It Ain’t Over

Whether you chase them with dogs or wait them out on a stand, wild hogs provide plenty of extended season hunting in the Palmetto State.

“Now I got to warn you up front,” said veteran hog hunter Scott Emery of Blue Ridge, “this ain’t like any other kinds of hunting. That hog’s not going to trot off with his tail stuck in the air like a deer — he may just put his head down and come after you.”

Emery should know. In his years as a hog hunter, he’s seen hogs do a lot of well, WILD things, including tree every hunter in a party until one of the dogs could get a handle on the boar and direct his attention elsewhere.

January is a busy month for Emery. Not only does he usually have his hands full with his tree-service business from winter storms, he also gets a lot of calls from customers and acquaintances to help with another problem.

“I get a lot of calls after deer season from landowners and deer clubs” said Emery. “Sometime during deer season, they’ve either seen hog sign or live hogs on their property, and they want them gone. I also get calls from farmers and cattle owners who say hogs are eating the feed put out for cattle or tearing up grazing pastures. The peach farmers up here above Highway 11 hate them.”

Given his choice between stand hunting hogs and chasing after them with dogs, Emery prefers the dogs. He’s always owned rabbit dogs and coon dogs, and when he got the bug for hog hunting nearly 10 years ago, he started sorting through hog dogs.

Of the three kinds of hunting dogs he’s owned, he said good hog dogs are the hardest to find.

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