Spot and stalk bedded hogs

I have only walked up on two. A lone boar that had a cool sandy spot under a leaning live oak. A lone sow on a coastal cover small hill under a shady big live oak. The sow had a nest for having pigs! I was moving slow looking for other reasons. Never knew either was there until they exploded out of there! I would say very quiet!!! A sounder feeding is very noisy!
 
In my experience, you don't hear them. In 8 years of serious hog hunting in South Carolina, I never came across a bedded hog. I spent countless hours search for them during the day before realizing that my better chances of success would be at night.

Most of the places I hunted had pine trees. Only a few places had trees that dropped leaves. The only times I heard hogs moving were in the fall when the leaves dropped. On those occasions, they sounded like a freight train.
 
I've killed a good number of sleeping hogs.Since they are most active at night,they sleep a lot during the day.Honey holes in the summer are near water holes.Just ease quietly through brushy areas around water holes.They seem to like areas that are thick and shady but still have a little visibility around them.The first hog I ever killed was sleeping in a thick stand of oaks about 10-15ft tall,about 40yds across,surrounded by thick short brush that was about 3-4ft tall.There was about a dozen of them all stretched out sleeping.Sometimes you can hear them grunt a little too.Good Luck,have fun.
 
Agree with baldhunter. The wind is much, much more important than noise when approaching a sleeping hog. How much noise they will tolerate depends on their environment. If they bed around a noisy farm with cows, horses, etc. roaming around or a lot of equipment clanging and people yelling at each other, they are less sensitive to noise. They are very hard to see when sleeping. Usually only see about an inch of their back if you're lucky. They like to bed in depressions at the base of trees and bushes. Use a pair of binoculars or a thermal to look under every tree or bush as you stalk.
 
In West Texas we spot and stalk them with bows before the mesquite trees leaf out. Find a vantage point and glass. Often find several pigs sleeping in a heap early morning. Can often approach from downwind within bow range without spooking them. Later in the day we walk the roads listening for them. They have great sense of smell and hearing, poor eyesight.

Can't see them from any distance later in the year with foliage. Switch to sitting over water holes during warmer weather.
 
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