We have a new lease for this fall, and this will my first time hunting a property with hogs on it. I've never dealt with them and have very little knowledge other than the stories I've heard about how they can have a bad attitude, how they will on occasion charge at you, and how they are capable of doing quite a bit of damage if they do charge you.

Honestly, it's got me a little freaked out. My biggest fear is sneaking into a stand and walking up on one unknowingly, and getting charged, particularly if I have one of my kids with me (will be 6 and 4 yrs old).

So, those of you who have a good number of hogs, how big of a concern is this, truly? What can a hunter do to prevent any unwanted interaction with them? I assume if they see/hear you coming, they'll run off if they can, but when you're deer hunting you're trying to be as stealthy as possible. And, what do you do if you are charged? I carry a .40 glock on my hip when I'm in the woods, but having to shoot (and hit) a charging hog would be a last resort.

I don't think a hog would ever charge anyone unless it was seriously provoked. I have hunted around them my whole life and never have ever come even close to being charged. They usually run from you if they wind you.

They are very tasty to eat. In my opinion a 75 to 100 pound sow is about as fine of meat as you will find.

I'm definitely looking forward to shooting a few, always wanted to do it, just prefer to shoot them from a good distance away, with a rifle.......not head-on, on the run, with a pistol.

You always hear people talk about running into one and having to jump up a tree or something to get away from it, but then you never know how much is truth vs exaggerated.

I've worked in the woods by myself for years with hogs all over the place. They have always ran when they know you are out there. Your biggest problem will probably be that they eat all your corn up.......

I hunted a property in Marengo County (Nanafalia) on the Tombigbee River for a few years that was infested with them. They are blind as a bat but can smell better than a bloodhound. You could sneak up to them on the logging roads in the river bottom before the leaves dropped. We figured out that you should always take your bow when scouting and checking cameras because they liked making wallows in the logging roads. I have stood beside a water chestnut oak and had several sows and piglets walk right by me and never know I was there only to spook when they got down wind. Not an expert but you are most likely going to have feral hogs-descendants of escaped domestic swine that are not aggressive unless cornered. Russian wild boar are a different story. I have never seen one or have heard of them being in Alabama.

I had to climb a tree a couple of times. Once was when we were dog hunting deer with beagles. They were running him and I shot him twice with 12 gauge #1 buck shot head on. He was not coming after me, he just didn't see me standing there and he was running in a straight line up a draw. The second time we were hog hunting and he pulled away from the dogs and ran right at me, once again he didn't swerve or turn toward me. I was just standing in front of him at the time. I've never had a single one try to come at me after I walked up on them, even in the dark. They just want to get away.

They are braver in the dark than they are in daylight. But, a true charge is rare.

My brother has been hit twice and my wife once. His were both true charges. My wife was just in the sows way when the shooting started. Knock on wood, I have yet to be hit. Had plenty run right by me but no contact.

Just be sure and keep an ear open when walking in.
You will hear them before you get too close.

We run across them a good bit while blood tracking. They’re everywhere around here. There’s only been a couple times so far that’s made me nervous at all. One was when we were in some really, really thick regrowth and walked right up into the middle of a bunch of ‘em before they jumped up. Otis was just 5-10 yards in front of me and he was the one that actually got ‘em up. Things just suddenly blew up and went ape chit out of nowhere. It sounded like Otis immediately cut a piglet out of the bunch and was hot on it’s arse taking it around the thicket…..you could hear it just squealing like hell. Reeeee! Reeeee! Reeeee!.....Meawhile the other pigs are snorting and squealing and going crazy all around us. The thicket wasn’t that big and instead of leaving out on a beeline, they just wanted to stay in the thicket and it felt like we were mostly surrounded after Otis busted up the group. It was so thick in there that you couldn’t see but a few yards in front of you and I was expecting to have a pissed off mama hog run over me just any second.

I beeped Otis’s collar to get him off the piglet and in the process of calling him back to me….I brought him right back into the group of pigs that were between us. It just stirred things up even more as he cut loose barking again. I told the hunter to come on and let’s get the hell up out of this thicket before one comes running at us. We got took off in the direction with the least amount of chaos and got Otis back to us without anything happening but it got pretty sketchy there for a minute. It sounded like there were likely 10-15 pigs in the group and they were running around hollering and squealing as close as 5-10 yards out to 25-30 yards around us. It was some sho-nuff close-range action that had my butthole puckered up.

I think sneaking up on a group in a thicket like that would be one of the only situations you really gotta worry about…..something to where you just get too close to them before you know it and startle one. They’ll be in thick stuff close to water so just keep that in mind if you ever start to bail off in a thicket on the edge of the creek. If the wind is in your favor and you’re just slippin….you might walk right up on top of them before you realize it.

The only time I have been charged is when I shot one at point blank range walking to a stand. It ran in circles, charged me, I kicked it and shot it with my pistol. Don't freak out. I stalk hunt them in the delta all the time and you are more likely to get bit by a snake. Enjoy.

I have been charged 3 times in 11 years. Once at night tracking a wounded hog for a friend. I killed it with a pistol. Once while actively stalking them in a bunch of waist-high bamboo. A cousin and I were shooting into a herd when the lead boar broke loose and came right to us. We killed that one. The most recent was two years back, I was walking up a steep road, bow in hand, after a morning hunt when I had a smallish pig (100# or so) come straight at me down a ridge. It wheeled around about 20 feet from me and ran off as fast as it had come. That one scared the bejezzes out of me. On average though the hogs are as skittish as deer and much more noisey. Especially as a group. If you need to move about in the dark just stop every so often and listen. A group in particular will grunt and squeal fairly often and you can hear it from a good ways off. The worst part of having them around, at least where I hunt, is that the deer will avoid the area that hogs are in so if you are seeing pigs you won't be seeing deer.

They've had Russian boar in bullock co for many years that were stocked on purpose. I hunted a place near union springs in the 70's that had them. Those boars got huge

I don't see any reason to be scared. Last year I'd wald around through thick pines and shoot them when I snuck up on them. I realize they can charge you, but I have noticed that is the most common fear of hogs. Not that it is a bad thing. But for the most part they're fairly skidding. But if you want to have fun get a timed feeder and go shoot them over it. I say a times feeder because there is no way to keep up with them eating corn just off of the ground.

ive had one bout make me chit my pants on Lowndes WMA one morning right at daybreak. bout 200lbs, i was wading through the 5ft+ tall thick palmettos and came out in a creek opening that was dry and he was standing there. I think i scared the chit out of him too because he bolted towards me and just ran right on by. Scared me half to damn death. You are more than likely to be bitten by a snake than actually hit in my opinion.

I was on a lease with lots of hogs for 5 years. Only thing you need to worry about is the hogs coming into a food plot and chasing off your deer. That and damage from rooting. I wouldn't worry about being attacked. More likely you'll run em off. Shoot em and eat them as they're bad for deer hunting but good for your stomach.

I've been ran over once and put up a tree once. Very rare. I would not put out corn unless you want them around that spot all the time. Some places the deer are used to them but most of my experiences if pigs are around the deer won't be

I've been around hundreds of them and the only time they acted hostile was after being seriously provoked. They all run from you unless you run down one of the babies and catch it and tie it up with a bandana while it's screaming bloody murder. Then the momma may come back and put a hurting on you a little if you aren't watching her - lol.