Of Hogs and Catfish

By Luke Clayton
Outdoors writer

As one of my radio heroes Garrison Keelor used to say, “It’s been a quiet week here in Lake Wobegon.” Change the word “Wobegon” to “Kaufman County” and my exact sentiments will be mirrored. But I have managed to venture afield close to home in pursuit of wild hogs between floods.

You might remember me mentioning that I have been on a quest to capture on video for our weekly outdoor TV show, “A Sportsman’s Life”, the harvest of one of the too-many wild hogs in the bottomland close to my house. Well, on one of the few sunny afternoons last week, I managed to get it done.

For some reason, I felt very confident when I set out on this little hunt. Hogs and other wildlife had endured several days of very wet conditions with streams and rivers running bank to bank. With a brief lull in the flooding, I felt good about hunting some of the higher elevations and possible stalking up within muzzleloader range of a barbeque size hog.

I was bragging on my CVA Optima .50 caliber muzzleloader last week, and when a box of very fresh White Hots propellant had arrived via the UPS man, I was given the opportunity to spend some time at my buddy’s shooting range. I had allowed my old stock of muzzleloader propellant to get damp on a previous hunt. Gotta keep that powder dry if you hunt with muzzleloaders.

Before leaving home, I filled my stainless steel sink full of fresh water. In my opinion, every outdoors person needs to have a place outside to clean fish and butcher game. There is no running water to my sink, but I can fill it with water from a garden hose.

On the cutting board beside the sink, I placed a couple of sharp knives so I would be ready in case I returned after dark. The floodlight above the sink was plugged in. A dry towel was hanging on a nail on the side of my cabin. I had even thought to load the smoke box on my Smokin’ Tex electric smoker with a few ounces of dry pecan wood, pulled pork was my goal and I was ready. All I needed was some pork from the wild.

The hunt was somewhat anticlimactic. After parking the truck, I slowly walked back a quarter mile or so on a trail paralleling the creek, watching ahead for sight or sounds of hogs. In the distant I heard the distance squeal of a pig that had probably just received a whack of the snout from a bigger hog. Hogs are very vocal critters and I often hear them before I spot them.

Sure enough, there was a sounder of several sows, weaned pigs and a couple of young boars on the edge of the woodline about 100 yards ahead. This time I actually remembered to hit the record button on my video camera. I then set the tripod up and located the hogs in the viewfinder so that I could capture the action.

I watched the porkers slowly working their way toward me until they were withing 60 yards. With a bang and cloud of white smoke, I had my pork on the ground, a fine eating little gilt or young sow. I then removed the quarters and backstrap and packed everything to the truck.

Back at home, within 45 minutes I had the meat butchered, seasoned and smoking in my smoker. Long, slow smoking with moisture is the key to tasty wild pork barbeque. I set the thermostat at 195 degrees and allowed the meat to smoke all night. Better pulled pork I can honestly say I’ve never eaten. Prime wild pork prepared properly is way better than the flavorless pork loin I buy at the meat market.

Warfarin now legal in Texas

While we’re on the subject of wild hogs, I’ve learned that the Warfarin-based Kaput hog toxicant became legal in Texas in February and should be available soon if not already.

I am totally against any type toxicant (poison) being used in any manner in any setting where wildlife is involved. Granted, studies showed minimal effect of the use of the product on species other than hogs, but who’s to say what might occur in the future? What about that eagle or buzzard that feeds on the carcass of a hog poisoned by this chemical? What happens when poisoned hogs or predators that feed on the dead animals die close to or in a creek, pond or river? There are just too many unknowns in this equation to suit me.

I honestly don’t think this plan to use Warfarin will be used widespread across the state because of costs of not only the bait but the special feeders with heavy lids that must be used. The idea is that because of the heavy lid, only a wild hog with its strong snout will be able to lift the lid and get to the bait.

During tests on several occasions, the lid was sprung open, allowing access to animals other than hogs. A special license is required to use the bait and constant monitoring will be necessary to determine its effect. With all the other tasks farmers and ranchers have to deal with, its doubtful may will devote the time and effort to properly monitor these bait stations.

Trapping with today’s state of the art cell phone activated traps is highly efficient in removing numbers of hogs and costs are much less than using poison. Trapped hogs can be sold to licensed hog buyers and everyone wins, hog numbers are greatly reduced, the trapper and hog buyer makes a profit and at some point, diners set down at some fancy restaurant to a meal of USDA-inspected wild boar. A much better plan than leaving dead hogs on the ranchland for predators.

Channel catfish in the rock

It’s spawning time for channel catfish and the perfect time to catch a limit from the bank. The influx of fresh water has put whiskerfish on a good bite. Fishing around rock rip rap is a tried and tested method of catching lots of channel catfish this time of year.

Gear is simple; all that’s really needed is either a bamboo pole or spinning rig with No. 4 treble hook, a light weight and floater, some cheese bait and a fish stringer or 5-gallon bucket to keep the catch in. Most boat ramps have rocks on either side and these are prime areas to target.

Fishing is usually best during very early morning and limits are often landed during the first hour or so of daylight.

Contact Luke Clayton via email through his website www.catfishradio.org.