Hogs and wind Question

[theblakester]

Went hunting last night and got skunked. Didn't see any hogs or coyotes, which is kinda rare on this property. Temps dropped from 70 to about 45 over night and wind was cold and about 20 mph coming from the north. Talked to land owner today. He said he's never had luck with hogs when it's windy.
I figured with the dropping temps and new moon, there would be a lot of activity. We saw one armadillo and one possum all night.
Does anyone have any input on the effects of wind and hogs or other game other than getting busted during a stalk or something similar?

 

[scrmblr1982cj8]

I’ve been out quite a few times on windy nights. My hunting consists mainly of driving between 3-5 baited sights several times a night. In my experience, they will come out but they are more skittish than normal. On quite nights, they will feed for extended periods with their heads down. On windy nights, the will pick up their heads and look around a LOT more.

 

[RattlesnakeDan]

The wind is a deer hunters worst enemy really, deer are so skittish {unless they live where it is always windy}. Most animals are the same, can't hear, can't see movement like they need to, to survive.
I was hoping for some late hogs this morning because of the cool temps but at first light they were already bedded down in the thick nasty stuff, I went in a shot one but never recovered it.
Hunting in the wind usually is bad and I will stay home if deer hunting.

 

[theblakester]

Man I had no idea. Never heard any of this. Thanks for the info y'all!

 

[Chopperdrvr]

The key to this is Dan's statement "unless they live where its windy". If you watch some of Djones' videos, you will see that most of the time you can't understand what he is saying because the wind is blowing so hard. The pigs live with this year round, so it doesn't affect them much.

 

[FrankT]

I think what got you was the COLD wind, in summer not so much different

 

[Brian Shaffer]

My take is this. Moon phase means nothing to the hogs. I shoot them regardless of moon phase. Wind is a really funny thing. They all seem to like a little wind, but not too much. What Dan said can ring very true. Overly windy hunts tend NOT to be my better hunts, though I have shot a goodly number of lone boars during very windy nights (not as many as on calmer nights) and managed to get into several sounders during really windy nights. What is considered too much wind will depend on the norm for the area.

I think some of the bigger lone boars feel pretty safe regardless of where they are, rain, wind, snow, etc.

As I see it from my experience of getting on hogs in windy weather, the hogs are still out there, still moving around, not ever going to miss a meal. However, sounders probably are not venturing as far from areas they consider to be safest, where they are most comfortable. They aren't bedded down and hiding, but they aren't spread out over a large are in a field either. When they are out in fields (because the wheat and oats are so yummy and they are so hungry), then then to be in tighter groups. Remember that hogs are very social animals and often communicate to one another when out foraging, and the higher winds are going to really limit their ability to do this. So they tend to stay together more.

If you are hunting a singular property that often has hogs on it, but find none during windy weather, it very well may be that they are not living on the property or in the immediate area, or they don't feel the area is safe. If you can hunt multiple properties during a night, chances are you are going to get on hogs regardless of the weather. In over 40 hunts, Dave and I have only not gotten on hogs once, but we check multiple properties. The one bad night was not just a windy night, but with with wind lows around 25 mph and gusting to 40 mph. There were sandstorms on the newly planted wheat fields we were hunting. It was a horrible night.

My favorite times to hunt are with 10-15 mph winds. It isn't enough to spook most hogs and there is enough wind to help cover the sounds of me moving through the brush. Playing the wind really works in your favor then. 20 mph is getting up there, but not too bad, but certainly more than I would like.

What I do know is this. If you don't go hunt, you have zero chance at getting hogs. If the night is windy, you may need to go to the hogs versus expecting them coming to you (stand hunting).

 

[ZenArchery]

heavy wind. "typically"n bed down.
no wind. you'll get busted because it swirls as in my hunt last night bwhahahaha

 

[Bakester]

[QUOTE="My favorite times to hunt are with 10-15 mph winds. It isn't enough to spook most hogs and there is enough wind to help cover the sounds of me moving through the brush. Playing the wind really works in your favor then. 20 mph is getting up there, but not too bad, but certainly more than I would like.[/QUOTE]

Pretty much my experience as well.

 

[ScottJ]

I agree. I think strong wind makes them uncomfortable. It probably buffets in their ears like it does in mine and they feel vulnerable out in the open with strong wind. Same sort of experience on my last hog hunt. Saw lots of pigs each night and the last night was a big cold front with 30+mph wind. The only pigs we saw were way off by a distant tree line. I assume they were pigs because there were 20+ of them and no cattle in the area (not fenced). Very late, around 4 am, the wind died down to about 5-10mph and whataya know... saw a group of about 10 pigs well out from the tree line and in the open. Shot two but only dropped 1, a good size sow. That sort of thing has happened quite a bit. I'm fairly convinced that they don't venture out much when there's either daylight or strong winds in areas where they are hunted.

 

[Guess]

consistent high winds hogs move just fine. It is the sudden drastic change in winds generally from the north that shuts them down. There is usually a lot of movement just prior to this event some times overlapping into it. When it goes from 70 to 30 in just a few hours, you can expect a lot of daytime movement within 24 hours.