Pigs around the clock

Carolina hunters can legally hunt wild hogs 24 hours a day

Wild pigs have a love/hate relationship with hunters and landowners. They’re problematic for growing agricultural crops, and for hunters hoping to lure game species, primarily deer, to food plots and bait stations.

But the good news is that pigs meet the “Big 3” criteria for Carolina hunters: they’re exciting to hunt, a formidable quarry, and great table fare. 

Their amazing sense of smell puts a deer to shame, and although they’re noisy, gorge-eating wild animals, they can be frustratingly difficult to kill due to their strong survival instincts.

They’re present in huge numbers in the Carolinas and are incredibly prolific. Their populations are growing and difficult to control.

Both North and South Carolina wildlife agencies encourage harvesting and have regulations allowing hunters to hunt day or night. However, check rules specific to each state and county because regulatory differences exist. The opportunities are widely available and not difficult to understand. Reducing the hog population via favorable hunting regulations is the goal for both states. 

Bait ‘em up

And it provides hunters with opportunities around the clock.

Jason Peek, with Deep South Hunting Services in Ehrhardt, SC, (803-707-7798; www.deepsouthhuntingservices.com) has studied wild hog patterns for years. He guides for hog hunting in cold weather, beginning in January. He and his son Colyn operate the hunting service together.

“Pigs are successfully hunted year-round and taken by night and day. We focus on deer hunting from August through December and hunt turkeys in the spring,” Peek said. “With bait stations legal and corn allowed for deer, the pig population is scattered during deer season. When deer season closes, most landowners quit replenishing corn piles, and pigs begin hunting food sources elsewhere.”

Peek said that’s when they begin guiding for pig hunts because they continue feeding. And the hog population explodes on his hunting lands.

“For daytime hunting, it’s important to have a lot of pigs because they get greedy, although pigs are primarily nocturnal animals,” he said. “But they have a hard time resisting free food, and they’ll come to bait stations much more frequently during the cold months of January to April when natural foods are scarce. Cold weather and lots of corn create reasonable opportunities to take pigs during daylight hours. Prime time remains the low light period, especially late evening.”

He said hogs are food-driven creatures, and they’re going to be where chow is most available. Their favored habitat is wet, swampy, thick, vegetative areas that are full of food choices in warm weather. But during winter, that habitat is typically low in viable food options, and the barren vegetation means pigs must hunt for food.

“For daytime success, cellular trail cameras enhance our odds because we get a real-time sense of where and when the hogs are moving,” he said. 

Peek said they place stands based on the specific habitat of the area.

“In some cases, we’ll have elevated stands where hunters can see rather long distances, but we also use ground blinds when the terrain allows,” he said. “We don’t hunt hogs in the morning, but in the afternoon, we’ll have hunters on the stand 1½ hours before dark, and they’ll hunt until 11 to 12 o’clock. The odds are good that they’ll see pigs before dark. If not, we have our land registered (necessary in South Carolina) for hog hunting after dark, so they can use any of three different methods to remain effective.”

Light up the night

Peek said hunters can use colored lights, red or green, night vision scopes, and thermal equipment to enhance vision at night. Green lights mounted on top of the scope enable hunters to hunt effectively 75 to 100 yards out. Night vision gear is effective out a bit farther and gives hunters a better image. 

“We provide green lights for our hunters to use if they don’t have night vision or thermal equipment,” he said. 

“Thermal equipment is expensive, but the capabilities of high-end products such as AGM thermal scopes enable us to provide stalk hunts for clients,” he said. “Most commercial operations rely on thermal scopes at night.”

For some hunters, hunting hogs is more than an opportunity to be in the woods; it’s a passion, and hog hunting fuels this passion as the hunting season that never closes. This unlimited 24/7/365 opportunity makes it ideal for guys like Brian Carroll, a hog hunter from Mount Pleasant, SC.

“I’ve hunted the Santee River bottoms for hogs since I was knee-high to a duck,” Carroll said. “We have what seems to be an unlimited supply of pigs, ideal habitat, and year-round opportunity. I’ll hunt pigs year-round, but it does provide an excellent opportunity to stay sharp between the last grunt of deer season and the first cluck of turkey season.”

Carroll hunts private property and has a game plan for day and night hunting. 

“Daytime hunting takes a bit more strategy because hogs are wary of just walking out to a corn pile in the middle of a big field,” he said. “They’ll do that at night, but hunters need a better plan by day.”

They are elusive animals

“For daytime hunting, hogs, like most wild animals, avoid open, high-visibility areas,” he said. “Areas to hunt pigs include hidden back corners of a field, a narrow open strip in otherwise heavy vegetation, and a small open area adjacent to thick cover on three sides. Add corn in heavy doses to these areas and pigs will come.”

He said that dirt roads on private property, where you control ingress and egress, are prime locations to bait for day or night hunting. They’re narrow, and hunters can select areas with cover on both sides, giving hogs a false sense of protection while providing protective cover for their approach. 

Also, long-distance hog hunting is a productive daytime tactic because it reduces the hogs’ uncanny sense of smell defense. 

“Yes, they are smart like that, and hunters that pay attention to numerous little things have much greater success,” he said.

Carroll gets cranked up for shooting pigs when the sun goes down. Over the years, he’s used all forms of night hunting equipment, including vision enhancement options, and thermal equipment is his choice.

“As with most types of hunting equipment, you get what you pay for,” Carroll said. “Options exist for purchasing different levels and brand names of thermal scopes and equipment, but after testing various models, I opted for a quality thermal scope. When I first hunted with it, I found it was truly a game changer for the better, elevating my hog-hunting to another level.”

AGM Adder evens the field

Carroll opted for the AGM Adder TS35-640, a high-end thermal scope.

“Quality thermal optics enable a new-moon midnight appearance as a mid-day hunter’s playground,” he said. “Night vision equipment enhances existing light to make objects more visible in low-light conditions. Thermal scopes employ infrared radiation, the heat from the animal, to provide an image. Thermal imaging doesn’t rely on ambient light and works in total darkness. The darker it is, the better the image.”

Carroll said he chose the high-end AGM thermal because his passion for pigs dictated that’s what he needed. 

“The thermal technology is incredible and does much more than light up the nocturnal world for me,” he said. “The quality allows me to pinpoint my shot placement, even at long distances, utilizing the Adder’s zoom capability of up to 16 power.” 

The bottom line is thermals take advantage of the opportunity to hunt around the clock.

“It doubles my opportunity because instead of a 12-hour window of light to hunt, I now have excellent hog hunting vision capability all the time in a single package,” Carroll said.

Pigs offer an excellent opportunity for Carolina hunters to legally stay in the woods, year-round, day or night.