Hog Hunt

[Camp10]

Hope all is well with you Batch! I do the same as YCC, use a rope. The snow helps with the dragging as well! LOL

[Batch]

The tests all came back good. I am all good with the cardiologist except that I have the normal expected plaque build up for someone my age in my carotid arteries. Heart is rock solid healthy. All tests neurological came back good and despite my mom's talking, they did find a brain. They said over exertion and dehydration. Though I drink a gallon of water a day minimum and it happened two days later.

That picture is now of a $7,000 hog. Which is what my maximum out of pocket for the year is on insurance. At least the rest of the year is all free for medical for me. So I am going to take advantage and have every thing checked as best as I can over the year. LOL

BTW, my friend catches barr hogs with catch dogs. Now, Poco, I have been between sows and their babies and the sow has run. I have never had a boar chase me. Though I have had them bolt out a head straight at me until they realized that I was there and then they braked, shaked and baked.

You can see a friends 275lb barr hog on this page. http://www.gladestaxidermy.com/about_us

[COWBOYSURVIVAL]

I am not sure what a Barr Hog is? Here in SC the clubs imported russian boar hawgs and they breed with domesticated wild hawgs. They ran each time I walked them up. But can be over 1000lbs. I always carry 2 guns when hunting them. Here you cut the nuts and around the hooves to let them bleed out. Hawg Dogs are some of meanest animals on earth, usually Blueticks or labs crossed with pitbulls.

[Rick]

So, it looks like about....what....$450 a pound? (snort, giggle). I'm glad everything checked out okay, though. Is it possible they mixed the neurological test results with someone else? I mean, I've read some of your post. (snort).

[crashdive123]

Glad all the tests came out OK.

[Batch]

So, it looks like about....what....$450 a pound? (snort, giggle). I'm glad everything checked out okay, though. Is it possible they mixed the neurological test results with someone else? I mean, I've read some of your post. (snort).

Rick, I have read some of my posts and I agree with you. LOL

A barr hog is a barrow hog. Its nuts but has none anymore. LOL

Hog dogs are usually pits and currs from what I know...

[hunter63]

Hey Batch, $450 bucks a pound sounds about right,.... my first wild turkey was about $1000 bucks a pound.........and I don't really like turkey all that much.
Glad to hear you are doing OK.

[your_comforting_company]

Went up to grampa's old place this weekend and found some VERY disappointing news.. Wild hogs have moved in and are increasing numbers very rapidly. A few months ago, there was no sign of feral hogs on the land and now it looks like a sizable herd is living there. I was bowhunting so if a deer came by, I could legally try to harvest one, but I also had my sidearm ready in case that huge boar came through. Judging by the rubs on the trees his back is more than knee-high. Gotta be at least 300 lbs.
So two days of still hunting early and late in the day and a bit of stalking down the trails didn't reveal any of the beasts but we did get to see some hawks and foxes. Next step is to borrow / rent some cattle fencing and set up traps for the blighters. I can't let "Pa's place" turn into the WMA on the river where 4' wide trees have been uprooted and viney plants have taken over because of the soil disturbances. Not to mention what they are doing to the ponds. Our pond is mostly dry, but had enough water for bullfrogs to raise.. That's some good eating, but their habitat is being trampled by the beasts. Across the fence, the neighbor has cows raising in the same nasty water that hogs are stomping and defecating in.
They pose a real problem and this year the laws have changed regarding hunting them. On private land it is now legal to bait them, and hunt with firearms all year long. Got some good info on corrall traps from the University of Alabama (one of my bee mentors is the extension agent) as a method to get as many as possible in one place and dispatch them. They will be donated to a local food bank. One of the farmers not far from here says he's already lost an acre of crop to the beasts, so I might have yet another career building endeavor.. Hog removal! So far I haven't charged anything for bee removals, but I know a fella who is making a living right now, doing nothing but bee removal jobs. I think it's time to expand my operation to hog removals. I am certain that a farmer would gladly pay good money to remove hog vermin from their fields and woods.
Feral hog population is exploding and we, as sportsmen and lovers of the outdoors, need to be proactive in control and management of this invasive species. If you ever needed a reason to start hunting, we have one here, now.

[TheWaywardOne]

It's a shame to hear that the hog population has exploded that way. I lived in Texas for a few years and saw first hand the damage they can do. Also learned a good deal about hunting and trapping them. I was fortunate enough to fall in with a group of guys who hog trapped. They introduced me to it, as well as knife hunting (one of the biggest adrenaline rushes you can imagine in my opinion), and even used an atlatl from time to time. They trapped most of the farm, ranch, and dairy property in the area. We ran portable box traps with a spring gate primarily. Taken down we could fit 4-5 of them in a truck. We also used heart or teardrop corral traps with swing gates. The down side of swing gates is you have to "teach" hogs how to use them, but once done they are incredibly effective. On really big operations we used drift fences that terminated into corrals. They were cumbersome, and took a lot of time and material to construct, but running bay dogs we could hem up 40 or so at a time on a good day. Many hogs fell to ARs as well. I applaud your inclination to expand your business into feral hog removal, I've had similar thoughts myself. The depredation permits have proved hard to get in my area though. The Fish & Game and USDA seem to think that two aerial hunts a year are good enough..they evidently need to spend more time in the woods and less time behind a desk. So continues the eternal battle between biologists and outdoorsmen. Rather than learn from each other, both factions seem stubbornly intent on butting heads. Either way, I completely agree with your last statement. We need to be proactive. As humans he have the capacity to drive any species to the verge of extinction, with that in mind I find it difficult to believe that we cannot find a solution to our invasive species problems.

[your_comforting_company]

"they evidently need to spend more time in the woods and less time behind a desk."
... and then there are the humanitarians, and animal rights activists... I wonder sometimes if they are also all existentialists...

hopefully across the next few years I / we can afford to buy some panels and stuff to start setting up traps. I'm gonna miss the bullfrogs this year. Good eats, but living in feral hog swill / cess, I think I'll gladly decline.

Last weekend we hunted out there. Let 3 does and a yearling walk. Really want to get the hogs OUT before putting pressure on the deer (like they aren't under enough stress with those nasty beasts). Dad popped a shot at the alpha which turned and ran. Don't know if he hit him or not, but didn't find any blood, so likely not. Thing stood almost waist high.
It's gotta go.