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Wild Hogs/Pigs
nunn
Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 36,085 ******
Last week, we were driving on FM 68 in Fannin County, when we saw two wild pigs just off the side of the road. These were juvenile pigs, maybe 60-75 pounds each.
We stopped to take a look and spooked the pigs, and they ran away. When they ran, their BABIES, which had been pretty well camouflaged in the grass, jumped up and ran too.
Those two pigs couldn't have been more than a few months old, but they had both managed to reproduce.
We have a problem.
Comments
It's a serious problem.
The things you see when you don't have a gun. Guessing they're always in season (pardon the pun.)
... David, I have a buddy with a ranch up in Ector, a tad SE of Bonham...the hogs have made it that far north already...they have been all over his place (1,050 ac.) for at least 6-7 years now. They have a lot piglets I guess... They'll, root up a pasture or planted field overnight, theyre really destructive little bast**!
...Hunt and shoot all you want, no limit on those critters...just big pests.
I always have a gun, but the pigs were on someone else's property inside a fence. Hunting on the property of another without permission is a crime. Shooting from a roadway is also a crime. We have some silly messed up game laws in Texas. If you want to see what I mean, check out "Lone Star Law" on Animal Planet. I get that a lot of what the Game Wardens do is important and necessary, but a lot of it is feather-legged.
..." Hunting on the property of another without permission is a crime", yeah buddy! In Texas you can be tossed in jail and a huge fine for that.
...I didnt mean shoot the ones you saw..:), just any where you can legally shoot...kill all those suckers you can...last I heard several years ago we have 2-3 million here in Texas...lots of bacon and ham!..:)
In Texas it is illegal to move a snake off the road so it will not be run over. I have never moved a member of Texas Parks and wildlife off the road to protect them.
Do the hogs taste like farm raised pork?
I hope you can keep them there.
They are bad here in SC. Open season yr round... Day or night.
Young sows are fine but boars need to be made into sausage.
I know y'all have weird wildlife laws in Texas. This is weird because, all in all, Texas has fewer laws than other states.
For example, in Texas you can ride a motorcycle without a helmet. Can't do that here in North Carolina.
However, I almost had a run in with the weird Texas laws. I hit a big beautiful 8 point buck on I 10 east of San Antonio while driving the 18 wheeler. Hit him in the butt and just busted up both rear legs. He was still alive but he couldn't stand up, and I cut his throat with my buck knife. Buck knife, get it.
Anyway, my truck was still driveable but dispatch wanted a police report. It was 3 am. I called the cops and a deputy came out. He didn't even fill out the form he just handed it to me for me to fill out. Working deer wrecks is boring, I guess.
And as the was about to drive off, I told him I was just going to cut out the back straps and be on my way. I had a big cooler in that truck with 10 pounds of fresh ice in it and I was thinking of how good those back straps would be. 15 pounds of boneless deer steak. The cop, who had been real friendly up to that point, gave me a funny look and said "Don't let Game and Fish see you doing that. I gotta go, good bye and good luck." And he left.
And I inferred that it was illegal to cut steaks off a dead deer in Texas. What in the world? When I lived in central Georgia the cops were happy for you to grab up a road kill deer and haul him off. On more than one occasion I had a deputy help me to load the road kill deer into my pickup.
NO!!!
Combat Vet VN
D.A.V Life Member
The gilts and the sows will be fine eating if they haven't been feeding on something nasty. The boars?? I was in a hog mans house one morning years ago and just about gagged. "Bo what the blank is that smell?? Bo said bacon offin a boar I butchered because he got to mean to work around!!" Bo's whole house stunk. No way I could have eaten that boar bacon. Really, really nasty smell.
HELL NO. Coyote bait .
We had some in southern Il. and reported to Depart. Of Conservation. They actually came out and God is my witness had a helo running the pigs out of the draws they were in and shooting them from the sky with a Ruger Mini 30. I witnessed it and was hoping one would run my way and the old AR would light up. They got 18 that afternoon and haven't seen any sense.
My buddies and I shot a lot of wild hogs in Georgia. They lived in the Oconee River swamp. The meat off of a 95 pound female is the best meat I ever ate. Cook that ham on the smoker for 10 hours with pecan wood, mmmm good. Less fat that commercial pork and a wonderful flavor.
On the other hand my buddy killed a giant 420 pound boar. That meat was inedible. I threw a sausage patty to the dog and he whimpered and ran the other way. Nasty.
I killed a 110 pound boar one day and that meat was OK. Edible but not as good as a sow.
Good to eat? By all means, yes! "IF" it is a young boar or a sow under 150 pounds. The meat is leaner than domestics, but hasn't got a "wild" flavor. We make a lot of sausage and smoke the hams and loins. Ribs are usually too lacking in meat.
I hunt on a 6000 acre lease here in South Arkansas, where we are plagued by hogs, so none get a pass if we are there. One member shot a big boar yesterday morning. Too big and stinky to eat, but the buzzards needed feeding.
There is a reason all commercially raised boars are castrated shortly after birth . One whiff is all it takes .
In addition to a hog problem, we have a deer problem.
Darwin was spot on. Masses of deer as well as hogs are relocating inside or close to cities and small towns where food is plentiful plus they dont have to work to hard for it. There are also "Do Gooders" who feed them every day.
What's next: Yards and gardens destroyed overnight.
Consider yourself lucky if you live in a state where "In city" hunts are legal.
My Father and I eat what we shoot and we shoot a lot of hogs. The quality of the meat has a great deal to do with what the hogs are eating and their age. On my property in Junction they eat a lot of the cattle feed from the neighbors ranch. They get big faster and have more than normal amounts of fat. The meat is very good even on a larger boar. I do prefer a 100-130 Lb boar or a sow of the same size especially if she has not had piglets yet. There is enough fat on these pigs that I don't need to add any when making sausage and often have some left over to make lard with. We have shot hogs that were living a much harder life in the past and there was no fat and the meat was tough. Proper handling of the meat is essential.
I wonder if the wolves keep them in check?
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
More likely a mountain lion in Texas. They have no real natural predators so we are over run with them.