Wild Hogs along the road.

[EddieWalker]

I was just about home today, and passing in front of the property that is next to mine. I'm always watching for animals along the road, and have seen hogs in the area before, but never with a camera handy.

There are four of them for sure, but there might be as many as seven. It was hard to keep track as they came out of the trees and the back again.

Eddie

 

[Stimw]

Sooo, What's for dinner?
Have you seen a stupid show on Discovery about over population of wild hogs?
I know a dozen Rednecks that could have the population well under control with just a couple NASCAR races to watch!

 

[czechsonofagun]

Hmm, I was expecting bikers on Harleys.

 

[RobS]

I took out a raccoon the other day, which took out the front spoiler on my car. I can't imagine what one of those would do to a car.

 

[Thomas]

Wildlife on the road side can fine tune ones driving,moose are now visiting road sides here for greens and road side satl water holes...those buggers sure can make you think twice as one passes slowly by from there cold stare.

 

[mbohuntr]

I love sausage and bacon....

 

[SkyPup]

I love sausage and bacon....

But NOT splattered all over the front of your automobile, even worse for a motorcyclist!

Those porkers are very dangerous, especially at night.

 

[Oleozz]

Thank goodness we don't have them in this area yet, I run dogs about every day and would hate to have an encounter with a wild pig.

 

[EddieWalker]

I took out a raccoon the other day, which took out the front spoiler on my car. I can't imagine what one of those would do to a car.

I've seen a few road kills on the road in front our my place, and also around in the area. Some of them are several hundred pounds. With their legs being low to the ground, I wonder if it's worse or better then hitting a deer. The deer seem to take out the grill of a car and maybe a quarter panel. I've never heard of seen the damage that a hog does to a car.

Here's a pic from a few years ago of a road kill in front of my place. It's probably 300 yards from where the picture of those hogs was taken last night.

That group of hogs is the fourth time this year that I've seen hogs on the side of the road. I'm averaging a siting of once a month!!!

Eddie

 

[Thumper & Buttercup]

Hey Eddie,

I've got a friend that lives south of San Antiono and they have some of the big ones down there, two months ago a large truck hit one and killed it right there.

He said it sat there for a couple days and they called the county, they came out and saw how big it was and called in a tractor to bury it on site. We'll they did not do a call before digging the the tractor guy took out all the phone lines for the area, he did keep going and had the hog buried tho.

 

[jinman]

I was just about home today, and passing in front of the property that is next to mine. I'm always watching for animals along the road, and have seen hogs in the area before, but never with a camera handy.

There are four of them for sure, but there might be as many as seven. It was hard to keep track as they came out of the trees and the back again.

Eddie

So, do you think they may have just been thumbin' a ride to Longview or Dallas?

In Decatur, TX they are having a youth fair and auction at the fair grounds. Last Saturday night somebody let the animals out of the pen and they had horses, cattle, and big steers wandering around on the highway and in people's yards. Here's a link to that story.

Youth Fair animals escape

 

[tanglefoot]

Eddie,
I live 80 miles northwest of Tyler, and wild hogs have been a problem here for 15 years or so. They root up hay meadows and destroy a lot of forage. Up until this year, they have confined their movement to nighttime, but lately lots of people are seeing them in the daytime. I guess that's a sign that the population is increasing.
Butch

 

[two_bit_score]

I don't know if you have experienced the damage that hogs can do to a pasture - or any property for that matter. But, it's NOT pretty after they get through with it. They can also destroy a pond or lake dam over time by wallowing out behind the dam until it starts leaking and finally gives in, so I am told. Haven't actually experienced that or seen it but it sounds possible from what I have seen.

I have seen pastures that would be hard to drive a tractor through after hogs had enough time in them.

You do not want to hit a hog with your vehicle. They are solid and don't 'give' like a small animal or deer. I think a hog might be as dangerous to hit as a cow- or worse maybe.

 

[aaron9161]

I trapped 36 hogs in my backyard last fall. I kept 3 of the little ones and now they are BBQ size.

 

[two_bit_score]

I trapped 36 hogs in my backyard last fall. I kept 3 of the little ones and now they are BBQ size.

Hope you enjoy! I'm told they are good when properly prepared and cooked.

They ones we've trapped have, mostly, been given to others who want the meat.

 

[aaron9161]

I did give the others away, I just thought I would keep some for the freezer. Next time I will keep a big one, they are less work.

I can't seem to trap the boars. I know there have to be a few out there cause of the ones that I trapped, 30 of them were piglets.

 

[two_bit_score]

From what I've seen mostly sows and pigs run together. Sometimes you might catch a boar in the trap but usually just one at a time.

We have caught 10 small pigs in our trap at once. No sow just the ten pigs.

Have you ever looked at texasboars.com? Good website on hog trapping and hunting.

 

[aaron9161]

The weekend before Thanksgiving, ! had 3 sows and 17 piglet in the trap.

The guy I borrowed the trap from came and got it a few weeks ago so I need to build my own. They won't be bad around my house until the fall although, I did see one in the back yard the other night and she looked pretty large.

 

[jayste]

We've got the critters here in Oklahoma as well. Like Two Bit Score said they are detrimental to farm land as well and wildlife habitat. This sounds a little a harsh but if you want to control them you'll have to concentrate on the breeding age animals, even wet sows. Taking out one wet (pregnant) sow will usually mean taking out at least 10-12 of them. Of course, even the little ones will have to go eventually due to the obvious. I can vouch for the taste of them. I've harvested a few of them and have had buddies bring me quarter here and there. I smoke mine on the smoker. The first one I smoked- I came home from work the next day and 3 teenage girls of mine had it half ate like a pack of coyotes on a deer carcass! Good luck with controlling them.

Hey, aaron9161, what part of Jacksonville are you? I used to have folks that lived in Mandarin and we lived for a while in Orange Park. We used to see deer all over that city. They seemed a little small but deer non the less.

 

[EddieWalker]

We've been known to harvest a few of them ourselves. My wife never hunted or even shot a gun before we met. What I find funny about that is her dad is a police chief, he hunts, her brother hunts, her uncle and a bunch of cousins all hunt, but no girls. I taught her how to shoot. We started out with a Ruger 10/22 at first, which she became VERY good at. I shot expert in the Marine Corps, I've hunted around the world and consider myself to be a good shot. She's allot better then I am.

Her first hog came after talking to me in the shop after work and then seeing them come out to the feeder. She had never shot anything bigger then a .22, so she wasn't afraid of a bigger caliber. That was my plan from the beginning. Teach her to shoot, and then just give her the 30-06 for her first kill. It worked out great. She dropped that hog with one shot and never felt the recoil.

She's killed five hogs now, and has become picky on what she shoots. She likes to shoot the big boars. We've sat and watched family groups feed and even crawled up on them to withing bow range, but just watched and waited for a big boar to show up.

She's also killed one coyote. But so far, she hasn't taken a deer. We don't have very many deer on our land and it's very rare to see them here. I don't really understand it, but the state biologist that I've spoken to say that there is about one deer per 40 acres in our area. We have 68 acres, so that's sort of the problem there.

I've shot quite a few hogs and don't have any idea of how many. It's now just something that I do every now and then if we want one to eat, or it's a problem animal that's eating our bird seed in the front yard. This has happened a few times and I shot one saw 25 feet from our front door!!!

Eddie