Hog Hunting Tips Using Scent

The first thing to know about hogs is that their sense of smell is even better than that of deer. So, all those precautions you take regarding scent and deer hunting, like playing the wind, apply to hogs even more. 

Eliminate your scent 
Before using an attractant, before doing anything, make sure your own scent isn't a hog repellant. Controlling your odor is an even bigger issue during the summer when hog hunting often happens. You should use the same odor elimination procedures with hogs that you do with deer. That means storing your hunting gear and clothes in ways that minimize the introduction of foreign scent in the field. 

Also, use a complete scent elimination system to remove scent from your body, clothes, and gear. D/CODE has its scientifically-proven Field Spray, Body Wash & Shampoo, and other items, that when used together, provide an effective scent elimination solution. You should become obsessive with using spray-on scent elimination products at every opportunity. 

Use every advantage you have to reduce your scent when hunting. Having a bottle of Code Blue Smoke Detector in your pocket is an easy way to ensure that you're still playing the wind. 

Watch where you step
Hogs are creatures of habit. They take the same trails every day. Minimize your chances of alerting hogs by choosing a way in that doesn't follow a hog trail. Using game cameras and some stealthy pre-hunt reconnaissance can help identify the hog trails. You'll have to decide if the knowledge gained from these preliminary trips into the woods outweighs the chances of disturbing the hogs' routine. But many hunters consider this level of prep work as a necessity for deer hunting. 

Hogs aren't deer
As mentioned above, there are similarities between deer and hogs. But there is one significant difference as well, it's called attitude. Hogs are aggressive in a way that deer aren't. Keep that in mind when you're thinking about applying scent to a drag rag. Unless you're an adrenaline junky, a close and personal relationship with a hog, possibly a sow with piglets, may not be the best tactic. Keep the scent usage at striking distance. 

The scents to use 
Products like Code Blue Boar Urine and Sow in Heat Urine are essentials for any hog hunt. Whereas using the wrong scent during deer season can blow your chances of getting that trophy, a sow can breed every four months. That makes sow estrous a suitable attractant all year long in states that have no closed season. Likewise, a boar urine product is also effective anytime as an infringement scent. You can also use the two together. 

Tips on how to use scent
Hogs are used to encountering the scent of other hogs. That familiar smell can have a calming effect. Pouring scent around bait, or at any location, signals that the spot is safe. Hogs love to wallow in the mud. If you find a suitable wallowing location, it's a natural candidate for some scent. Locations that show obvious damage from hog activity are also choice places to introduce scent-sow estrous as an attractant and boar urine as an infringement scent. Of course, if you're hunting from one location, like a treestand, you want scent around the shooting zone. Subtly and finesse aren't things you need to worry too much about when using scent to hunt hogs.

Hogs like to cover a lot of ground, especially in the morning and evening. Hunting often comes down to trying to intercept them. Applying scent at a location where they are known to travel through can help stop them long enough for a shot. For hunting on the go or still hunting, applying Boar Urine or Sow in Heat Urine to Code Blue Expandable Wicks is an effective, no-mess way to increase scent dispersal. 

Check out more PRADCO Outdoor Brands including a full line of Moultrie Cellular Trail Cameras and Summit Stands.