Wild hogs, whether they are just feral pigs, Russian black hogs, or razorbacks, will run from you until they don’t. That “don’t” part should concern you. A wounded hog or a protective sow is dangerous. Unless you are an excellent shot, whatever your gun choice, you should only attempt to shoot wild hogs from a protected spot. Standing out in a field and trying to shoot a wild hog could get a little more sporting than you would like.
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People who hunt hogs with dogs often use knives to kill them as you can’t shoot amongst a pack baying a hog without risking killing your dog. A guy I know has a spear, modeled after a medieval boar spear.
I’m surrounded by hunting property. Habitat designed to support white tail deer also supports hogs quite nicely. Deer hunters take some. A couple of years ago, we saw some guys shooting them from a helicopter. It’s quite expensive to do that. Apparently the copter was brought in from Dallas. I want to say it was something like $500/he. for the copter. They were shooting automatic weapons. Supposedly they killed 400 hogs in two days. As far as I’m concerned, hog hunting is the only legitimate civilian use of AR 15 type weapons.
I’ve had two close encounters. One when I was out riding. I came across a herd of around 15-20. I thought they’d move off when they saw the horse. I was wrong. My normally steady eddy horse was having none of it so we went a different way. The second, I was walking with my dogs, a bloodhound and a pit mix down to the end of the public road. It was a nice spring day and I was walking along enjoying the wild flowers, birds and butterflies. The dogs were running around doing dog stuff. Directly, the bloodhound, comes tearing out of the thicket. I hear grunts and squeals coming from the thicket. The pit mix goes to investigate. I turn and start walking as fast as I can praying that Buster doesn’t come running out of the thicket with a herd of hogs on his heels and wondering if I could make it to the hunting cabin that was close by. Buster came out, no hogs following and we all made it home but we dont walk that way any more.
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My son who’s an experienced outdoorsman, was hiking in some Fl. woods with his 2 huge huskies and they encountered
a wild pig who immediately went into defensive/fighting mode and the son got gashed in the melee trying to extracate the
dogs. Several gashes to his leg. He said it was so quick he couldn’t have gotten away to prevent the injury. The dogs were fine. These things can be MEAN.
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My son who’s an experienced outdoorsman, was hiking in some Fl. woods with his 2 huge huskies and they encountered
a wild pig who immediately went into defensive/fighting mode and the son got gashed in the melee trying to extricate the
dogs. Several gashes to his leg. He said it was so quick he couldn’t have gotten away to prevent the injury. The dogs were fine. These things can be MEAN.
Back when I was traveling full time, I thought I’d be sooper smert and go camping in the Sierra Nevadas near Granada, Spain.
I had no clue they had hogs, until I stepped between a sow and her baby, unknowingly because it was pitch black out. I saw hog signs, but didn’t even know they had an issue, so didn’t recognize it as such.
Holy mother of jeebus, you want to talk about packing up fast and getting the hell out of dodge? No wonder they had hard stone camping shelters along the way. I’ve never felt so naked without a firearm, and am glad to be stateside again haha
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well it also sounds like some folks were releasing (domestic??) pigs to increase the number. Which just makes me want to scream… I mean, how selfish can they get?
This is one of those times when the old adage, “Slay them all; let God sort them out” is appropriate.
G.
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I got into a Facebook argument with some mental midget who thought the idea of introducing wild or feral hogs to Montana sounded like a wonderful idea. Why should he pay money for farmed pork at a store when he could go shoot his own (cue eye roll).
This was on an article regarding signs of feral hogs being found on the Canada/Montana border. Idiots abound.
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Can you please link that article, perhaps? I’m seeing some scratching in my pasture that I first thought was dogs covering up their poop. There’s too many and not near any k9 poop piles, so…
Presently there’s nothing here that the hogs might find attractive. I’m just a little freaked out and want to be ahead of the game. Of course, they may be after the rodents that made the old barn into Their Personal Condo. Iv’e never seen so much rat poop in my life… and the SIZE of the poop makes me think that it wasn’t just the snakes who found it a nice drive through diner.
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One of many articles that shows up if you google “feral hogs Montana”
I love how hilarious – and accurate – this description is.
The first time I happened upon feral hog rooting it was impressed upon me that this is an invasive species with serious capacity for destruction.
Sansena, if you google wild hogs you’ll see you’re now in the middle of the state that has the most population of wild hogs in US. Tha’t why hog hunts are big business there in Tx.
We were designated as a wildlife preserve in 1957.
There is no hunting here, has not been since then.
The only way to control feral hogs here is as vermin and the invasive species they are.
Most other places around here have active hunting and feral hogs have become part of it now, but more as shoot any you see, not directly hunting for them as game.
Feral hogs kill our mule deer, antelope, turkeys, pheasants, quail and other hunters are really after, competing with hunters.
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Well, I just found out my FIL has offered anything in his arsenal to me. He’s 75 yrs old and admits he’s not the sharp shooter he once was. Looks like I’m taking a trip toward Dallas to pick up something to handle this porcine problem.
… Had a crush on Chuck Connors in the Rifleman as a kid.
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Just remember not to shoot just standing there.
Be where you can get out of harm’s way if the critter decides to charge you.
They mean business if they attack.
If there are more than one, shoot and stay very still for some minutes and those that run off may just come back to eat the injured/dead ones, giving you more targets, some times several times more before they don’t come back.
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I know you speak the truth, but that’s just disgusting… insertvomitemojiihere. :eek::disgust::uhoh::dead:
The way nature is depicted in all those pretty documentaries is true.
Nature has those moments where the sun is shining and critters are cute and sweet.
Then there is a darker side to that, the dog eat dog side.
That is also part of nature, a raw part, not for the faint of heart.
You don’t have to be part of what disgust you.
Call your neighbor to take care of any feral hogs you see.
May be kinder to the feral hogs if you are not a very good shot.
Little feral hog piglets look like a football with stick legs moving very fast and oh so cute.
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Really, it’s not – it’s efficient. If you are hungry, you eat what’s available. If you don’t get good at this, you die. Meaning you don’t make babies. Which for wildlife, means you die out. If you are a member of a group, the greatest contribution you can make to the group is feeding it.
In addition, most animals that move in groups are not interested in having sick/lame group members remain as part of the group. Anything that slows down the group (a) reduces the group’s foraging efficiency which can lead to death in lean times & (b) may attract predators, which increases the group’s chances of death.
It’s all a matter of perspective. In the struggle to survive, most can’t afford to be picky.
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https://mountainjournal.org/northern-rockies-and-high-plains-brace-for-feral-hog-invasion
Here you go. It seems to be more along the Hiline, with hogs possibly coming down from populations in Canada. It does take a turn into the author’s pet theme of bison and elk management, but ends up relevant to the overall topic.
