Pigs vs raccoons

[JimFromTN]

I went hog hunting this past week. It was a bit on the warm side but we saw some hogs but were only able to connect with one of them. One night I was hunting a stand on an edge of a swamp. Over the course of the evening, there were 5 raccoons on the bait of varying sizes. I heard some splashing back in the swamp so I got my thermal up and watched the bait site with all the raccoons. The raccoons all looked in the direction of the splashing noise and then all of a sudden I heard what sounded almost light coyotes yelping and the raccoons started getting excited and were jumping around. This went on for a few seconds before I finally heard a pig grunt and all of the pigs in the sounder turned around and went back the way they came. I never saw any coyotes. I think what I heard were the raccoons barking. It was almost as if they knew the pigs were coming in to run them out so they all started making a huge ruckus and scared the hogs away. My friends said I was full of it and it must have been something else because they had seen hogs run off raccoons on numerous occasions. I have witnessed this as well but the raccoons never started barking and going crazy when the hogs came in before. The wind was in my favor so I know it was not me that scared them off.

 

[dwightb]

Only a few raccoons around here will even come around corn with deer. Most of the time the deer will try to stomp the coon! I have had a few pictures of coons and pigs together under a feeder. With just one picture its hard to tell how long that lasted. Coons normally run when pigs show. An old salty sow or boar coon and very young pigs might go different. What I am seeing more of is the coyotes tending the pig sounders! The coyotes are looking for a young pig to break ranks. You may have all three close by interacting. The other night I had a sounder of very young pigs around the feeder but were very skittish and not coming in. Moments later two coyotes flashed by and the pigs were gone! As strange as it sounds an armadillo coming under the feeder will make deer and coons run!

 

[JimFromTN]

I read somewhere that a big boar raccoon can run off deer from a feeder. This was weird. The raccoons all started jumping around and I heard a yipping kind of noise. I thought it must have been coyotes because I did not know raccoons could make that sound but I never saw any coyotes. It was not until after I thought about it for a while that it could have been the raccoons barking the hogs. There were 5 raccoons, 2 of which were big ones, and the yipping/yelping was very loud. The 3 little ones were on the food while the 2 big ones were moving around the outside of the bait, in and out of sight constantly. It is possible that there were some coyotes that I never saw.

 

[Mark37082]

I was looking at some trail cam photos and saw about 5 coons and two deer eating corn in the same area. It did not seem they had a care in the world. The next photo was of a bobcat and no other critters in sight. Bobcats are some stealthy cats. I've had them walk by me in dry leaves and never hear a sound. Of course I am half deaf from shooting all my life.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I went hog hunting this past week. It was a bit on the warm side but we saw some hogs but were only able to connect with one of them. One night I was hunting a stand on an edge of a swamp. Over the course of the evening, there were 5 raccoons on the bait of varying sizes. I heard some splashing back in the swamp so I got my thermal up and watched the bait site with all the raccoons. The raccoons all looked in the direction of the splashing noise and then all of a sudden I heard what sounded almost light coyotes yelping and the raccoons started getting excited and were jumping around. This went on for a few seconds before I finally heard a pig grunt and all of the pigs in the sounder turned around and went back the way they came. I never saw any coyotes. I think what I heard were the raccoons barking. It was almost as if they knew the pigs were coming in to run them out so they all started making a huge ruckus and scared the hogs away. My friends said I was full of it and it must have been something else because they had seen hogs run off raccoons on numerous occasions. I have witnessed this as well but the raccoons never started barking and going crazy when the hogs came in before. The wind was in my favor so I know it was not me that scared them off.

It is a shame more thermals don't have onboard recording with audio. That would be something to see and would let your friends know they were full of it, not you.