Using Scents To Kill Wild Hogs

The first thing to know about hogs is that their sense of smell is excellent. So, all those precautions you take regarding scent while deer hunting — like playing the wind — apply to hogs just the same. 

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 hot summer months when plenty of folks are hog hunting. 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 consists of scientifically-proven Field Spray, Body Wash & Shampoo, and other scent-elimination products, that when used together, provide an effective scent-elimination solution. In the warm months, you can’t spray down enough with scent-eliminating spray.

Always keep a bottle of Code Blue Smoke Detector in your pocket to ensure that you're still playing the wind properly. 

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.

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. 

A scent such as Code Blue Sow In Heat Urine is essential 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 year-round.

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, can put hogs at ease. 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 Sow In Heat Urine as an attractant. Of course, if you're hunting from one location, like a treestand, you want scent around the shooting zone. Code Blue Expandable Wicks are ideal for stand hunting as they can absorb a lot of scent and keep working for many hours.

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. No matter which method you like to use to pursue hogs, there is typically a time and place to use hog scents, too.