Not enough warts to go around???

A friend of mine just booked a buffalo hunting in South Africa. He had asked me to tag along for some company and to help with the first time experience. Since I booked him through the same PH and hunting outfitter that I have used, I spoke to the PH about me just hunting some small game while I was there. My favorite two animals to hunt is impala and a close second is warthog. During this talk he told me that trophy warthogs and just warthog numbers seem to be down. His reason some the Spanish clients love to hunt pigs and have been over hunted. I have always seen a number of warthogs but bagging a trophy is as tough as any other animal. I was wanting to know what other PH's and hunting companies felt about this. Thanks for the help.

Hi Warty09,

Yes, we Spanish hunters love hunting warthogs but if we hunt too many warthogs is because there is an offer to hunt them. Another thing is, and I do not like at all, the kind of offer with 15 or 20 warthogs in 5 or 6 days. But if warthogs are going down I do not think Spanish hunters are guilty

Hi there , interesting topic.... in our area throughout the years we never had warthogs .. now they running around all over the place in our area :-) Maybe when you were there it was bad timing ... i recall many times i was looking for them and never saw one, then one day i would see plenty..

cheers owen

so does that mean there is a verruga el cerdo shortage?

One doubt, What is the best time, if there is one, for warthog hunting? best area?

Perhaps drought was the issue? My PH last year said that trophy pigs in that region while always a bit hard to come by due to the rocky soil in the area were especially down. The reason being was there was a drought a few years back and that warthogs are particularly susceptible to dry conditions due to lack of grass. The good news was they were on their way back. It made sense to me, we saws lots and lots of them, but never one I'd want to shoot.

Who says we spaniards love warthogs ?

I only have seven on my walls

Hi Warthy09

There was a problem with drought about 8 years ago in the Limpopo province a lot of warthogs died because of it strangely enough they are the first ones to go if there is not enough food around.

Their numbers have been going up and the population in my area are doing well but in saying this yes we have had problems with people killing warthog regardless of trophy size.

I have heard of numerous operations that hunt warthog on a large scale something like 150 per week.

It is clear to me that they do not have any interest in game management nor are they aware of how long it takes for a warthog to grow in to a trophy (8-`12 years), but it is clear trough their methods that they simply can’t care since every warthog that end up in front of a barrel gets shot.

Most of them don’t care since it is not their land they just shoot and bugger off, never mind the fact that warthog can’t be contained in one farm but move around from farm to farm.

This was externally sad, 4 years ago we saw a massive drop in the trophy population.
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I went and had a talk with quite a few of my neighbours asking them to cut back on warthogs that people take on their properties, and for the most part closed warthog hunting on my place.

It is 4 years later and the numbers have gone up dramatically, I am starting to see a lot of nice warthog and the population seems to be doing very well now.
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It is a great shame that people consider it a sport to slaughter 100’s of warthog in a week and that the very people who depend on them for an income promote their demise.

Best Regards
Louis van Bergen

You are right Louis, it isn t sporting to kill large numbers of warthogs, or any other animal.

Mine were taken during four safaris.

Nsok,
personally i take 1-2 w/hogs every year here in Namibia (Umaruru / Otjiwarongo districts) and i have found that late winter to be the best time for me where i hunt. Reason being the vegetation is less dense and the grass not so tall. (where i hunt) On many occasions i have hunted early-winter in areas where there are many-many W/thogs, but the grass is to tall to see those trotters then, only when they ran across the road or fire burns along the fences do you spot them for a second.

I cannot speak for the w/thog community in RSA, but here in Namibia they are really-really not a declining specie. Just drive from Swakopmund to Windhoek or to Otjiwarongo / Otavi early morning and try and count them...

As a matter of interest, the hogs i take annually are preferably young + - 6 months old as they have the best meat. I barbeque (spare ribs after marinaded for 2 days) and cold smoke (leg of pork) - really excellent - but some of you will know this!

In two long trips to Africa, I still don't have a big warthog...have seen them...but they are crafty and can be the devil to hunt especially when you really want one.

Glad to see people conserving the warthog....truly a great animal!

Last year in Zimbabwe we had two clients that wanted warthog. The problem we had was the grass had yet to be burned and the tall grass kept us from having anything but fleeting glances at hogs. The few we did have clear shots at either had small or broken tusks, no trophies. The tall grasses also hampered to ability to get duiker and some of the other small antelope.

Just my opinion, and I relly like hunting wathogs, I do not understand people who go to Africa just to hunt warthogs. In my last two safaris I got three of them and was enough.

Originally Posted by enysse

In two long trips to Africa, I still don't have a big warthog...have seen them...but they are crafty and can be the devil to hunt especially when you really want one.

Glad to see people conserving the warthog....truly a great animal!

Go to Mozambique, they are almost vermin there are so many on Coutada Nine.



I shot this one to put it out of its misery, as it was injured. The tusks remained in camp.



This was my trophy.

Originally Posted by Mike70560

I shot this one to put it out of its misery, as it was injured. The tusks remained in camp.

Mike,
You seem to have quite a knack for "putting things out of there misery" ;-)

Mike, I remember your pictures....I'm so full of jeolousy! It's right up there with your huge cape buffalo!

Going to have to make to Mozambique someday .