Nathan,

Will all due respect, you're trying too hard.  Hogs dont have very good eye sight so the ghilie suit is just extra gear you dont need.  Hunt them over bait in the early part of the morning, before sunup or just after sundown.  Hogs, especiall older ones  have always been noctournal, especially in the summer.  Good luck.

Howdy! Right now a big pan of water might be a good bait for hogs. Depending on the type of trap you have, various corn and other feed mixtures seem to work ok. Good hunting!  Always, Gene

I went out Friday night with a group for my first Thermal hog hunt.   [url=http://www.doubledrophunts.com]Double Drop Hunts[/url]  http://www.doubledrophunts.com I have hunted before with night vision and been fairly successful if hogs were around to shoot at. But this night we were very lucky. We watched from a fence line downwind from a field and a large Oak tree where bait had been put out. At the time I was not feeling overly optimistic because it seemed too open a field. But after waiting for 40 minutes one of the guys whispers that he sees movement. And one after another hogs start coming into the field. There had to be at least 60 70 hogs. We were instructed to shoot on the count of 3. All the guns were suppressed and some had Thermal and others had night vision.
In Short order we had 9 hogs down. This was a rush and I really enjoyed the hunt.

 Try chicken liver,or live shad. These baits also work great for hybrid stripers. Good Luck!!!

im thinking that the fish based bait will work after you thin out the coons. good luck

Calevares is a good fishing spot, especially for cats, reds and bass.  I have fished the extreme northeast end of the lake and caught alot of catfish my first time out, but I have heard of people having good success on the south end near the pier and damm area.  Braunig lake is not too bad either, if your lucky enough and you use good live bait, you have a chance of cathing some nice Reds

When you say birds I assume you mean Federal Migratory Birds like ducks, geese, & dove... They are not regulated by the state like deer / some states don't allow hunting deer over bait... There are only one set of rules for anything that is federal / if deer were a federal game animal all the states would have the same rules & season dates... hope this helps...

Before you put bass in there, I would buy some minnows and start letting them reproduce. During the summer, my dad and I will go to the local creeks and load up on perch. There's times where we will come home with 50+ and other times with 20 if we are lucky. Also think about vegetation/cover for your bait fish. Weeds are great but I also love having a round bale or two in our tank. Don't overload it with bass either,  you'll have quantity but the quality won't be very good. IMO, you can never have too many bait fish. Good Luck