Hog Trapping & Hunting

"Hunting, trapping, and cooking wild hog"

Hog Trapping Overview

What to Expect and Trap Designs

With the trouble that hogs pose, most people feel that the best control method is to trap them. We feel that even if you're not looking to control them, but to eat them, you can't beat the ease of trapping a hog instead of the time consuming nature of hunting.

Is it Easy to Build a Hog Trap?

Building a hog trap is easy, so long as you can weld. If you can't weld, building a hog trap is a great starter project to learn to weld on. Ensure that you're learning from an experienced welder!

We like movable, welded hog traps. They are made from bull panel (cattle fencing) that is welded to a stout frame that is usually 8x4x4.

Pigs enter the wild pig trap, and then can not get back out. It is imperative that the trap is very strong because a wild pig will do anything to get out of the trap, especially if his friends are outside of the trap still eating and rooting. For this reason we like to use welded traps that are very sturdy.

Is Handling a Trapped Pig Dangerous?

Any animal can be a problem, and hogs are no exception. Hogs have a tendency to get angry and break through traps sometimes, so keep your guard up -- that trapped pig could quickly become a loose one.

If you have never trapped a hog before, please exercise great care around them, as they can be quite nasty. For safety, have someone well-versed in trapping hogs inspect your trap, and accompany them on a trapping or hunting run to learn more about wild hog habits.

Which Door is Better? Swing Door Design vs Root Style

A rooting door is one that moves vertically, and a swing door is one that shuts horizontally, like your house door does.

After the trap has been sprung and a hog caught, we think that a swing door works better. This is because of the weight of the root style, and the way that it opens and closes.

When one pig is in a trap, other pigs in the area often will push to get inside the trap as well. If the root-style door is too heavy, this will make them less likely to push in. On a swing door, however, they are just pushing against a spring, and the tension can be adjusted to make it easier to open.

The way that they open is also different. The root style, when one pig pushes to come it, another can push its way out if the door is wide enough. On the other hand, with a swing door, the door opens no wider than the incoming pig.

Finally it is the way that they close against the trap. The swing style door closes against a vertical edge. The only way to open it for a trapped animal would be to pull it toward them and sideways. A root style, however, might be rooted up from the inside.

It really comes down to a matter of preference, and both style will trap animals.

The reason we like this design is that a hog's natural tendency is to push up on things — their rooting action — which makes the root-up door easier to escape from.

 

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