Hey guys, how have yall handled trap cautious hogs?

I have a sounder I was seeing daily for months until I placed trap and then I've only seen them once since.

I've tried corn and even some soured corn.

Some of them are just smart. I have a sounder on my place that has been around for the last couple years. Couple of old wise sows. Dump hand corn and they are on it instantly but won't get anywhere near my feeder just 50 yards away.

Have pics of your trap? Some things to help. Bigger trap. Like 20+ yards across. A wide door/ 8ft. Guillotine style door. Build it in the brush with trees inside the trap. Heavily brush in the door. Lots of corn. A sack around the outside and entrance area. A sack around and at your trigger. Set it before a rain and then check it from a distance so you eliminate scent. Hope to catch them on the 2nd-4th night.

You might have just bumped them and they aren't around?

Seen them again on camera. High fenced area.
Trap is 35' across, with two 4' drop gates opposite each other operated on HogEye cell camera system.

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I have a sounder I was seeing daily for months until I placed trap and then I've only seen them once since.

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Your activity scared them off, not the presence of the trap IMO.
Keep baiting & you'll eventually get them. They are greedy hogs after all.

Apache said:

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Quote:

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I have a sounder I was seeing daily for months until I placed trap and then I've only seen them once since.

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Your activity scared them off, not the presence of the trap IMO.
Keep baiting & you'll eventually get them. They are greedy hogs after all.

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Crazy thing is I was at that same area almost every day before setting the trap. Even shredded it. They kept coming back.
Then we set the trap and not a sign . Smart little suckers.

I suspect the sows have been there while. I just bought this ranch this year and there are old rusted hog traps all over the place. I'm guessing the surviving sows steer clear of any cage looking thing

I've posted this several times before.

If you're wanting to catch the whole sounder, it's gonna take a lot of monitoring. One of the nature centers I worked at used a hog trap that looked like a football if you looked at it from above.

It had a guillotine gate at each end. Each gate was eventually connected to one tripwire.

I seem to remember the whole trap being constructed of t-posts and cattle panel. You also had a camera set up at each end facing each other.

Next, the pen wad baited with corn soaked in big red, and I forget what else. After a while, they started putting a car tire filled with the bait mixture. This was when the whole sounder was comfortable with coming into the trap.

The sows would have to move the car tire in order for the rest of the corn to come out. After about two weeks of this process with the whole sounder still coming into the pen, the trap was set with the trip wire being connected to the car tire.

The key was to set the trap after the entire sounder had been coming into the trap for about a week with no issues. The sows would move the car tire, and trap the entire sounder in the trap. This usually removed pigs from the general area for 12 to 18 months.

We have had success putting the trap up in stages in the past. Slowly inoculating them to its presence and our activity. Throwing it all up at once can make them wary.

We would often, slip on and put up a feeder & camera. Once we see them on camera, we will drive fence posts and fill the feeder. Then install hog panels two weeks later. Then install the gates later (pinned open, so they are used to coming in an out). We have even gone as far as putting a little chain hanging from them to get desensitized to pushing through the 1 way rooter gate. Then, we will set the trap. By going slow, we have been able to catch many sounders from the same treat before needing to let it lie fallow for a little while.

This is almost exactly our experience as well.

Except we would use "pig pipes". 4-6" PVC pipe, with a cap permanently on one end. Removable cap on the other end with an eyebolt in it. Chain the eye bolt to a rod driven in the ground. Drill holes just larger than a piece of corn. The pigs can push the pipe around in a circle to get corn out. We figured out to put some rocks in there bigger than the holes, that would keep the pigs pushing the pipe even when the corn was gone.

But slow and steady is the recipe for trapping whole Sounders .