Do any of y'all have experience going after hogs in Bankhead national forest? My brother and another buddy will be going down in the next week or two to try out luck. We may try the WMA. We took a quick trip down 3 weeks ago and saw no hogs or sign of such. Saw plenty of other critters...just no hogs. I'm not trying to mooch anyone's sweet spot or secrets, just wondering if anyone can point us in the right direction. Thanks in advance. Also, none of the three of us have ever even seen one in the wild, so just let to get close would be great.

Keep after them they are out there and they move around a lot. I use to live out there and it was 3 years before I seen my first hog. This past year me and my buddies have killed 10. While its hot they will be in the creek bottoms and only come up to cross over into the next bottom. Look for fresh wollers and cover alot of ground listening for the occasional squell and most important is keep the wind in your face. Also hogs will hide in cover and let you walk right past them if they think they are hid. I had a group laid down and let me walk less than 10 yards from them before they made a run for it, scared me half to death.

Great advice. I kill lots of hogs by listening. And I can't hear good at all. When they are up and moving, they make lots of noise and they love to fight a bit when feeding. WIND WIND WIND is important.

Food sources are the key. Find what is hot at the time and hunt it hard.

The Bankhead hogs don't act anything like other hogs I have seen. They move all day, even in the heat. Locate a major creek or drainage, hit the side of the slope adjacent to it, wind in your face, and walk slowly with your ears wide open. You can hear them feeding up to a couple hundred yards away sometimes. I don't catch them down in the lower slopes often, although they do go down there. We catch them on the ridges and open fields all the time. Saw two sounders yesterday on ridges at 2:30 and 3:00 pm. Not sure where you looked for sign without finding it. Those areas are harder to find than areas with sign. If you come to Black Warrior try anywhere in Zone A or the northern side of Zone B.

If Matt says its so, It is. Be patient you will find them.

anybody have any luck going in around gum pond? or maybe around borden creek? any good sign or better yet sightings in those areas?

Hey, crazy idea, but I think I'm going to take my kayak hunting for hogs in Bankhead.

Seems like I'd be less likely to get lost, and might be close to the action!

Feedback?

Probably work fine if you can get on a waterway without to many trees on it.

Borden creek is a good place for them or at least has been. As far as a kayak you might be carrying more than floating in it.

Slugger, have fun but I don't know what stream or creek has easy access with enough water to make it worthwhile.

ambulance, I have hunted gum pond a lot the last several years with good sign and a few sightings. I was in there Tuesday and saw the least amount of sign yet. I would try Haygood Creek or Thompson Creek below the trailhead. Haven't been in either place this year though.

Don't you have to hunt with legal weapons during another season to hunt the WMA?

They have a special hog season Sept 2-14 on the Black Warrior WMA:

http://outdooralabama.com/hunting/land/wildlife-areas/wmamaps/Black%20Warrior13-14%20secure.pdf

Went out today to the Sipsey Fork picnic area. There wasn't enough water to put my kayak in the river.

After that I walked trail 202 around Johnson Cemetaries. Saw a doe and that was it.

Thanks for the info. I went on one they had in August a few years ago. That was a miserable mistake.

Is a license, management area license and map permit required since they aren't considered a game animal?

Yes, you need all of the typical licenses and permits. I think the pigs have moved south of Gum Pond...at least they had last time I was up there.

ok so heres a little report.... went in at the gum pond gate and went south to the split. along this first part there were several signs all around a few good mud holes right on and beside the trail that were wallowed out really good with trees caked in mud from rubs. obviously a good little group hit those first two holes. at the split in the trail there is also a larger little dried up hole that had been used recently. i then headed down the trail towards thompson creek. about half way to the creek to the north of the trail there's a large bush of muscadines that have been hit hard by the little boogers. there were definitely signs everywhere down this trail also. after making it to the creek i decided to turn around and head towards hagood creek and saw signs the whole way. on the way back out to the truck got off the trial alot more and found a huge area that was alot fresher and covered in tracks and rubs. made it back the truck and started to head out and ended up running into a ranger and stopped and talked for a bit. he gave us a few more spots to check out on our way back home. stop and checked out a few areas off of 33 that the ranger said he jump several large groups of 15-20 earlier that morning and week. found a nice empty trap in one area off of 229 and again saw more signs all over the place. on the way out hit one more spot along borden creek with no luck in that area.

10+ miles on foot
spider webs walked through= 1000000000000
wallows seen = 6-7
tracks seen= everywhere (lots of pig, deer, bobcat, coyote)
rubs seen= tons (some 3 1/2ft up trees)
deer seen= 1
raccoon sized squirrel seen= 1
and absolutely no feral swine spotted at all a big fat 0

so maybe try gum pond area the signs are there but i just didnt get lucky.
good luck guys! and i'm going to to try to hit it one more time before the special seasons up.

So, now I'm a park ranger.

haha thats great stuff mr brock. well you were in the big green truck and all so assumptions were made. if we ever run into you again out there we'll just follow you to the pigs.

Got this one today in the middle of the wilderness they are in there heavy, just get in there deep, the farther in you go the more sign you'll see. The "PARK RANGER" Matt Brock told us 2 years ago if your willing to walk a ways you will find them. He was right!