“Hog Boss gates LLC, was born out of necessity to trap feral hogs that had gotten out of control on the land that we hunt. My partner and I have dedicated ourselves to building a better hog trap.” With this statement, Scott Hall and his partner, Kory Gilbert, launched their company in the spring of 2017 with headquarters in Bastrop.
This pair of entrepreneurs was honored last weekend when they were awarded the Manufacturer of Excellence Award by the Louisiana chapter of Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame.
In the three years since the company has been in operation, Hog Boss LLC has trapped and taken off the landscape around the south around 250,000 feral hogs, pesky creatures that have become a serious problem. What is this product and how does it work? Scott Hall explained how he and Gilbert put a plan together that would make trapping and removing feral hogs fairly simple.
“We got to playing with electronics and fabricating gates that are cellular operated,” said Hall. “Once a ‘corral’ is set up with feed placed inside, the hogs become accustomed to coming in for the free food. You can monitor when the hogs are in the trap from a camera at the site. Once they’re there, you get a signal on your cell phone that shows the hogs at the site. Once you determine that all the ‘sounder’ (groups of hogs) are in corral, you send a signal to the gate by way of your phone, the gate falls and the hogs are trapped.”
The signal works enabling you to trip the trap from anywhere. One customer had the following testimonial.
“I was on a family vacation in Orange Beach and had gone off-shore fishing. We were 10 miles out in the Gulf when the notification came in that the sow and 10 piglets I’d been after for weeks were finally in the trap. I called the Hogg Boss gate and caught 11 pigs…..and a limit of red snapper!”
More fully explaining how the Hog Boss system works, a brochure produced by the company discusses how the system operates.
“Using any cellular trail camera to monitor the enclosure, you simply call or text your Hogg Boss trap to close the gate from anywhere in the world. Hogg Boss traps gates are designed to capture the entire sounder with one drop of the gate. Our trap gate measures 8 feet wide and the opening is 42 inches tall. Hog Boss trap gates and panels are made right here in the U.S.A. using only American steel.”
How important is it to take as many feral hogs off the land as possible, hogs that are rooting up food plots as well as lawns?
It is necessary to remove 70% of the hogs on a particular piece of property just to stay even with them; they reproduce that fast,” said Scott. “I have had people tell me they’re not worried because they only have a few hogs on their hunting club. Two years later they come to me telling me they wish they had gotten after the hogs earlier because now they are hogs everywhere,” said Hall.
The business is growing, according to Hall and their product is quickly becoming the preferred trap used across the southern U.S. by divisions of the USDA, state and local wildlife agencies, levee boards, farmers, land managers and hunting clubs.
“There’s even a Hog Boss Trap at Cape Canaveral near the launch pads,” he said. For more information and pricing, contact hogbossgates.com or search Face Book or Instagram. You can also call the company at 1-833-464-2677.
FISHING REPORT
BUSSEY BRAKE – Bass have been fair around the grass and trees on crank baits and Rat-L- Traps. Crappie are scattered and fair; bream fishing is fair on worms and crickets. For latest information, contact the Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
BLACK BAYOU – Bream fishing has been fair on crickets and worms. Bass are fair on spinners, jigs and soft plastics. Crappie are scattered and slow. Contact Honey Hole Tackle Shop 323-8707 for latest information.
OUACHITA RIVER – Bass are best in the river lakes and cuts. Crappie are best in river lakes and around tops in the river. For latest information, contact the Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323- 8707.
LAKE D’ARBONNE – Crappie fishing has been best fishing 12 feet deep in 18-20 foot water on the flats on shiners or jigs. Bass have been in deep water and hitting soft plastics and crank baits with some fairly shallow around the grass on topwaters and spinners. Best fishing this week has been up Corney creek. Bass have been fair fishing soft plastics and crank baits around the boat docks early and late. Bream fishing has slowed while catfish are still biting cold worms fished off the banks.. For latest reports, call Anderson’s Sport Center at 368-9669 or Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
LAKE CLAIBORNE – Best news this week has to do with stripers that continued to school and hitting shad imitation lures and when they go down, trolling white bucktails is picking up some. Bream fishing is slow to fair on crickets and worms. Bass fishing has been best fishing topwaters in the shallows or at night fishing around the lights with plastic worms. Crappie fishing is best fishing 10 feet deep in 14-17 foot water on shiners. Catfish are fair on blood bait. For latest information, call Misty at Kel’s Cove at 331-2730 or Terzia Tackle at 278-4498.
CANEY LAKE – Bass are on the points around the deeper holes with deep diving crank baits and oversized plastic worms working best. Crappie are still around the tops but some have started moving to deeper water where most will be once cold weather sets in. Bream are slow to fair on worms and crickets. No report on catfish. For information contact Hooks Marina at 249- 2347, Terzia Tackle at 278-4498 or the Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
LAKE POVERTY POINT – Catfishing has been good with mostly smaller fish being caught. Crappie are off and on with best catches for some real slabs early mornings around the boat slips. No report on bream or bass. For latest reports, call Poverty Point Marina at 318/878-0101.
LAKE ST. JOHN – The lake is being lowered but the gates have now been closed. Fishing should improve soon. For information, call Ken Mahoney at 318-201-3821.
LAKE YUCATAN – The water is on a slow fall and fishing is fair to good. Crappie are fair but some big crappie fish are being caught. For information, call Surplus City Landing at 318/467-
2259.
To report an issue or typo with this article – CLICK HERE
