English88

So, has anyone got into hunting since moving to the US?

I currently live in South FL so my options are fairly limited but I'm keen to have a go. I was recommended a hog hunt where for $150 they'll guide your hunt and if you take a cooler they'll butcher the meat and give it to you at the end. Sounds pretty good.

I love the idea of one day (when I'm not living in South Florida), being able to go into the woods at the weekend either by myself or with my fiancee (then wife) and hunt for our meat. Just wondering if anyone does this after moving here from Britain?

Hotscot

Yes. Some do.

English88

Looking more for personal experiences from forum members but appreciate you taking the time to respond. I should have been clearer

Jerseygirl

How are the hogs hunted? Do you shoot them or are the hunted down by dogs?

English88

Shooting, not dogs.

Pulaski

People can and do chase hogs with dogs and ATVs; by all accounts this can be very dangerous. Wild hogs are aggressive, vicious and often large, making them as dangerous to hunt on the ground as bears.

Businesses offering a hog hunting experience are more likely to assign you to a tree stand where you sit and wait, and wait, and wait, and hope a hog comes within shooting distance.

English88

The options provided by this particular preserve are stand hunting, buggy hunting or walk and stalk hunting.

The guy who recommended the preserve told me a story about when he was hunting with dogs a long time ago in Kentucky and his friends laughed at him for trying to bring a gun so he left it in the truck. He was then chased down by a ~300lb hog and says it was truly frightening and he'll never hunt hogs without a gun again!

Michael

I'm originally from Minnesota and people there go out in the woods often for days during deer hunting season before they see a deer. It's almost as if the deer know it is hunting season since when it isn't, they stand by the road and run into your car lights.

Amie06

I like the definition of "hunting" as used here sometimes, it involves hiding in a tree stand and waiting for the prey to walk into sight, lured by feed spread around, how can that be called "hunting"

robin1234

Yeah take the two of them on separate trips, otherwise they might shoot each other, not the hog!

Anian

Never been hog hunting. Done pheasant and quail, hired a guy with a pointer, it was fun and good to eat if you don't mind biting into odd bit of shot. The private farms are often set up to almost guarantee you will get something - release animals into a specific area and know where they are likely to be when the hunters get there. Not always very sporting.

Not had a successful deer hunt yet, but we were on our own for those. Saw plenty of deer but none that were legal to get. On the final day, the brother-in-law was late in arriving (we had camped there). We eventually got a call that he had hit a legal buck with his truck. Guy from the butchers was right behind him and took it straight to be butchered. Not sure if it was technically legal to do that, but he was the only one who got meat out of that trip.

At the end of the day, it is a day out, you get lots of freerange meat (one cooler will not be enough for a hog!). If you get bored easily then you might not enjoy it.

Hotscot

Or if you don't care to, personally, inflict pain and suffering on other creatures...

Pulaski

It's the way of the world, and has been for over half a billion years.

Sustainable hunting may not be everyone's cup of tea, but in the grand scheme of things it isn't materially adding to the suffering of animals.

Hotscot

Why I said 'personally'.

I have people for that....

I enjoy my chicken and steak.

scrubbedexpat091

I'd say hunting causes far less suffering and pain on the animal when compared to what life is like on a commercial farm for the animals.


I have never hunted, don't care for the taste of deer and other animals typically hunted in this region, so no reason to go out and hunt.