South Africa is home to two main species of wild pigs for game hunting, the bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus) and warthog (Phacochoerus africanus). They are physically two very different species of wild pig.
Bushpigs are mainly nocturnal animals seldom seen in daylight, if so, it is usually in the late afternoon. Warthogs are active during the day and take shelter in a burrow at night. Bushpigs also do not use burrows, they sleep in clearings of vegetation, which is secluded and hidden from busy areas, often in deep valleys.
Warthogs primarily feed on grass and roots and occasionally forage for insects. Bushpigs also feed in this manner but will often scavenge on rotting meat and carcasses, should the opportunity arise.
Game hunting in South Africa offers the opportunity for a hunter to put a chase on both of these pig species.
What Region in South Africa has the biggest Bushpig Population?
If you have undertaken any game hunting in South Africa, you will know that the Limpopo province is the hunting safari hub of South Africa. It has one of the highest bushpig populations, along with the North-West Province. The exact population cannot be confirmed due to the irregular behavior of the bushpig, their movement as well as their nocturnal feeding routines. These factors also make for a bushpig safari hunting adventure to be rather challenging.
Other South African provinces are also home to bushpig, many successful bushpig game hunting safaris have taken place in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, and Kwazulu-Natal. Bushpig hunting in South Africa can be done in nearly every area, but the bushpig most definitely grows bigger and meaner in certain regions.
In many areas of South Africa, they are considered pests. Much like the feral pigs in the United States of America, they can do serious damage to crops over the season. The bushpigs that raid the agricultural areas are also normally the biggest, as the animals have a constant supply of feed which is considerably higher in protein and nutrients when compared with natural feed found in the wilderness, which makes for an awesome game hunting trophy!
Hunting Methods used on a Bushpig Hunting Safari
- Bushpigs can be very tricky to hunt, but understanding their behavior and environment makes it an achievable obstacle.
- As mentioned, they mostly feed and move around during the evening or late in the night but can rarely be seen in the daytime. Bushpig hunting in South Africa can be done in a few certain ways.
- One of the most practiced hunting safari methods in South Africa is patrolling the agricultural fields with a spotlight, this can be done on foot or using a vehicle.
- In areas where there aren’t any agricultural fields to patrol, a very successful method that I have used many times before is baiting.
- A mixture of fermented corn, domestic pig food, and grain with water starts stinking and has the bushpigs feeding on a nightly basis.
- Once you know the bushpigs are regularly feeding, you can begin to plan how to get that mean piece of bacon in the salt!
- The first option is a thermal or night vision scope or clip-on, but this can be quite expensive.
- The second option is a red light, which is tried and tested and works brilliantly.
- You could shine a red light on them from where you are shooting or place a red light in a tree above where you are baiting.
- This can stay on or work on a dimmer switch to slowly dial up upon the bushpigs’ arrival. The red light is a great method as bushpigs cannot detect the pigment of red.
- The final game hunting safari method is the good old-fashioned walk and stalk or spot and stalk. This is not something that can be planned and only executed when a bushpig presents itself in the rarity of daylight, making the game hunting safari even more exciting and rewarding.
My Memorable Experiences Bushpig Hunting in South Africa
Bushpig Hunting in South Africa: Hog 1
My first successful safari hunting bushpig took place in 2014 when I was 14 years old. The below picture shows me alongside my best friend, Dylan Stainforth, on a game hunting safari targeting bushpigs! We were so excited to hunt them!
We hunted this bushpig using the baiting method and a red light that was placed in the tree connected to a dimmer switch. This was then controlled from our hide. We had been baiting the bushpigs for roughly one week before we were able to connect with them. Our initial struggles set in because we were leaving too early, while the camera trap situated at the bait showed them coming to feed after midnight.
When we finally put in the hours and waited through the night, we were successful! This motivates that to be successful when bushpig hunting in South Africa, understanding their behavior is critical.
The rifle I used for this hunt was a 30-06 Springfield in a Remington 700 action, an excellent all-round caliber for game hunting in South Africa. The first bushpig that I hunted was a sow. Sometimes shooting a female is simply the only option when safari hunting in Africa, especially when shooting for meat, as they are generally not tough like the big old mature males.
Bushpig Hunting in South Africa: Hog 2 and an unexpected Visitor!
My second successful bushpig hunt took place in 2015 when I was 15 years old. On this hunt, I was alone in my hog game hunting adventure. Needless to say, sitting in the pitch dark with absolutely no visibility besides the slight glow of the moon is enough to get the heart pumping and adrenaline kicking in! This game hunting method was exactly the same as the previous year as it proved to be successful. We baited the pigs again for roughly one week prior and then the hunt began. From the get-go, I knew I had to sit there from dusk to the early hours of the morning.
This is just typical bushpig behavior to expect while game hunting in Africa, to always feed in the early hours of the morning. However, I was in for an unexpected twist. The day before I shot this bushpig, we found a fresh kill from a leopard. The cat had hunted a blesbok and treed her kill roughly 40 yards from where my hide was. At this point, my leopard knowledge was not up to standard, so I did not let the leopard kill sway my bushpig hunting efforts in the least!
Upon finding the leopard kill we placed a camera trap on site to see what might venture into the area, not expecting the leopard to return to the kill. I walked from our safari hunting camp around six o’clock in the evening and arrived at the hide roughly half an hour later. I immediately set up my rifle and got everything in position, ready for the shot when it presented itself.
This time the bushpigs were unpredictable and came in very early, at approximately 20:00. I located the boar and took the shot, and he instantly vanished into the darkness. I gave it 15 minutes and then set out into the dark to find my trophy boar. He didn’t go far, maybe 50 yards in the direction from which they had come. The well-placed shot paid off. The next day we went to check the camera trap which was on the leopard kill. When I opened the first file my heart skipped a beat, the leopard had arrived on the kill at exactly 19:12, less than an hour after I arrived at the hide.
The leopard stayed there feeding until I took the shot on the bushpig, whereafter it then instantly disappeared into the darkness. Upon later inspection, our tracker backtracked the leopard’s footprints and saw that it walked right past the hide where I was sitting, where all signs point to the cat walking past the hide and then doubling back again to the hide. It had obviously picked up my scent while I was sitting there and decided to investigate. For somewhat reason, the cat did not seem phased by my presence roughly less than 40 yards from its kill. I later learned this is very unusual behavior for a leopard, as they are very cautious animals. I often think back to that night, when I got my first trophy bushpig, under the African night sky – and unknowingly shared my game hunting victory with one of the most dangerous animals worldwide. This is all part of the experience when game hunting in Africa! Learn to expect the unexpected…
Bushpig Hunting in South Africa: Hog 3, My “Covid Lockdown” Trophy
My most recent bushbig was hunted in 2020, and my family and I always refer to it as “the Lockdown pig” as I hunted the monster during the COVID-19 lockdown period. It was an absolute monster! During the lockdown, my family and I headed to our ranch in Limpopo, South Africa. My cousin, Matthew, accompanied me on the bushpig safari hunting adventure. From the Eastern Cape in South Africa, he shared the lockdown period with us on our game hunting ranch. He was new to hunting safaris at that point, never having experienced the magic of hunting in South Africa.
We did everything by the book, just like we had before, except for the red-light system where we never used the dimmer switch. Baboons had dug out and stolen my cable which I had installed to connect the dimmer switch to the light, I did have vengeance but that is a story for another day!
So one dimmer switch and cable down, I needed to get creative. That’s just how game hunting in Africa goes. In South Africa we have an Afrikaans saying, “n Boer maak ‘n plan” which translates to “a farmer makes a plan” and that is how it goes on a hunting safari in Africa…we make a plan, no matter what!
My father suggested a solar light with a day/night switch which we used around our camp, with a piece of red electrical tape stuck over the bulbs to give the red dim effect. We tried it and put out the camera trap, and in no time whatsoever the bushpigs were feeding regularly. We then made the move to begin the safari hunting adventure of a massive bushpig!
The first night saw the weather turn on us. The wind picked up and the rain came rushing in, quickly proving that my hide was not well-insulated nor waterproof. I insisted that we stick it out for as long as possible in case of a sudden change. My cousin looked over at me, dismayed and not enjoying his first trip safari hunting in South Africa too much at all! After a while, the rain started to die down but the lightning picked up, I remember looking into the darkness beside my bait station thinking I might see a silhouette. Just then the lightning cracked and for a split-second, clear as day I saw this absolute beast of a bushpig standing there, and just like that he was gone. He did not return that evening.
The next afternoon I was so desperate to get out there and hunt this monster that I was in the hide an hour too early and spent the time twiddling my thumbs. But after a few hours, he was back, and this time he brought friends, but I only wanted him. I found the center of my crosshairs and squeezed the trigger of my 7mm Remington Magnum. It was all over instantly, dropping him right in his tracks. The help of the illuminated crosshair on my Nightforce scope definitely gave me a shooting advantage over a regular crosshair.
When looking at the photograph, everyone always comments that I’m sitting five feet behind the bushpig. In truth, I am right behind the bushpig, and he is simply just a machine of a pig! This was later on proved again when my cousin and I said we would eat the whole pig between the two of us, alone. We tried everything, stew, roasting it, slow smoking it, boiling it, no matter what we did we could not get the old meat to soften. We ate what we could, but later on, opted to hunt a wildebeest which was demolished between the two of us throughout the lockdown period. I remember my uncle asking me afterward how on earth the two of us could eat a whole wildebeest. It wasn’t difficult in hindsight, especially when wildebeest is good for breakfast, lunch, and supper!
Thrilling Bushpig Game Hunting Adventures in South Africa
South Africa is seen as the pinnacle of hunting safari destinations, offering a wide range of species for game hunting adventures. When hunting in South Africa, try your hand at dangerous game, African plains game or, like me, opt for the hunting adventure of a lifetime…Go bushpig hunting in South Africa!
Author Keenan van Wyk
Conservationist & Professional Hunter