Pig piping

The 704 Outdoors crew had a big night of hunting wild hogs, which happens often when hunters use a pig pipe.

Bring the wild hogs to you with a pig pipe

Wild hogs are present throughout both Carolinas. And while many hunters and land managers consider them to be a nuisance animal, the truth is that they are fun to hunt and provide plenty of tasty meat for the table.

Hunters have come up with many ways to attact hogs to their preferred hunting sites. So instead of having to find out where the hogs are, or just waiting around hoping to get lucky enough to see them while hunting, corn piles are one of the main ways hunters use to bring the hogs to them.

Corn piles are exactly what they sound like. It’s just the process of dumping bags or buckets of corn in piles on the ground. If you’ve got hogs in your area, that will definitely get them coming in. But wild hogs are such prolific feeders, and travel in such large packs, that they can eat hundreds of pounds of corn in just a night or too.

And for hunters, that can get expensive very quickly.

One solution used with great success by John MacPherson with 704 Outdoors out of Albemarle, NC, is using a pig pipe.

What’s a pig pipe?

John MacPherson of 704 Outdoors said a pig pipe keeps wild hogs in hunting range for a long time and saves bait.

A pig pipe is a long, cyndrical PVC pipe with numerous small holes drilled along the length of it. MacPherson fills the pipe with corn and other wild game attractant, puts a cap on it, then secures one end of it with a short length of chain fastened to a stake driven into the ground.

Once the pig pipe is in place, he scatters some of the leftover corn and wild game attractant around the area. This helps the hogs quickly find the area, and once they’re done eating the loose bait, they’ll smell the corn and attractant that’s in the pipe. That will prompt them to root around, pushing the pipe. Little by little, corn kernels come out of the holes drilled along the pipe’s length. That prompts the hogs to continue pushing the pipe, which goes in a big circle thanks to the chain and stake.

“A pig pipe is a great feed delivery system that will keep hogs occupied for hours,” said MacPherson. “This gives hunters more opportunities for success. Feral hogs can consume hundreds of pounds of corn in one or two nights. Using a pig pipe will help with rationing the bait, making it last multiple nights.”

Pig pipes are very inexpensive to make, and hunters report using the same ones for decades. PVC is durable and readily available, and the process of making this pipe is straightforward and involves no special tools.

Wild hogs make quick work of corn piles, and they’ll leave as quickly as they can. I

One of the main questions MacPherson gets from other hunters is about the size of the holes he drills along the length of the pipe.

Different sizes work

“There’s no science to it,” he said. “I think 5/8 is a good size. Half-inch holes works well and will make the corn last longer. And if you live close by and don’t mind refilling often, 3/4- to 1-inch holes drop a good bit, but if going with that size, I would reduce the amount of holes drilled.”

Another question he gets is about the diameter of the PVC pipe.

“A good place to start is with a 5-foot long section of 4-inch diameter PVC. But you can make them as big as you like,” MacPherson said. “I even have one made out of a 55-gallon plastic barrel.”

When it comes to setting things up, MacPherson said the most important thing is to make sure the area you’re placing it has enough open space to allow the hogs to push the pipe all the way around your stake.

“If there’s a lot of brush or vegetation in the area, the chain can get caught up in it. And you want to make sure there’s no trees in the way,” he said. “You can set it up in an open area, or in the woods, as long as there’s enough room for it to circle around your stake.”

For the stake, MacPherson uses a fence post or a piece of rebar. He hammers that into the ground and likes to have 3 or 4 feet still standing.

Fun to hunt and providing good meat for the table, wild hogs are found all across the Carolinas.

He fills the pipe up and screws on the lid. The lid is attached to a chain anywhere from 2 to 4 feet long, and the chain has a rope loop attached on the other end. Then, he drops the rope loop onto the fence post or rebar. Now, when the pigs show up, they’ll be able to push the pipe in a circle around the stake.

Asked if deer will use the pig pipe, MacPherson said they’ll kick at it a few times, eat a little corn, then leave. But the pigs will stay for hours, pushing the pipe, eating what drops, and then pushing the pipe around in a circle over and over.

“It’s an easy DIY project, and I’ve got a video on how to make it, complete with a parts list and a bonus trick located here.”