Roots, Game, and Trail

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Southern Supper: A Short Film About Bowhunting Pigs in Southeast Texas

Before playing the video, make sure the video is played in the best quality, 1080 HD. 

While walking through one of the National Forests in east Texas, I came across an interesting thing.  I found a young loblolly pine, about 7” in diameter, that had mud caked onto the trunk reaching about 4’ off the ground. At the base of the tree, a large circular mud pit had been beaten into the ground. Pig tracks littered the ground all around the pine tree. I was new to Texas and new to hog hunting at the time, but this was unmistakably a point of interest for the pigs.


Several weeks later I returned to this area with a trail-camera. I set the camera up on a nearby tree. Another couple of weeks went by before I returned to look at my pictures. I couldn’t believe the number of pictures and activity that was at this little wallow.

A large group of young pigs and sows vigorously rub themselves on the trunk of the loblolly pine

A couple of pigs visit the wallow to cool off in the hot summer


As I flipped through the pictures I started to think about the potential this location held for a good ambush position. As time went by, I continued to check the trail-camera whenever I could. I continued to get lots of pictures of pigs at the wallow, and I continuously thought about what a good tree-stand location it would be.


The above video was filmed at the location of the wallow. The wallow is not the large pool that the pig can be seen standing in. The wallow is much smaller and can be seen at the 1:25 minute mark on the video. It is partially covered by the trunk of a large tree.