Boars tend to have prominent tusks while sows have much smaller ones. These tusks never stop growing. The lower jaws produce what are called "cutters," which can be razor sharp and quite dangerous to predators and careless hunters and dogs. The boars use these cutters for fighting and rooting. These cutters are what many hunters are looking for in picking out a trophy boar.
Wild boars have a shield covering their shoulders and part of their ribs. The shield is made up of cartilage and scar tissue and will become thicker and harder as it heals each time from injury. Hunters need to be aware of this shield as they are tough enough to stop bullets and arrows. Shot placement is very important on a big boar.
Scouting
Like anything else you may want to hunt, you have to find where hogs are spending their time in order to put one in your freezer. Hogs tend to stay in very dense cover that is accessible to water. They will spend a lot of time rolling around in mud and water to keep themselves cool and free of insects. After wallowing in the mud, they will seek out trees that they can rub their bodies on to clean themselves. If you find a water source with many of these mud plastered trees nearby, you can bet they spend some time there during daylight hours.
Aside from wallows and mud caked trees,
another thing to look for is places where hogs have been rooting. Hogs will do some unbelievable damage to the ground as they tear
up tree roots looking for insects and worms. They will often lie inside these big holes after the damage is done. Sows will also dig
out a nest in depressions in the terrain or under a wood pile. Hogs will often tear up farmer's fields and forest floors in their
efforts to find food and shelter. This is one reason why obtaining permission to hunt hogs is not a hard task.
Hog tracks are easy
to find in places where they frequent, mainly because they like moist terrain. Hog tracks will tell you a lot about where hogs are
coming and going. They will lead from feeding areas to bedding areas. They will lead you to tunnels in the brush where hogs like to
hide. If you find an area where a boar is spending a lot of time, you may actually be able smell the stench. Two other things to keep
an eye out for are scat and hair on barbed wire where they like to crawl under.
It is very hard to pin point a food source for hogs
because they will eat just about anything and everything. They are omnivores and most definitely opportunists. This is why feeders
are a valuable tool in areas that are too thick to hunt any other way. This is the case in many parts of