Wild Hog Populations

[Rick]

I watched a news show last night that said southern wild boar populations had skyrocketed. It said there were literally millions of wild hogs running around. There were instances of attacks on humans with one running through a guy's front door and attacking him. Fish and Game had established pens with trap doors in an effort to capture as many at one time as they could. I left the show thinking it was a pretty serious problem. Everyone on the show was in agreement that no matter what was done, there was no way to eradicate them.

I would think wild boar would be an excellent source of protein not only in a survival situation of any type but virtually anytime you wanted one. There doesn't seem to be a season on them that I can find so I guess it's open season all the time.

I know some of you hunt them and just wanted to know what your take on the situation was as well as the ability to utilize them as a resource. Can other parts of them be used? I've never heard of pig skin clothes or mocs.

[Ken]

We even have Wild Hogs in major cities here in Mass! Or is this a Wildebeest?

http://media.photobucket.com/image/boston%2Bfat%2Bgirls/hightjt/FatBostonGirl.jpg

[crashdive123]

Footballs, gloves, shoes (hush puppies) - lots of things made from pig skin.

[Rick]

Well, yeah but thinking in a preparedness mentality I can't eat a football or make an arrowhead out of hush puppies (not that I could make one out of anything). I'm just trying to figure out if the tusks or hides are worth anything in a primitive sense.

[crashdive123]

Gotcha - I suppose if it can be tanned, it can be worn, or used to help build shelter. I remember boar bristle brushes. Tools and weapons could be made from the bones and teeth. ....and bacon. Lots and lots of bacon.

[FVR]

Hog skin is a beotch to tan. I've done a few and they have turned out more of a rawhide. I made a quiver, had to stitch it when it was wet, drilled the holes for the lace. You can put arrows in it and stand on the quiver, the arrows will not get damaged.

It is however the most comfortable quiver to put on. I put it on one sunny hot summer day and filled it with water. The water drained and left pliable pig skin that dried over the course of the day. It dried to the shape of my back.

The tusks are nice to look at, but pretty useless for tools. They are hollow and very breakable when off the jaw.

You have the usual, sinew both leg and back. The hide can work well for mocs as I have a pair of mocs with double soled pig skin. Tough as nails and if tanned correctly, about as soft as moose.

Almost the whole hog can be eaten, if you want. Yuk! I have a book that goes all into it, the head, cheekds, tongue and so on.

[tennecedar]

According to their web sight, The Indiana Dept of Natural Resources want individuals to report any feral hog sightings or when one is taken. In TN hogs can only be taken during hunting season. The hogs we have are next to impossible to get the hair off of. We scald them in a vat of boiling water then scrape and scrape and scrape. Easier to skin out and try to save as much fat as possible.

[RobertRogers]

no wild hogs that I know of in the Northern third of NH. I would think they would be and excellent food source, though potentially dangerous to encounter while hiking.

[Alpine_Sapper]

They are a menace. I posted this in shadorans thread about feral piggies in his camp, but no, there is no season on feral hogs, and there is no bag limit. They are very destructive to the land. The hunting methods are not always the most sporting. I've seen guys tie a hog to a tree and then charge someone to hunt it. Rather often entire family's of swine have been slaughtered trying to thin out the population of the little beasties. As for eating the whole thing, no thanks. I remember when I was a kid growing up on a farm my grandparents used to put hog brains in their scrambled eggs for breakfast *gag*. They are great though, for teh simple fact that at any point you can go out and (easily) take a hog or five and feed ALL your friends at the same barbecue for the price of some .223 ammo and a little corn.

[Rick]

In the show, they were hunting them with dogs. They had "chasers" and "strikers", dogs specialized in either running the hogs down or attacking them. In one scene a "striker" went after a hog and the hog split about a six inch vertical gash in the dog's side. They were also spot lighting them. The hunters were using night vision to find them then light up the area and shoot them.

[Alpine_Sapper]

yeah, run'em with dogs, trap'em, pretty much any way you can get rid of it... A lot of landowners view feral hogs like homeowner's view termites or rats.

[trax]

Open season on them here, but spotlighting or using dogs is illegal.

[ryaninmichigan]

Fried pig skin is yummy

[Amazon]

Our next door neighbor asked us to come hunt with them this weekend for wild pigs. The farmers are at their wits end with the hogs rooting their fields
here in our area. They have been killing them for the last 3 weekends. We live in the piney woods and the pigs are in the roads and highways too.

[crashdive123]

Sooooo - ya eating fresh bacon this week?

[Ken]

Hunt 'em with one of these:

[canid]

i love feral hogs. sure they are ultimately pests, and can be pretty dangerous, but when you get down to it how many pests are both so plentiful and made of 50-200lb of pork?

[Amazon]

Yall know it... Yum!!:tongue_smilie: Thank goodness it is a bit cooler here after the rain.

[Ken]

i love feral hogs.

The only things feral we've got up here are cats. And as far as eating .... Well, just forget what I was going to say. :innocent:

[hoosierarcher]

We even have Wild Hogs in major cities here in Mass! Or is this a Wildebeest?

http://media.photobucket.com/image/boston%2Bfat%2Bgirls/hightjt/FatBostonGirl.jpg
Dude that is just wrong!

[FVR]

I have them right across the street. You can hunt them during any open hunting season. You can have them nasty birds, 45 muzzleloader will work on both.

[Beans]

Almost the whole hog can be eaten, if you want. Yuk! I have a book that goes all into it, the head, cheekds, tongue and so on.

Where I grew up that was called headcheese.


Fried pig skin is yummy IIRC that is cracklins and usually leftovers after lendering the lard without the skin removed

[Alpine_Sapper]

just dont start cooking chitlin's around me...
:m107::jango::nuke::nuke::nuke::devil2:
:boxer::hang::tank:
:pirate:shuriken::gun_bandana::flare::gunsmilie:
:rambo::hammer::eyepoke:

[Jay]

The tusks are nice to look at, but pretty useless for tools. They are hollow and very breakable when off the jaw.
.

Nevertheless they can be formidable wepons when porky decides to charge. Knew a guy down south who got ripped up from knee to groin. Died from blood loss.

[Ken]

Nevertheless they can be formidable wepons when porky decides to charge. Knew a guy down south who got ripped up from knee to groin. Died from blood loss.

That dern femoral artery. Gets you every time.

[bulrush]

Nevertheless they can be formidable wepons when porky decides to charge. Knew a guy down south who got ripped up from knee to groin. Died from blood loss.

Sounds like a hunter of hogs needs some rawhide leggings, made of hog hide, or something.

[FVR]

Jay,

Oh yeh, they are dangerous on the pig. If you pull them off, the sides are very thin. What I've done in the past is to whittle a piece of wood to fit up inside the teeth and then connect two together to make necklaces.

Why do you think that those that run dogs after wild hogs put tusk proof jackets on them. Many a dog has been ripped open.

[Rick]

That had a pit bull on that show that was wearing one. But he was the only one. It was kind of funny. They turned the dogs loose and they were gone like a shot...except for the pit bull with the armor. That had to drag him just about everywhere they went. I'm pretty sure he knew what was coming.

[grundle]

In 2008, there was a bounty placed on Wild Hogs at Ft. Benning Ga.

$40 per tail you bring in. A good hunter could make some bank down there.

[tipacanoe]

There was a show on Discovery HD about wild hogs in Australia, and they have one heck of a problem there. Now they have rabies, but the bad thing is that hunting them is very hard since they have such strict gun control laws. The sow can give birth to three sets of young per year, I believe they said, and now there are more hogs than any other critter in that country.

[Alpine_Sapper]

, but the bad thing is that hunting them is very hard since they have such strict gun control laws.

pfffffft. All that means is it's time to get ingenuitive with some traps and primitive weapons. I'm sorry, but hogs are not intelligent animals. There are some wily ones but for the most part they're just tough, not smart. A little bait and a few archers and you can put a serious dent in they're population. It's not like your hunting whitetails.

[Ag Nettogrof]

In the spring of 1997 someone loosed some hogs in the area that I live. 2 sow hogs with 8 pigs, and a large boar all looked to be hybrid cross with Russian hogs.

These things were quickly becoming very destructive rooting up everything. Instead of trying to hunt them with rifles, and have them all spooky we chose to use traps.

We built a couple of Hog traps or Hog boxes baited with corn and apples and used these to catch the hogs. One of the traps was destroyed rite off by one of the hogs, so we took up the other and rebuilt it using 2x6 pressure treated lumber bolted together.

We reset the trap, and the next day had the boar hog in it. He would have been around 250-300 lbs or so. Over the coarse of the next month the rest of the hogs and pigs were caught.

Maybe we were lucky, but these things were so easy to trap that I wouldn't even consider using a rifle if I were trying to thin down the population. We no longer have a Ferrel hog population.

[Runs With Beer]

Dude that is just wrong!

Yea, That is nastey

[aflineman]

I used to do a lot of pig hunting when I was stationed at Vandenberg. Alway kept the freezer filled. Pig, bird, and deer hunting; what a way to spend time off from work. If it was not for the current firearms laws, I would have tried to retire there.

[grundle]

In the spring of 1997 someone loosed some hogs in the area that I live. 2 sow hogs with 8 pigs, and a large boar all looked to be hybrid cross with Russian hogs.

These things were quickly becoming very destructive rooting up everything. Instead of trying to hunt them with rifles, and have them all spooky we chose to use traps.

We built a couple of Hog traps or Hog boxes baited with corn and apples and used these to catch the hogs. One of the traps was destroyed rite off by one of the hogs, so we took up the other and rebuilt it using 2x6 pressure treated lumber bolted together.

We reset the trap, and the next day had the boar hog in it. He would have been around 250-300 lbs or so. Over the coarse of the next month the rest of the hogs and pigs were caught.

Maybe we were lucky, but these things were so easy to trap that I wouldn't even consider using a rifle if I were trying to thin down the population. We no longer have a Ferrel hog population.


Good points here. Most of the serious hog hunters I have seen use large traps baited with corn.

I think it is pretty dangerous to hunt hogs with a gun. You run the risk of getting mauled. There are plenty of guys that have bled out because of a crotch cut.

[Rick]

There are plenty of guys that have bled out because of a crotch cut.

That is just so wrong on so many levels!!!!!

http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/d/da/dawnallynn/548023_fear.jpg

[grundle]

That is just so wrong on so many levels!!!!!

http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/d/da/dawnallynn/548023_fear.jpg

It is sad but true. They conveniently grow from knee to hip high. Getting a tusk from one charging you head on would be right in that area.

They only have 1 mood too -- pissed off

[Beans]

I'm sorry, but hogs are not intelligent animals.

I will politey disagree. As growing up on a farm where hogs were raised I found them to be quite smart and dangerous.

http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_MAGAZINE/fall99/hedgepeth.html



“People really don’t know that hogs are second only to higher primates in terms of intellience and were the first animals taught to do circus tricks,” says Hedgepeth. “They’re very protective, . . . and their sense of smell is keener than dogs’. If people came to see pigs in terms of their potential, they’d never return to seeing them as fat, stupid, and ugly—all the demeaning prejudices that allow us to eat them.”

http://www.fastestbows.com/articles/hendricks/a_good_morning.html


The feral hog's intelligence and survival instincts are second to none. Their sense of smell and hearing are extremely acute. Their weak eyesight is their Achilles Heal, but the animal compensates with a unique ability to reason and an uncanny sense of caution to possible threats. If it even suspects danger, it specializes in “getting’ gone”.

The keen

http://www.bigdtours.com/tours/tourDetail.cfm?tour_id=5149


The Hog

One of the biggest misconceptions first time hog hunters have about hogs is that by their appearance and unclean habitat that they are "dumb". This is far from the truth. A hog's intelligence level is higher than a dog. Their keen sense of smell is greater than a deer along with their keen hearing. The only advantage hunters have is that a hogs eyesight is poor. A hog is a very nomadic type of animal--here today--10 miles away tomorrow not committed to a set daily habit. With all of these traits it makes for one of the most difficult animals to pattern to hunt. For hunters up to the challenge, who can handle "boar fever", the satisfaction of accomplishment is greatly rewarding. Along with other game animals the females are the best eating, the boars are the best trophies and biggest challenge.



http://ezinearticles.com/?7-Bad-Habits-of-Highly-Unsuccessful-Hog-Hunters&id=1957773

5
. Underestimating a hog's intelligence - a common misconception among unsuccessful hog hunters is that "a hog is just a dumb animal." Any seasoned hog hunter will tell you hogs are quite cunning. Hogs adapt quickly to their environment and will make adjustments in real-time which can make it almost impossible to hunt them down. The unsuccessful hunter underestimates the hog so he fails to do his homework and simply won't put in the time to scout an area which would give him a greater opportunity to be successful. Instead of thinking you are smarter than a hog, your goal should be to learn how to think like a hog and then you will be on your way to becoming a successful hog hunter

[crashdive123]

...and besides, wasn't that a talking pig in "Animal Farm"?

[crashdive123]

.....and then there was "Babe".

[crashdive123]

....and how could we for get Arnold Ziffel.

[Alpine_Sapper]

[QUOTE=Beans;110206]I will politey disagree. As growing up on a farm where hogs were raised I found them to be quite smart and dangerous.

*shrug* I've grown up around them on a farm. We had domestic hogs in a pen that were slaughtered periodically. I also hunt feral hogs. Regardless of the advertising documents posted on the web trying to get people to pay money for guided baited hunts on a pest, from personal experience, my opinion is that when you come across a feral hog in the wild it's not going to act intelligently. It's going to act pissed off, enraged, and aggresively attack, or it's going to run. But it's not going to sit down and right you dissertation on the ramifications of the current economic policies. As most of you know, the layer of tissue over the back protects the animal, but if you put an arrow in it's shoulder and don't drop it? Get ready to run. But my point was that hunting hogs is not like hunting a whitetail. You don't have to worrry about the animal being crafty, typically. I did state that there were some wily ones, but overall, they're just aggressive brutes.

Most of the documents you posted were advertising propaganda for someone like me who is trying to get someone who has never hunted a hog to come down here and pay good money for something that, if they did a little research, they could have done for the cost of the license and some ammo. Speaking of which, if anyone is interested in hunting some swine Texas style, hit me up. I guide for free and won't charge you an arm and a leg to take the animal. But I won't tie it to a tree to make it easier for you to kill, either. :)

[Beans]

But it's not going to sit down and right you dissertation on the ramifications of the current economic policies

And neither is a white tail or mule deer.

I have also hunted feral hogs in the brush along the river in Mesquite NV.

In hunting White tail or Mule deer is all a matter of Prospective. *

I grew up in White tail country, NE Missouri along the Mississippe river bottoms. Reputed to be one of the best white tail areas in the country. I harvested a deer on the 1st day of the season within 3 hours of season opening everytime I hunted.

Luck? I don't think so. I knew where the deer were.

Smart deer? they don't look up. this is why tree blind are so successful. But they are wary, good sense of smell and very good eyesight for detecting movement.

* the hunters that came up from St Louis and only were in the field for a short time would sit around the breakfast table in the local resturant, conversing about how smart the deer were as they were being outwitted.

They would bring with them deer sent, the newest lastest cammo, a orange vest, then sit in a blind scratching, coughing, sneezing, drinking hot coffee not realizing how much noise they were making. Even the birds wouldn't stay around them.

I have sat/passed with 75 feet of them in an orange coat. pants. hat and gloves they they never knew I was there.

Smart Deer?
Or dumb hunters. I refused to guide any of the City hunters and non city hunters didn't need a guide.

Hogs because of the exceptional sense of smell have been trained to hunt out truffles.

I have had hogs get out of a pasture fence and they refused to go back through the same hole they got out of. However If you watch them. after they are put back into the pasture they will run to the same hole to get out regardless of where they came back into the pasture.

Cattle, horses, sheep won't do this.

I have never had a hog over eat, I can't say the same thing for cattle or horses.

I have never had a hog over drink in hot weather ( or a mule either) I can't say the same thing for cattle or horses.

Hogs will roll in mud to keep from getting sunburnt, I can't say the same thing for cattle or horses.

I do realize that none of them are on the same plane of intelligence as MOST humans. I also realize that some humans have intellect deficiencies and have dealt with "BOOK" smart people who was nonfuctional on a day to day basics and street smart people who couldn't hardly read.


We had domestic hogs in a pen that were slaughtered periodically.

FWIW. our hogs were also domesticated, but were not raised in a PEN, they were allowed to roam in a 30 acre pasture, along with cows and horses and came back to the barn for feeding. we feed them a mash of ground corn, wheat and oats mixed with water.

Have you ever seen a drunk hog. Water seeping from a silo filled with chopped green corn is a receipt for animal moonshine. they are funny to watch. Much like humans, they drink the moonshine, stagger away fall down and snore when they are sleeping it off.

Did you know that young hogs will suckle a milk cow, after weaning , unless you keep them away from the milk cows?

We did our own butchering and considered a young hog about 200-250 lbs to be the right weight.
We cut all the male hogs when they were about 12 weeks old, even those going to market. No "Boar" taste to the meat.

[Alpine_Sapper]

And neither is a white tail or mule deer.

* the hunters that came up from St Louis and only were in the field for a short time would sit around the breakfast table in the local resturant, conversing about how smart the deer were as they were being outwitted.

Smart Deer?
Or dumb hunters. I refused to guide any of the City hunters and non city hunters didn't need a guide.

I'm not disputing anything you said. I would like to point out that A; I don't stand hunt. To me, that's not hunting. It's sitting and waiting and hoping to get lucky, or baiting, which imho is only valid if you are trying to fill the freezer. That's what I use hogs for. White tails I hunt for sport, so I prefer to stalk. There's a world of difference between stalking a deer and a hog. Mainly, the deer will typically run, where the hog is more likely to try and castrate you.

As for non-city hunters not needing guides, that's, imho, a jumbo load of crap. I'd like to see a hunter from Alaska or Canada come down here and be any where near as successful as he would be if he had a local showing him the terrain. Sure, he may get lucky, but it's highly doubtful.

[Beans]

IF you read my post I was referring only to the area of NE Missouri, the area in which I grew up. The Non city hunters I was referring to was those that lived, hunted, farmed in the area in which I grew up.

The towns in my area were *10-12 miles apart with a population of 300-700 people. the largest town was 24 miles from where I lived and had a population of 1200.

Personally I lived grew up 5 miles, by a gravel road, from a town population of 300; when I left in 1960

* These town were established in the early 1800 and 10-12 miles allowed someone to travel from town to town and back in 1 day on horseback/buggy/wagon.

Hunting wise I would be as lost in your area as you would be in mine.

FWIW My family moved into that area in 1799 from KY.

I had to leave the county to date as we were all related either by blood or marriage

Almost all my deer were taken from the ground not in a stand. Find the trails and where they cross the fences. Either stand up against a tree or set on a hilltop and watch the deer go by

[Alpine_Sapper]

IF you read my post I was referring only to the area of NE Missouri, the area in which I grew up. The Non city hunters I was referring to was those that lived, hunted, farmed in the area in which I grew up.

The towns in my area were *10-12 miles apart with a population of 300-700 people. the largest town was 24 miles from where i lived and had a population of 1200,
Personally I lived grew up 5 miles, on a gravel road, from a town population of 300; when I left in 1960

* These town were established in the early 1800 and 10-12 miles allowed someone to travel from town to town and back in 1 day on horseback/buggy/wagon.

Sorry, I thought we were talking in general, as in, relevant to anywhere in the country.




Hunting wise I would be as lost in your area as you would be in mine.

FWIW My family moved into that area in 1799 from KY.

I had to leave the county to date as we were all related either by blood or marriage


rofl. Yeah, I know the feeling. All of my family was along the same little strip of highway in less than 1/2 mile when I was growing up. Absolutely wonderful if TS ever HTF. All the rest of the time, if I can hit you with a .223 round, you are to close. :)

[Smok]

Cat :tooth:the other white meat

[Alpine_Sapper]

here's a pretty good story about hunting feral hogs with dogs.

http://www.survivalarts.com/archives/001389.html

one more;
http://daily.lawton-constitution.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VExDLzIwMDcvMTEvMjQjQXIwMDkwMA==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom