The only animals hunted on the Stout Ranch are the Feral Hogs. They do considerable damage to the property by rooting in the ground.
Hunted piggies quickly learn to only come out at night, therefore I use thermal night vision scopes on my hunting rifles to teach them to be good.
I don’t enjoy sitting in a cold dark hunting blind for hours waiting for the piggies to show up on a feeder, so have set up a high tech camera network which allows me to watch all of my feeders on a big screen TV inside the ranch house, as well as from my phone. This allows me to “hunt” while siting in a comfortable recliner, sipping an adult beverage, and relaxing with my wife. When piggies show up on a camera, I grab the rifle, and hop in the Kubota RTV. Laurel drives me to within a couple of hundred yards of the feeder and I walk the remaining distance to my shooting position. My shooting stands are mostly 4×8 wooden decks behind a single plywood wall with a small opening in the middle of the wall.
Over the last few years I have managed to “teach” over 600 piggies to be good.
During 2025, I made another major upgrade to my piggie teaching technique. I constructed two wire mesh “Corral Traps” and purchased a “Pig Brig” net trap. The Corral Traps have cameras watching both inside and outside the traps, along with Guillotine style drop gates which I can control using my phone. Now, instead of having to leave the comforts of my recliner, I simply press a button whenever a piggie makes the mistake of going inside the trap. The next morning, I give them the training lesson once I have finished my first cup of coffee. I have trained as many as 12 piggies at one time in these traps.
The Pig Brig trap has the advantage of not needing to be triggered with my phone. If piggies go in, they can’t get back out. This is especially useful with piggies which prefer a late supper, after I have already gone to bed. Even after the first piggie goes in and is trapped, additional piggies can still get inside and enjoy their last meal.
The combination of traps and rifles have proven to be very effective with 87 piggies trained over the last 12 months.