# Hog damage in hay field



## Hunter5425 (May 6, 2014)

I have got a 50 acre hay field that hogs have destroyed. I'm trying to find a good way to smooth up the field. I don't know if I just run my plow over it then drag it or get a tiller. Any ideas of a good way to smooth it up


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

First, you've got to eliminate the feral hog population, but perhaps you have already done that. Sufficient trips over the field with a disk harrow to loosen the soil, and then adding a weighted drag harrow behind the disk harrow might do the trick.

If this is a hybrid bermudagrass hay field, you might want to wait until the bermudagrass begins green-up next spring before attempting to smooth the hay field. That way you have less risk of destroying the bermudagrass stand. The soil at that time will need to have good moisture, a high chance of rain needs to be in the forecast, and a weighted roller to repack the soil to prevent further moisture loss are needed. This process on a 50 acre field may need to be done during a series of rainfall events, if that is possible, to keep the soil from drying out. My 2c for what it's worth.


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## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

I deal with the same problem. You will not get rid of the hogs and your best bet is to either put up a net wire fence around the feild or figure out what the hogs are after and kill it out of the feild. 
After you've done that then you can smooth everything out.
It's going to be a 2-3 year project unless you fence it off. 
First if the grass got grown up, I would burn it in Feburary to make it easier to plow, plow the places that are messed up then roll it. 
Sometimes it works to drag if smooth but a roller will do a better job. 
Then you'll have to spray it in the spring and then possibly after the first cut to kill out whatever the hogs are after or they'll just do it again in late summer.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

What do they seem to like predominately Colby.....I'm assuming these are Bermuda hay fields?


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## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

Vassey Grass and Nutsedge coming up in the spots where the Bahia was killed out of a coastal patch is my problem. 
So you really have 3 options: 
1) the best option- net wire fence to keep hogs out 
2) kill what the hogs are after, I don't know what you are growing but I would guess it's coastal and I would guess it's vassey and Nutsedge in late summer that they are rooting up. 
3) let Bahia take over, hogs don't root in Bahia fields.

Edit: People say to get rid of the hogs, that ain't gonna happen. I tried along with every other person. I've killed, trapped over 200 hogs out of a 50 acre hay patch since 2011 and they're still rooting it up.


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## clowers (Feb 11, 2011)

A good field fence /net wire fence around your 50 acres. A good disc and roller, get busy. Vhaby and Colby gave you some good advice.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

As necessary as it is to keep hogs out of your hay meadow, adding field fence on the perimeter is going to make the first round of hay cutting slower unless you are much better at keeping the cutter out of the fence than I am...compared to barbed wire. Clowers, quit laughing...


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## JayTN (Jul 12, 2015)

I can't add anything to leveling up your field, but I would be willing to come shoot hogs for you!


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Colby said:


> Edit: People say to get rid of the hogs, that ain't gonna happen. I tried along with every other person. I've killed, trapped over 200 hogs out of a 50 acre hay patch since 2011 and they're still rooting it up.


European(Russian) Wild Boar escaped a hunting preserve near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park back in the early forties. In 1959, the GSMNP started a eradication program which involves hunting and trapping around the clock for these Russian wild swine within the national park. To this day they are still pursued around the clock due to their destructive nature to the flora, fauna, and wild life in this national park. It is doubtful that they ever will be eradicated.....just suppressed.

Regards, Mike


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Local gossip around me states net or barb wire won't stop wild hogs as they just run through breaking wires. Fortunately I don't have any wild hogs on my land but I'll bet my Gallagher(super hot) fence charger would make them think twice about entering Coastal field. . If you have a custom sprigger you could sell him sprigs and when he finished digging then smooth some more with a drag. .Local sprigger starts digging about Feb 1 here. I've seen drags made out of old truck tires bolted together in a pyramid shape.


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## Hunter5425 (May 6, 2014)

Thanks for all the advice. I have got the hogs out I set up traps and caught about 200 and shot around 50 they haven't been out there in a while. I'm just ready to stop tearing up my equipment every time I cut it


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Hunter5425 said:


> Thanks for all the advice. I have got the hogs out I set up traps and caught about 200 and shot around 50 they haven't been out there in a while. I'm just ready to stop tearing up my equipment every time I cut it


WOW......


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

vhaby said:


> As necessary as it is to keep hogs out of your hay meadow, adding field fence on the perimeter is going to make the first round of hay cutting slower unless you are much better at keeping the cutter out of the fence than I am...compared to barbed wire. Clowers, quit laughing...


But barbwire does NOTHING to slow down hogs... I can promise you that...

Later! OL JR


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

A number of years ago, we had an electric fence around an alfalfa test plot of about 2 acres. Perhaps this fence charger wasn't extremely powerful but the hogs would walk under it with it touching their backs. Their trail looked like a cow trail. The ranch hands told us the hogs would begin squealing 40 feet before hitting the fence, but would go through it anyway.

LS: Anyone who has feral hogs on their place is aware of that...


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Tx Jim said:


> Local gossip around me states net or barb wire won't stop wild hogs as they just run through breaking wires. Fortunately I don't have any wild hogs on my land but I'll bet my Gallagher(super hot) fence charger would make them think twice about entering Coastal field. . If you have a custom sprigger you could sell him sprigs and when he finished digging then smooth some more with a drag. .Local sprigger starts digging about Feb 1 here. I've seen drags made out of old truck tires bolted together in a pyramid shape.


STRONG net wire can keep hogs out... CHEAP net wire, not so much, very hit or miss...

I went to a hog program a couple years ago, showing how to set up traps and snares, fencing, hunting, etc. The problem is, the [email protected] things are SO smart...

Hogs are smarter than the average dog. They have a terrific memory and they can figure things out. Their eyesight is poor, but their nose can smell stuff better than the average dog as well...

The problem is, the old ones are very smart, and will teach the younger ones. If a hog has nearly been caught in a trap but escaped or the trap tripped with them outside it, letting them get away, they'll teach the others to avoid traps in the future. If you're going to trap them, it's best to make DOUBLE-DARN SURE that you get ALL of them. The guy giving the lecture I attended, recommended setting up the trap with a bucket of corn or grain sorghum soaked in water for a couple days, so that it REALLY starts to stink. Dig a hole in the middle of the pen trap (don't bother with the little cage traps-- it'll only catch one or two at a time, if that, and the rest will be on guard for them from now on). Dig a hole in the middle of the trap a couple feet deep, and bury this bucket of rotting grain in the hole. The hogs will smell it from miles away and be drawn like a magnet to it... nothing they like better than rotting corn or sorghum the guy said... Leave the trap door locked up so it cannot trip for several days... Just let the hogs roam in, dig up the grain and eat it, and roam out...

Invariably what happens is, a bunch of wild hogs will roam up, called up by the scent of the grain. The old sows or boars will be wary and won't go in the trap... but invariably, some of the younger, more risk-taking ones will ignore the warnings and wander in, and be rewarded with the grain, which they'll promptly dig up and eat. The next day or so, they'll be back, and having seen that the first ones wandered in there against their herd-mates warnings and got a free meal with nothing bad happening, more will follow their example and wander in for the free buffet as well. The third or fourth day, the entire herd will go in (with luck) to enjoy the free meal, hopefully with the smart old sow that sent up the alarm to begin with as well... once they all enjoy a free meal and are more than ready to return, THAT is when you re-bait the trap and set it so it'll go off when they're all in the pen...

Also, build trap pens so they're ROUNDED, NOT with square corners... otherwise hogs will bunch up in the corners and some will run up the other one's backs and jump out of the pen... told you, they're smart...

Snares also work well, but you have to put them on hog trails and that requires some scouting and work to figure out where they're coming and going from, and the terrain and environment has to be right to "force" them onto given trails that they use regularly... in wide open spaces, that doesn't work well...

Traps should be made to look like part of the environment, where possible, to camouflage the fact that they are traps...

He also talked about helicopter hunting, which has become very big in Texas... problem is, the hogs are smart-- the first week they were doing large-scale helicopter hog hunting in a county, they bagged like over 1000 hogs... the second week, it was down to like 750, the third week, less than 300... by the end of the month, the chopper could fly all day and not see a single hog... they were still there, but they had learned, like the Viet Cong, to disappear into the underbrush and lay low when the sounds of helicopters could be heard, and only come out at night... told you, the buggers are smart!

The best luck is with night-vision scopes... hogs don't see well in the daytime due to their poor eyesight, and are practically blind at night, but they're guided by their sense of smell primarily and by their hearing, especially at night. With a good night vision scope and a proper set-up downwind, you can basically pick off hogs with a rifle at will and they never know what hit them... BUT, GOOD night-vision scopes and equipment is a MAJOR investment-- they DO NOT come cheap, and the cheap stuff is not GOOD stuff...

Best of luck! OL JR 

PS... I've cut hay patches (prairie hay) that looked like a D-6 bulldozer had worked up the far end of the field-- there was a 2 foot deep cliff across the low end of a field, and it literally looked like piles of sand from a dozer... hogs had rooted that end of the field up that badly...

Bout all you can do is level it out (something that bad, you'd need a loader or blade to push the dirt back) and then disk the heck out of it and drag it thoroughly with an old I-beam, electric pole, tire drag, or whatever to fill in the low spots, and then replant, and roll it tight (if you have a roller).

Bermudgrass should come back pretty well from the sprigs and roots and stolons that get disked under and rolled in, so long as there's some rain or moisture available within a reasonable time of the disking and leveling operation...

Good luck!


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

vhaby said:


> A number of years ago, we had an electric fence around an alfalfa test plot of about 2 acres. Perhaps this fence charger wasn't extremely powerful but the hogs would walk under it with it touching their backs. Their trail looked like a cow trail. The ranch hands told us the hogs would begin squealing 40 feet before hitting the fence, but would go through it anyway.
> 
> LS: Anyone who has feral hogs on their place is aware of that...


This is true... the guy who did the program I went to told us that electric fences, no matter how "hot", pose little obstacle to feral hogs...

He told of a guy who put up some high-megajoule low-impedance charger made to electrify like 250 miles of hot-wire fence around a little field of sweet corn that was maybe 5-10 acres... he put the wires up a foot off the ground and another about 2 feet high, and lit it up...

Figured that'd keep the hogs out... and for a couple days, it did... until they figured out that if they charged they could get right through it... get the snot shocked out of them, but get right through it...

Guy said he was called out to figure out what was going on, so he sat out there all night with a night-vision scope on "stakeout"... said the hogs would come out of the woods, come up to the fence, back off about 20 yards, and take off at a full run, squealing all the way, get the sh!t zapped out of them when they hit the wire, but be straight through it... then they'd munch sweet corn all night, and just before dawn, they'd back up, start squealing again, and run full speed through the hot wire and get shocked again going out of the field...

They'd endure the shock going in and out and treated the field like a buffet lunch...

Later! OL JR


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## clowers (Feb 11, 2011)

vhaby said:


> As necessary as it is to keep hogs out of your hay meadow, adding field fence on the perimeter is going to make the first round of hay cutting slower unless you are much better at keeping the cutter out of the fence than I am...compared to barbed wire. Clowers, quit laughing...


You know i have been in that as well Doc


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

All this hog talk is interesting since I think they have made it to southern va and it is only a matter of time until they get here in the northern Shenandoah Valley. That said, the locals in Southern Africa seem to know how to control rhino and elephant with electric fence so surely you southern boys can do likewise.

Of course, they use 3 phase 440 fencing and I am not sure how PC it would be for the local press to be running pics of Harry the local drunk as a crispy critter affixed to your very effective hog rejection fence. Might raise the profile of your sleepy hay business!


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## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

I haven't seen an electric fence work... And I've seen some really hot ones. Doesn't faze me


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

Off the topic, but a guy near us has an electric fence, the lower wire being about 2 feet off the ground. The mule deer get on their sides and slide under the wire. All animals are smart. I've seen ravens in Alaska work in teams where five or six of them will rock a garbage can to turn it over.


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## shortrow (Feb 21, 2012)

Excess rain, and whitetail deer are the only problems we have in Ohio. Sounds mild compared to the hog problem. Good grief.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

shortrow said:


> Excess rain, and whitetail deer are the only problems we have in Ohio. Sounds mild compared to the hog problem. Good grief.


Hogs can bring out the worst in a individual.....it is incredible the amount of destruction that can occur overnight by a herd of swine.

Regards, Mike


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

I know some people eat these wild hogs. Is the meat worth the effort?


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Hugh said:


> I know some people eat these wild hogs. Is the meat worth the effort?


Absolutely! Depending upon the size and age......find ya some little piglets and they are mighty fine eatn

Have to take some precautions while cleaning/dressing, gloves are a must......brucellosis is the worst


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

There is a network of buyer locations in this area. They purchase feral hogs that weigh 50# or more; the older and heavier the better the price. Latest that I sold weighed just over 150 lb and brought $.50/lb plus a $5 premium. A truck makes the rounds to collect them and haul them to a slaughter/processing plant in Fort Worth. From there they are shipped overseas. I'm told the older and more rank they are the better the Europeans etc, like them as a restaurant delicacy. Like dawg said, 20 pounders on a spit or grill are good eating, but the older more rank ones are not that great for local table fare.


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## Colby (Mar 5, 2012)

Just got back from shooting some... 6 out of about 25, they should stay out of here for a few days


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Hugh said:


> I know some people eat these wild hogs. Is the meat worth the effort?


I'll find out soon.My BILaw and outlaws shot 4 on a game farm in Iowa a couple weeks ago.I'll try it but a bit apprehensive about eating a skanky old boar.

I'm wondering why they import wild hogs to middle of Iowa to a game farm?Isn't that how they got started in the south,escaping from a game farm?


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

swmnhay said:


> I'll find out soon.My BILaw and outlaws shot 4 on a game farm in Iowa a couple weeks ago.I'll try it but a bit apprehensive about eating a skanky old boar.
> I'm wondering why they import wild hogs to middle of Iowa to a game farm?Isn't that how they got started in the south,escaping from a game farm?


Yes it is.....course there were some truly wild ones, but by far and large, most have escaped from game farms. I wouldn't eat a skanky old boar.....we gut shoot them and maybe they'll run to neighboring property before succumbing to the injury


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

This would be a blast.


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

Didn't watch the whole thing, but watched enough to know that, while I abhor heights :angry:, I think I could get over it pretty quick given THAT opportunity . Only problem I see, I know how axxl-retentive I am with my prepped brass and could see myself with a metal detector looking for every single piece. :huh:

73, Mark


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

Spent cartridge catchers are available for attaching to AR 15s.

Google

AR 15 spent cartridge case catcher


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

I like this one better... 





Faster and easier... LOL

Later! OL JR


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

With accurate rifle and good shooting skills, it might be more fun and pay more money to bail hog rather than alfalfa. Here is my favorite site for extreme accuracy, with great articles, etc http://www.6mmbr.com/gunweekarchive.html


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Razor wire might work I'd imagine. When constructing a fence to keep hogs out you have to put in the springs. The fence stays tight as heck but gives enough to prolong the pain from the barb or shock. That said the suckers will dig under before too awful long
Correctly stated before, they are smart and determined.


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