Feral Pig Hunting

Discussion in 'Turf and Surf Hunting and Fishing' started by NVBeav, Jul 3, 2009.


  1. NVBeav

    NVBeav Monkey+++

    Found a link to this article on the sigarms556.com message board:
    http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2009/04/hogzilla_local_couple_slays_fo.html

    Wish we had this problem in Nevada -- we'd be in the bacon year-round!

    Evidently, as long as you have a hunting license, you can take as many hogs as you want. One interesting item mentioned was that Missouri must kill 70% of the feral pig population yearly just to keep the herd in check.
     
  2. Minuteman

    Minuteman Chaplain Moderator Founding Member

    We have never had a feral problem around my place until the last few years. The poulation is exploding and they are getting bigger and more aggressive. They have killed two 800 pounders with 3" tusks within a couple of miles of my place this year. The rancher down the road from me was chased up a tree by a large sow while out looking for a calf. I don't go out on my property anymore without protection.

    There was a good documentary on cable, don't remember which channel, called "Hog Bomb". It theorized that escaped Russian boars from hunting ranches in Texas had mated with domestic hogs to create a new super hog.

    I have a friend who lives in NW Texas. He said they were killing them from helicopters and that they had killed 4000 in one month. He said the birds feeding on the carcasses looked like storm clouds.
    The bacon isn't worth the danger and destruction that comes with them. Be glad it's a problem you don't have.
     
  3. NVBeav

    NVBeav Monkey+++

    That's incredible news. At 800 lbs they probably don't have too many preditors, and fences wouldn't be much use in keeping them out of your back yard.

    I was just reading that pigs start breeding at between 8 to 18 months and have litters of between 6 to 12 piglets. It makes sense that they'd become a problem in a short time.

    This guy shoots them in his back yard with his Sig 556; the whole thread was really interesting. He mentions that he just buries the ones that are too big -- evidently they don't taste very good after they reach a certain size.
     
  4. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Bring back the cougars.
     
  5. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    They really are a problem in Texas, I have killed a few, the biggest was between 400-500 lbs. Big boar. I hit him in the shoulder plate with a 140 gr. .270, it knocked him down, but then he popped back up, and took off running. He slowed down when he went through a barb wire fence, that enabled me to get another shot that was above the plate and angled down into his lungs as I was about twenty feet above him. He made it about 20 yds. after he went through a barb wire fence. When we skinned him out, I saw that the first shot actually gourged out a piece of the shoulder plate but did not penetrate the couple of inches thick shoulder plate. This rascal looked 100% Russian boar. Nasty animal with big tusks. Scary as hell up close and personal.
     
  6. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    How was the bacon?
     
  7. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    One thing that I have noticed about killing wild hogs is that if you take them clean and fast, they taste much better. I shot one once and broke his shoulder but he ran and hid in a thicket for a while and I had to walk up on him to put him down. The meat had a very strong unpleasant taste that others told me was a result of adrenaline from being wounded and stalked. Threw most of it away.
    A freind of mine catches them with a mastiff, duct-tapes them and brings them home to put in a pen on feed for a couple weeks before he kills them. Once in a while, Phillip has had to dispatch them when caught and he always gives those away because they taste so strong.
     
  8. moosiah

    moosiah Monkey++

    I live in sonoma county, we have some nutballs that hunt pigs up in Mendocino county w knives and dogs.... no thanks .give me a big rifle or a .44 stoked w heavy bullets..... Pigs are a big problem in monterey county ,they can rototill 35 acres of lettuce in 1 night
     
  9. jim2

    jim2 Monkey+++

    Wild hogs are the reason I don't shoot cougars any more. I love the young small pigs, and they are great on the pit. We all need to kill as many as possible.

    jim
     
  10. Minuteman

    Minuteman Chaplain Moderator Founding Member


    That is a side effect of the increased pig population that we are just starting to see. The cougar numbers are increasing also. They are in our area but have always been sparse and reclusive. I have only seen a handful in my entire life. But recently they are being seen nearly every week. We have a "Black Panther" roaming around my area now. Yes I know they are not Panthers, just what the locals call them. They are a color mutation in the cougars that is very rare. One of the handful of cougars I have ever seen in this area was a black one that was killed near my home when I was a kid. The one roaming our area has been seen by my wife and by several of our nieghbors.
     
  11. Andy the Aussie

    Andy the Aussie Monkey+++ Founding Member

    Lots of feral hogs here, we can kill 'em to our hearts content (in fact we are encouraged to). Chopper culling has been used here since the 80s for hogs and goats and more recently camels.

    Andy
     
  12. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    How you cook a camel; aside from smoking it?
     
  13. Andy the Aussie

    Andy the Aussie Monkey+++ Founding Member

    BBQ or Roast I am told. I have eaten a little but never cooked it myself.

    Andy[dunno]
     
  14. mage2

    mage2 Monkey+++

    Well i am going to get my first chance to hunt soon , hunting piggies in NE texas.
    The owner got treed by a heard.
    im going to help lower the population while filling my freezer :) works out for me.
    now just to find somewhere i can hunt deer.
     
  15. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Good find Mage2. What part of NETX?
     
  16. mage2

    mage2 Monkey+++

    near farmsville, .. i think. , will post after i go with pics and such.
    im headed out end of next week for the weekend. hoping to fill my freezer and bloody my rifles.
     
  17. mage2

    mage2 Monkey+++

    Because im new to hunting and piggies have a reputation of being tough, What do you all use to take piggies? I am not trying to start a argument on any of the fan boy stuff.
    Just wondering what you would use.
    From what i understand everything from a .177 pellet gun to a howitzer has been claimed.
    Im bringing a 30.06 ATR, my AK and my 45 ACP on my hip.
    Currently i have 150 grain corelok and 150 grain federal somethings. I will be making some more also. the 45 I have 230 FMJ as backup.

    what say you?
     
  18. Andy the Aussie

    Andy the Aussie Monkey+++ Founding Member

    If you use anything other than a sticking knife (OK as you are new to it a spear is acceptable) we will laugh at you .... ;)

    I would say as many hogs are taken out here with a knife as are with rifles. It is a big business as the hogs are sold (at a per KG rate) to buyer who export them to Europe. We all then buy them back as sausages etc ...!!!

    Andy
     
  19. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    The .30-06 and the AK will work fine. The .45 will also work as I have killed a hog with one myself. .270, .300 Win. Mag and .45 I have used them all on hogs with success.
     
  20. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    I guess there are two questions needing answer before picking a gun.
    A) Over dogs?
    B) Range?

    Then again, I've never hunted piggies. Sure do like eating pork, tho'.
     
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