Where to Go for Wild Hogs
Bob McNally 05.24.15
Feral pigs are abundant in many states, including plenty where many sportsmen are unaware of their existence. Many states have prolonged seasons for wild hogs, and some have no seasons whatsoever. So hunting is conducted lawfully year-round.
Wild hogs can be hunted many ways, including stalking, stand hunting, and using hounds, and you can use the same guns and bows you’d employ for deer. It’s all plenty of fun, and wild pork meat is outstanding tablefare.
In many places feral hogs are extremely destructive to crops, roads, culverts, and fences. Many landowners want hogs taken off their property, and gaining access for hunting can be much easier than for other game.
The following states offer wild pig hunting.
Alabama has feral hogs in many of its large swamp bottoms, especially in the southwestern part of the state in Baldwin, Clarke, Monroe, and Washington counties.
Arkansas has feral hogs in the Ozark National Forest and in the southern half of the state.
Florida has wild hogs throughout the state, numbering about 400,000 animals. Generally, hardwood swamps, especially along the state’s larger Northern rivers and marshlands, hold the most feral pigs.
Georgia has feral hogs scattered in areas throughout the state. The coastal plains and hardwood swamps in the southern half of the state have many wild hogs.
Kentucky’s McCreary, Wayne, and Whitley counties offer the best wild pig hunting.
Louisiana has feral hogs in bottomlands and swamps throughout much of the state.
Mississippi has wild pigs in a number of areas scattered around the state, with the best hunting found along the bottomlands of the Mississippi River and in the southeastern corner of the state.
North Carolina wild hogs are spotted through much of the state, especially western national forest lands.
South Carolina’s Savannah River drainage and the coastal “low country” harbor the state’s most viable populations of wild hogs.
Tennessee has good numbers of wild boar in the southeastern mountains and along the Mississippi River bottoms in the west. Blount, Fentress, Monroe, Pickett, Polk, and Scott counties are among the best bets for pigs.
Texas has plenty of pigs throughout most of the state, though the western and panhandle areas have sparse numbers.
Virginia has wild hogs in the southeastern portion of the state.
West Virginia has an estimated 1,500 feral hogs, with Boone, Logan, and Wyoming counties best.
