1st Pigs! (Hunting)

This weekend was opening day for guns/deer here in GA. About 3 pm on Sat I heard my step-son, Kris, shoot. Waited a minute, flicked on the radio to confirm. Yep, he'd shot at a hog down in the swamp. A few minutes later, he called for help to find it. After quite a while of not seeing any blood, hair or dead pigs, we wandered out. As there was still a bit of light left, and everybody else was hunting far away, we decided to walk the loop road. Right past the "shelf stand" there at 33, we heard something inside the loop. Easing along, Kris motioned to stop and pointed up an old trail. There was a pig 10-15 yards out walking right at us, he raised his rifle, then I noticed another pig back about 80 yards. The front one saw us, stopped (and did something like [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] ) then took a 7 mag in the head. This casued the back one to take note, and as I was beading in, Kris & I shot one after another. The pig jumped forward, and I wound up with a gut shot - Yutz! Anyhow, it was great fun, and a special thanks to Freddie for staying late and giving a lesson to us all on carving up a pig! In fact, we just ate some backstrap off the grill - mmm, mmm, Good!!

Those two pigs look like just the right size for eating. We went hog hunting in the Trinity River bottom in southeast Texas several years ago with a neighbor's "hog dog," which was a pit bull. The dog would find 'em and hold 'em by the ear until we could get to them. We shot two about that size in one afternoon and had to use a belt to tie to the dog to keep him from running off and finding a third one!

So there we were, the three of us toting two 100 lb. pigs and one .22 rifle through the woods and hanging on to an excited dog at the same time. And me, I was clutching at my pants to boot to keep them from falling to my ankles because it was my belt that was used to restrain the dog! We had our hands full that day.

We butchered both pigs and put one, the whole thing, on a smoker that afternoon and froze the other for a later date. Talk about some good eating! I'll take a young tender pig over a tough ol' full grown hog any day...

A few months later the hog dog ended up being killed by a tough, tusked old boar that was more than his match.

GREAT STORY!

The vice commander of the 810th Strategic Aeorspace Division (450 MRV'ed Minute Man ICBM's, three squadrons of B-52-H bombers, three squadrons of KC-135 tankers, etc.) had a weimeraner (sp) A well behaved dog who would go get in his basket in the corner of the colonel's living room when told quietly to do so. The colonel told me when he was stationed in Turkey that some of the Turkish officers would go out on horseback and hunt boar with a lance. The colonel wasn't a horseman so he got a "native" gun bearer to carry a serious big game rifle while the colonel carried a shotgun (for close up self defense) and took the dog. They got the first boar they saw and the colonel was so impressed with the dog that on several subsequent hunts he took just the dog and a .22 pistol. Maybe it was luck but the dog didn't show any signs of damage. Until he told me that story, I was unaware that those dogs were "pig" dogs.

I've never shot a pig. I was invited on a bow hunt in a fairly brushy area (I was to be the safety man, armed with whatever I thought appropriate). I chose an M1 carbine with back to back extended magazines. Never fired a shot, never brought the weapon to bear. Three arrows were loosed into two good sized boar and they never got too close to anyone.

We have no wild pigs and don't have a feral pig problem here so I can only enjoy the hunt vicarioulsy through the words of others. Thanks for sharing.

Patrick

Pat,

No feral hogs in your neck of the woods, huh? I figured Oklahoma would have as many wild hogs as Texas and Arkansas. I have seen websites advertising feral hog hunts in Texas and charging folks to come and hunt them. Some folks in Ark. will let you come and kill as many as you like for free just to rid them off their land. Some landowners shoot them and leave them to rot in the field. They have no use for them and consider them to be worthless and a nuisance because they tear up the land.

<font color="blue"> They have no use for them and consider them to be worthless and a nuisance because they tear up the land</font color>

You got that right!!! Although they do make good eating, they are DEFINITELY a huge problem for landowners and you can only butcher so many.

Lots of folks don't realize the type of problems feral hogs cause or look down on those who don't butcher every hog they "get." The feral hog population has gotten so out of control over the years that the impact is significant not only on man (destroyed crops, screwed up fences, dead livestock, etc.) but hogs cause a significant detrimental on native wildlife as well.

Talk with any TPWD biologist and although most like to BBQ "Porky," their major concern is thinning/elimination of them because of the wildlife impact. Hogs will drive off deer (yes, they even attack/kill fawns), can decimate quail or turkey (or any other ground-dwelling critters), and can cause real problems in native food supplies.

As a matter of fact, most folks who apply with the State of Texas for a Wildlife Management Ag Exemption are urged by TPWD to put in "Predator Control" measures when it comes to feral hogs because they have such a negative impact on the wildlife.

Hogs breed like rabbits (well, almost. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ) One day about a week ago I ran across 4 sows with 22 (yes, I counted them) piglets running around my place. A few days before that I came across 10 hogs at the tank (no piglets - different markings - different pigs). Looking at them, I estimated they all weighed about 200-250 lbs. Being only 50 yards away from them when they all crested the tank's dam at the same time and staring at 2000+ lbs. of pork made me a bit "uncomfortable." [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

I'm very much a "eat what you kill" type of fellow, but when it comes to hogs, based on their numbers, their breeding characteristics, their detrimental effect on native wildlife populations, them making me spend my time mending fences &amp; tearing up my land, and of course, the limited size of my freezer, "predator control" isn't necessarily bad or unethical.

None with 4 legs that are legal to shoot that I am aware of so far.

Patrick

Hmmm. I won't touch that one! [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img]