If you have a wild hog problem on your property, or maybe you just like to hunt hogs, an often extremely effective strategy is to hunt them at night. However, hunting at night can be challenging, and it requires a bit of a different game plan than the one you might use hunting during the day, regardless of the type of game you are hunting. Therefore, whether you’re a seasoned daytime hunter or brand-new to any type of hunting, this article can help provide some useful tips to help you have a more successful hunt in the dark.
This how to hunt hogs at night article will discuss some universal tips and tricks, but it is primarily aimed at wild hog hunting at night and goes into a bit more detail related to tips exclusively applicable to hog hunting. However, if you are brand-new to hunting at night and want a general overview of the process and some helpful, general tips for beginners, check out my beginner’s guide for night hunters, here.
So how do you hunt wild hogs at night? There are two primary methods in terms of strategy, which is similar to how you would hunt them during the day: (1) over bait; or (2) a natural food source or trail. There are also two primary methods in terms of equipment you will need: (1) lights, which is much more cost-effective, but may be more difficult; or (2) night vision or thermal imaging devices, which can be extremely expensive but may give you a significant advantage.
How to Hunt Wild Hogs Over Bait at Night
Using bait is one of the most effective ways to hunt many different types of game. This can be an extremely effective way to hunt hogs whether you’re hunting for that big bore or you’re trying to control the population by eliminating as many hogs as possible.
Lights VS Thermal and Night Vision Devices for Hunting Over Bait
Obviously, strategies and methods for night hunting hogs over bait are similar to those you would use hunting them during the day. However, darkness adds a bit of a twist to any type of hunting. Therefore, you have to account for the lack of visibility.
The darkness factor may make options for where to place your stand relative to your feeder a bit more limited. For example, if you’re using lights, rather than night vision or thermal devices, you may need to sit closer to the bait to ensure that you can properly identify the target with the light beam.
But if you choose to use night vision or thermal devices, depending on the quality of your device, you may be able to sit at a fairly long distance away and still make an ethical and safe shot. However, if you’re just starting out, you may not want to spend the money on these devices as they are quite expensive.
If you choose to use lights, I recommend using both a feeder light and a weapon light attachment. This will allow the feeder light to help sufficiently highlight the target to help you identify it while giving you a bit more visual aid from the weapon light attachment once you are ready to take your shot.
Feeder lights essentially come in two styles – one that is designed to mount to a feeder and shine a beam vertically, highlighting the target from above; and one that is designed to mount on a tree or post, similar to a trail camera, that shines a beam horizontally highlighting the animal from the side. If you’re interested in a feeder light, check out my top picks for both types, here.
Regardless of the type you choose, I highly recommend a colored light over a white light. See a full guide to color choice, here.
If you want guidance for choosing a good weapon light attachment, check out this article. It has some suggestions for my top picks and it discusses other must-have lights for night hunters.
Types of Feeders and Bait
If you aren’t familiar with using feeders, there are a few options. You can buy feeders that are simple containers designed to hold the bait, allowing the animals to feed there anytime they wish. You can even build your own simple feeder from common materials you can pick up at a local hardware store. Using these simpler types of feeders are usually less expensive, but they can make it tricky because you have to hunt on the hog’s terms in terms of time.
More sophisticated feeders have timers that you can program to disperse the feed at a given time. Often, animals will learn from experience when the feeder disperses, which can help the hunter control when the animals come to the feeder.
Best Feed/Bait to Use for Baiting Hogs
Bait options are relatively broad. Hogs will eat virtually anything, but dry corn or other types of grains are a good choice. To maximize the number of hogs you get to come to the feeder, using feeds that have strong, sweet aromas works best – something that the hogs can smell from far way. One method I have used is spraying some sort of sweet substance, like vanilla, up in the trees around the bait. This allows the wind to carry the sent better.
How to Hunt Wild Hogs Over Natural Food Sources or Trails at Night
There’s not a lot of difference in terms of the overall method for hunting over natural food sources or trails at night than that that you would commonly use during the day. Obviously, you want to find a location that is heavily traveled and used by the hogs and then hunt that area during the time that you believe dogs are moving. In other words, there’s not a lot to be said in terms of the overall method that wouldn’t be stating the obvious. However, I can give you some tips that may help things go smoother.
Tip #1: Prioritize Fields Over Brush
This tip is a bit obvious too, but because you will be hunting at night, hunting in an open field is probably your best bet because you will be able to utilize the natural light a bit better than you would if you’re surrounded by trees. Black hogs + very low light + shadows = significantly less visibility, especially if you’re not using thermal devices.
If you have access to fields, this is normally a good place to find hogs anyway as they tend to root up fields. In fact, that very thing may be why you’re hunting them in the first place.
Hunting in an open field is usually safer and can mitigate some of the possible dangers of hunting at night as well. Thus, if you have the option, I suggest prioritizing hunting in fields at night.
Tip #2: Scout During the Day
One of the most important elements of a successful hunt is the scouting stage. Looking for signs of the hogs to ensure they are in the right spot is obviously critical, but looking around to ensure that you know of any houses or other nearby structures is imperative for making sure you have a safe hunt.
Darkness makes it very difficult to see long distances. Therefore, you should always scout the area out very thoroughly during the day and familiarize yourself with the environment before going out after dark for the actual hunt.
Ensuring that you are very familiar with the area can also mitigate the risks of hurting yourself as well. Having a preselected route and area to set up is a good way to help eliminate risks of falling or even poking an eye out on a sharp limb.
Lights VS Night Vision/Thermal Devices
Now that we have talked a bit about the primary methods for hunting hogs at night and touched on some of my recommended lights, let’s get a bit more detailed in terms of equipment that will help you overcome the lack of light when night hunting so you can decide which route is best for you.
You could go out and rely solely on moonlight, but this isn’t advised; it’s hard to see a hog at night because of their dark color. It could also be dangerous. It’s always best practice to ensure you have the proper equipment to allow you to sufficiently identify your target and see your surroundings.
We’ll talk a bit about the pros and cons of using lights and thermal or night vision devices.
Lights – pros and cons
A light is probably what most of us first think of when it comes to seeing at night. They’ve been aiding humans for, well, almost forever if you count fire torches.
I’ll get right to it and list some of the pros and cons and then talk about them in a bit more detail.
Pros
- Inexpensive
There are several good options for high quality lights, many of which are less than $100.
- Easy to use
This one is obvious, so I won’t go into detail.
- Can be very effective in helping you identify your target
Lights can be very helpful in identifying your target. Color choice may be important depending on the situation. While I normally recommend red colored lights over any others, green is often good for hog hunting because green light does a good job of illuminating the dark color of hogs while still maintaining a more subtle beam than white light; this helps keep the hogs calm.
- Can help you remain stealthy
This one is a bit less intuitive. We normally associate using lights as having the opposite affect of stealth. And while the term “stealth” may not be the best term, using a light can help shield you from the target. Colored lights, such as green and red, do not show up nearly as intense as white lights to many animals, hogs being one of them. But even colored lights do still have a bit of a blinding affect, which can help hide you, the hunter from the target. This helps allow you to get in position and get ready to make your shot without spooking the animal with your movements.
- Can be used for other things besides hunting
Obviously, hunting at night isn’t the only thing we need lights for on a regular basis. Having various types of high-quality hand-held lights lying around is always handy. Most of the lights I recommend for night hunting are perfect for many other common night activities or tasks. This multiuse quality can help when our non-hunter spouses see our receipts after shopping for hunting gear.
- Can help other humans see you
Anytime you’re hunting, it is important for other hunters to be able to see you. It’s hard enough to see a person in the woods when they are fully dressed in camouflage. But it’s even more difficult in the dark. Using lights rather than thermal or night vision devices can help ensure other’s know you’re in the area.
Cons
- May spook your target
While it is important for other hunters to see you, you obviously want to stay hidden from your target. Using lights may give away your position in some circumstances. But as mentioned above, lights can actually serve to hide you from the target, so this one may be offset by that feature.
- May limit the range you can see a target and/or shoot
Light beams can only stretch so far. While you can likely use lights to see a target at very long distances, it may get difficult to make an ethical shot past a moderate distance.
If you are interested in night hunting at all, check out this article, here, where I talk about five light I recommend every night hunter consider.
Night Vision / Thermal Devices – pros and cons
Pros
- Undetectable
Probably the most obvious pro to using these devices are that your target will not be able to detect the device like they can lights. As far stealthies is concerned, you might as well be hunting during the day.
- Hands free
With lights, you will have to point them and actively control them. You can use headlamps, which takes some of this hassle away. But a head lamp can only go so far. You will likely need hand-held and weapon mounted lights too. With the proper type of thermal or night vision devices, you can largely eliminate this.
Cons
- Expensive
If you know anything about night vision and especially thermal devices, you know they are quite expensive. Even the lowest quality devices usually cost several hundred dollars. Some of the higher-end devices are thousands. These are quite a significant investment, so unless you’re very serious about hog hunting at night, the price tag on these are certainly a con.
- Can’t do much else with them
One of the pros of lights was multipurpose use. There isn’t a lot you can use night vision and thermal devices for beyond hunting or just animal watching. This, combined with their heavy price tag can make them a bit unparticle for many consumers.
Final Thoughts
If you’re interested in hunting coyotes at night too, check out my article on how to hunt coyotes at night, here.