British Hogs?

[captdavid]

Much of Texas is full of wild hogs/pigs. The first of these were brought, by the Spanish, in the 16th century and escaped. They have been escaping every since. Most of these were in the eastern part of the state, and throughout the South. They are often referred to as 'piney rooters' or 'razorbacks. There were a few throughout the rest of Texas, but over the last 20-30 years, the population has exploded. Some of this was done on purpose by releasing domestic hogs,, most was, nature. Also during this period pure Russian bores were introduced on game ranches, but many escaped into the wild Lets just say that many hate them and treat them as vermin and others treat them as a game animal. I'm of the latter. In texas, they are considered non game and can be killed just about any way except poison. Most are hunted from stand over bait. There is some spot and stalk. there are also those that are bayed by dogs and shot or knifed.
The most common color is black, which most revert to after several generations, but many color phases exist. They also become shaped as a Russian rather than domestic. Size is dependent upon availability of food. Where I hunt there are few cultivated crops. It is rocky semi-dry land. A large sow or boar will weigh 200-250lbs. The largest I've killed weighed close to 300lbs. Hogs that have readily access to cultivated crops can grow larger.
My preferred method is to hunt from blinds from a couple of hours before dark until a couple of hours after dark using red gun lights. Most of my shots are around 100yds.I generally use my 7x57, 150Partition @ 2700-2800fps. I would not feel comfortable using anything smaller than 6.5 using a tough 140 @ 2600-2700 0r so. That said, hogs are not all that hard to kill if hit correctly, see below. Shoot at the front point of the shoulder. The kill zone there is about the size of a soccer ball The brain is the size of an orange and the neck spine the size of a eggplant.

What is the story of boar hunting in Britian

capt david

Texas Wild Boar Hunting Guide: Behavior, Seasons & Tech Integration

Insights on Texas wild boar behavior, optimal hunting seasons, and the role of technology in hunting, alongside the environmental impact of wild boar on local ecosystems.

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Sniper Hog Lights store

 

[Neoublie1]

I have seen quite a bit of videos of the guys shooting 3 or 4 (if not more) in one night.
Just curious, do you all fill your freezers after, sell the meat or they just get seen as vermin, shoot them and discard the carcass after?
I must be honest if it was me I definitely fill the freezer, that do taste lovely.

Regards
Barry

 

[captdavid]

Me, personally, I only shoot what I intend to eat, exclusive of coyotes. Maybe if they were destroying my property in a big way, I would do differently. I'm a sportsman and consider them game and don't believe that they should be wasted or made to suffer. I treat them with the respect I treat deer, with the exception that I will hunt them after dark, from a blind, with lights. Many 'let them lay,' or haul them off, or shoot them purposely to wound, run off and die. To me these people are not sportsmen. Words such as bloodlust and killers come to mind, certainly not sportsmen, but I'll go no further. sorry to end so negatively, capt david

 

[levigsp]

So, there is a big difference between Europien wild boar and hogs. Hogs have far softer hides shoulders then wild boar. I got the shock of I life when I placed a bullet perfectly on a big boar at 60 mtrs and it physically moved its shoulders and ran of, that was with a 7mm 139gn softpoint. The following day I shot another in the ear and it went down.
When it was skinned and I was shown the shoulders I found out what the problem was, it had two cartilage plates covering the whole shoulder area.
Confirmed when someone produced my boar two days later with my bullet under the skin imbedded in the cartilage. I now use 150s in the 7x64 and 308, but hard bullets and 180s for driven again hard bullets. I love shooting boar and eating them even more.

 

[sharkey]

As a farmer & landowner down here in Oz I hate pigs. I just dont see them as a game species like deer, I just see them as a huge pests. I dont even like shooting them {as for eating them? I dont even touch them with the toe of my boot, disgusting creatures). I give free permission to mates to hunt them, except pig doggers. The worst thing about pigs is the criminal element associated with pig dogging. Whilst I am happy to tolerate a low population of feral pigs I cant tolerate pig doggers & unfortunately have to resort to 1080 often when the poaching from doggers gets too bad. Not the UK but an insight into feral pig hunting & management in Australia.

 

[turner.jc1]

What you refer to as Russian Boar is western European wild boar (Sus scrofa). We or any other part of Europe don’t have feral domestic pig populations to my knowledge. Wild boar are common throughout most of mainland Europe. In the UK Wild Boar were hunted to extinction (as were wolves, bears and beaver to my knowledge). I think wild boar went extinct here about 400 years ago. Our current population is founded on escapees from farms. This escaped stock is wild boar rather than domestic pig however. Wild boar meat became marketable, so specialist farms bred them. Some deliberate release has also played a part. I believe the initial escaped/released boar were liberated in the 1970’s. We only have localised populations of them, they are not wide spread.

They are definitely considered a game animal here, and the meat is eaten. On the continent driven hunting is the norm as I’m sure you know. Here it’s shooting from a high seat. No legal hunting with dogs etc. More people here will hunt boar on the continent than in the UK. So rifles used are generally for driven hunting, i’ve seen calibers from 6.5 to .416 used. Normally its a 308/30-06, guys with a specialist rifle might use an 8mm or 9.3. If still hunting people will just use their deer rifle. Legal limits on the continent require a 6.5 and 140/150 gr bullet minimum from memory, best practice in the UK recommends a .270 minimum.

I’m no expert, I’m sure people can add to the above. But driven boar is a really great hunting experience. It’s exciting, full of interesting tradition, and very social. Quite similar to the the driven bird days we have over here in many ways.

 

[captdavid]

The domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) is obviously close to(Sus scrofa). I suppose closer than dogs are to wolves, as dogs have been domesticated much longer. The general belief I that the longer a domestic hogs bloodline remains wild, the more it reverts too Sus scrofa characteristics. I have seen and shot large 150-200lb hogs that have all the characteristics domestics, including color. I have also shot hogs that are almost universally black with Sus scrofa characteristics. These will both be found in a sounder of pigs. My last trip I saw a sounder of about 15 or so. the largest was predominately white, but was much larger through the front than rear. Where I hunt has very little rain and a really big hog is anything over 200lbs. I have killed mature boars that weigh 125lbs. The protective front shoulder shield on this size is around an inch. The one on my largest, close to 300lbs was about 3". As I've never killed a it Sus scrofa. I have nothing to compare.

These hogs are from an area that has some farming and are larger than the ones I see regularly. Some of these are more domestic, #28, others less so, 32.

 

[turner.jc1]

Yeah they revert to ‘type’ amazingly quickly. And can survive immeditly in the wild from domestiocation. They get longer legs, less body fat, more fur, longer tusks. Feral goats do similar. It’s quite interesting. In terms of body size domestic pigs can be enormous, if these become feral I have no I idea of what what size they can achieve. Food dependant I suppose. A large mature Sus Scrofa boar gets up to around 200 kg (450lbs), this is obviously not what’s normally shot however. All age groups and sexes are hunted, so body weight varries hugely. The Sus scrofa attila that live in Turkey and some Middle East/Balkan countries can get much larger. The fact the pigs live in largely Muslim countries, so have not been hunted for food may play some part? Otherwise its a case of applying Bergmann’s Rule for general body size for sure. They’ll be some monsters in north east Russia.

 

[captdavid]

I am not sure how Bergmann’s Rule applies to US feral Hogs. While I'm certainly no authority, our hogs seem to be restricted to the southern states and the milder parts of California. These are the areas where snowfall is 'spotty.' What I mean by that, is that it snows, but soon melts. The larger pigs in Texas are in the north, but that is the area where there is more crop agriculture, as opposed to more cattle grazing. It's just hard to tell, when the introduction of a domestic pig, intentional or escapee, into the gene pool can change things. capt david

 

[Hunter5567]

I killed Junior December 2017. He had thin juvenile tusks. Mom was rubbing mud on trees 36" off the ground.
Seen plenty under the feeder at 20 yards that I let pass. The hog dog hunters thinned them out so that we see more deer now. I wish I could get them trained to root up my food plots for planting, lol. This is at my hunting club about 25 miles east of Baton Rouge. I have him loaded on my deer cart which got loaded in the back of the pickup. Shot him with my Ruger American 450 Bushmaster rifle. He didn't move after the shot.