Pigs in TX

[pepaw]

Anyone lately been out to their lease?
Pigs populations have really taken off. I blame the nice, wet spring we have enjoyed.

Can anyone tell me how old these mature boars are that have the big teeth?
The average boar we see is 150+ lbs with small thin teeth.

I understand turkey and deer growth rates, but not wild hogs.

pepaw

[Altjaeger]

I have not been out but hearing more reports along the rivers from the kayakers.

[Bushman]

How common is it that there are a lot of hogs killed by cars down in the hog filled states? I've seen car killed deer, moose, bear and coyotes, but I never hear much about hogs. There was a National news story out of TX. last week where some guy hit a hog and really wrecked his truck and his daughter had to pulled to safety out of the back window. Hogs don't see very well I'm told and since they can be dark colored and active at night, I'd think that it would be a big problem on the roads as their numbers increase. Do you see more hogs or car killed deer along the road?

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I'd take to the bar ditch to keep from hitting a hog. Very destructive.

Alan

[Unclebuck257]

About three years ago, I was driving from west of Ft Worth Texas to Wichita Falls, Texas, on Hwy 287, the main highway for that trip. Now, if you aren't familiar with it, Hwy 287 is a 4 lane highway, with two wide lanes in each direction (north and south), with a wide grass median in many sections of it. It also has wide shoulders on each side too. Traffic was moving at a steady 70-75 mph, and was fairly heavy in patchy spots.

I was at the rear of one of the "groups" of rather heavy traffic, when from the corner of my left eye I saw movement. I looked and it was a VERY large boar running from the woods towards Hwy 287 as fast as he could. I then saw an entire family of pigs behind him, about 15 in all. They were all running as fast as they could on an angle towards Hwy 287. I passed where they would cross the highway on the angle they were running and watched in my rear view mirror as this entire group of pigs ran across Hwy 287 behind me. The vehicles in the "group" traveling north on Hwy 287 behind me got a little advance notice since the pigs had to cross the south bound lanes before crossing the median and then eventually the north bound lanes. I watched as the cars and pickups behind me swerved and braked to avoid hitting any of them. Even the big 18 wheelers (2 of them) were trying, and did, swerve to miss hitting any of those pigs. Ironically, not one of those pigs was hit by any vehicles, but people sure did all they could to avoid contact. Of the 15 or so pigs total, I'd say about 5-6 of them were young pigs and the rest looked like full grown. mature sows and boars. They were all running at full speed and man, could they move fast!

Yup, hitting one of those big ones can sure put a hurt on your vehicle, especially at 70-75 mph!

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

The trouble with hitting hogs with a vehicle is that they go under the vehicle, roll, tear stuff up and can take the wheels off the ground. On big ones it's all physics and it's going to cause lots of damage. I have never seen but have heard of smaller ones rolling up into the wheel well and taking the wheel and some of the suspension completely out. "Ranch Hand" sells lots of grill guards in Texas.

Alan

[stxhunter]

went this morning to get a hog and only saw deer, go figure its usually the other way around

[Bushman]

There is a new show on cable called "Hogs Gone Wild" and it featured Texas and Florida on the show that I saw last week. These guys go out and trap one pig, or run one down with dogs and tie it up and make a big deal out of it like they are saving the world. Two guys, a pack of dogs and a camera crew seems like a gross over investment in labor to catch one hog at a time. It probably needs to be photographically sanitized for the general audience and just seems like a waste of effort compared to what one guy with a semi-auto rifle could do to a pig population.

What seems to be the most cost effective way of getting rid of these pigs? It sure looks like a ready source of protein to this observer.

[Bushman]

I watched that series again last night and the ineptness of these guys makes me want to vomit. The guy shoots one with a bow for what ever reason, then goes into the brush in the dark on his hands and knees with a machete then when he finds the dead pig, doesn't have a compass so he doesn't know which way to drag it. That after he cuts the dead pig's throat to bleed it. Right, like that is going to work. He just shot it with an arrow and followed it's blood trail. Or four guys and three dogs to catch and hog tie up one pig and the dog gets gored in the stomach and they kill the pig with a knife anyway. Aren't they killing these pigs once they have them tied up back in the truck? They wouldn't dare bring them somewhere and release them would they? Over and over they say one down and two million to go. They show trail cam pictures under a feeder of a dozen. Don't guys that are serious about getting rid of their pig problem use night vision and a suppressed rifle?

[Dennis Keith]

I watched some of that as well, and the fella that used the bow was in Hawaii. Perhaps their gun laws do not permit serious pig eradication efforts, as it may be the only game animal around. Don't forgrt, those episodes were FILMED FOR THE TELEVISION AUDIENCE, and that always changes everything. I like the Night Vision and supressed rifles, especially if you can put the surpressor onto a serious pig killing caliber. As old Marty said after one outing in Australia"If I'ld known there were so many pigs around I might have opted for something BELT FED." But then he did have access to belt fed at the time so maybe he was serious. Made a great afternoon of story telling anyway.

[Bushman]

I've only shot a suppressed .22 LR and as I understand it, to fully suppress the sound of a cartridge it needs to be traveling at less than the speed of sound which is 1,116.437 fps. "Especially if you can put the suppressor onto a serious pig killing caliber." What do you think that might be? Pouring over my ballistics charts, I see that about the strongest cartridge, with the biggest bullet getting close to that fps number would be the .45 Long Colt with a 225 grain bullet at 960 fps. I've heard that pigs are not that hard to kill with a head shot and that their skulls are fairly soft. Maybe that .300 Whisper wildcat round that I see advertised as some of the deer culling operations use that one I'm told.

[Unclebuck257]

I saw that same series on TV. That guy in Hawaii couldn't shoot that pig with anything but a bow because of their gun laws in general there and the neighborhood the pig was in specifically.

As far as that idiot then crawling into that high, bent over, undergrowth to retrieve that pig...that he wasn't even sure was dead, was one of the stupidest things I have ever seen on TV and I hope inexperienced hog hunters don't see that and think wherever they are hunting wild hogs, if they wound a big one, that they can just go into the high weeds after it. Truthfully, I was waiting for a wounded pig to attack that idiot when he was on his hands and knees crawling on his belly in those weeds. All I could think at that point was, "you deserve it, you fool!!" They have large tusk like teeth for a reason and they will use them on you when they're PO'd, especially after YOU shoot and wound them! They are smart animals and they can and will attack and kill you with precision, if given a chance.

First, those large teeth cut the tendons in your leg with one good shot, as you're running away from it, so you can't run. Now you're down on the ground with the pig and you're hurting like he is. Hopefully, you have a round left to shoot and kill him, and you can shoot straight enough at that point to kill him. Otherwise he can and will finish his job on you, which in his mind is killing you!

I just wish that series, that made it look so easy as to say that any idiot could do it, and used super idiots in Florida to prove that point, would have warned about the many serious dangers of hunting these animals.