Hog populations, like all wild populations must be controlled and it is the hunter who is best suited for this task.

Story and photography by Bob Zaiglin

With a brisk, cold Hill Country wind smacking us in the face, my daughter Beth guided Jan and I through and around cedar motts towards a feed station frequently visited by hogs.  With her mother carrying a .22-250 and Beth toting her .222, we were about to enter the clearing where the feeder was located.  Then Beth came to an abrupt halt and back peddled, informing us that hogs were present but oblivious to our presence.

Stealthily maneuvering into the wind using the cedar and oak trees to conceal our approach, we began to breach the distance to the feeder and hopefully the big boar Jan missed just a week before.  However, as we were about to reach a desirable shooting position, we encountered a problem as the ranch horses spotted us and expecting a treat, they began to follow us towards the feeder.

Concerned that the hogs would spook, we accelerated our approach, but the hogs failed to relinquish any ground to the horses.  With the hogs focused on the horses, we made it to a cedar mott 30 yards from the preoccupied hogs.

With 11 hogs, ‘22 sets of eyes,’ only a shallow distance from us, my wife meticulously positioned the shooting sticks while I filmed the herd occupied by three large boars, one of which was unusually tall, emanating a razorback-like image.

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