs in the trap but they didn’t trip the rootstick (I had set the rootstick in such a way as to make it more resistant to tripping).







Walking up to them they are not happy campers. The black one broke one of the corner hog panel welds right in front of us.


2 boars






My buddy just texted me and said that these 2 piggies were turned into Wild Turkey maple sausages and that they taste amazing.

The trapping continues………….

Brian

[MudDucker]

A Ponte Vedra neighborhood should step up to the 21st Century method of hog catching!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsFXhGoDnW0

That's funny. This is a low budget operation! 3 bedframes, some hog panels and shelving parts to make the door and the door track.
Brian

I recognized the "ahem" "engineering" on the present trap and it looks like one I used for a couple of years. A buddy of mine from Savannah sent me the link to that round pen. I thought it looked pretty neat, but I ain't paying that much to catch no pig.

[Big Bend Brian]

These mobile sausage factories continue to oblige…….











Just set the trap for another round………………….

Brian

[MudDucker]

Wow, y'all are eat up with dem pigs.

[Big Bend Brian]

Trap was sprung at 0233 hours by a lone 88 lb boar. Two minutes before that there were 6 pigs in the trap but he chased them out. Certainly luck of the draw as to how many you catch each time.








Interesting way to start your school day

Trap is set again.
Brian

[Salty Gator]

Lots of pork right there. I seem to remember y'all using latex gloves when dressing your hogs. Am I misremembering? Or did y'all stop doing that?

[Big Bend Brian]

You're right. I reminded Casey about that right after this photo was taken.
Not to mention he had to go to school immediately following breaking this boar down.
Brian

[bman]

That is awesome... I have a buddy that got a trap that had a hanging door had to root into but they never did.
Maybe if he propped it open and let them at it for a few days he would get one.

[Big Bend Brian]

Best set yet. The trap was tripped at 0349 hours by 5 pigs but prior to that it was visited by quite a few hogs but was not tripped. The 5 caught were part of a 7 pig sounder. All sows with the largest one at 108 lbs.








Door about to drop…..



Door down









Interestingly, this photo was taken just as the brown piglet was about to hit the hog panel HARD. It got partially through and hung up but then squirted out & took off running!






We’ll continue to bait the trap but will keep the door tied open for a few days to cool the area down a bit. After which the trapping will continue.

Brian

[Big Bend Brian]

My kids & I are still having fun with trapping the neighborhood pigs although things have slowed down a tad with the hog population decreasing in numbers and the remaining pigs not as comfortable entering the trap. For a week now we’ve continued to bait the trap daily but have the door tied open to get them calmed down a bit. The only hogs coming in is a single sounder of 4 hogs with 2 other pigs occasionally with them. On the plus side ……I’ve talked to the neighbors who have had daily hog sightings and even had their lawns rolled and they haven’t seen any hogs for over a week now.


In other photos of this sounder of 6, the two largest have been hesitant to enter







With what appears to be a little trap shyness going on we’ve had to resort to some unorthodox strategies……..





It’s a start…..


15 minutes later and they seem to be heeding the subliminal corn arrow message


Although the wrong varmints seem to have gotten the message too …………
(we may be fueling another epidemic…..)


These are the two that are hesitant to enter


A lone boar maybe new to this arrangement

Aaaaarrrrggggghhhhh…..the baiting will continue until morale improves!
Brian