This story on cnn.com, about an 11-year-old boy who killed a boar weighing 1051 pounds during a hunting trip, got me to wondering just how large a pig – wild or domestic – could actually grow given good health and all it can eat. The beast in the photos is mindbogglingly huge, especially in the photo gracing the local paper’s story. (Warning – shows two bullet holes in boar’s body, kinda icky.)
The boy’s father has put up a website dedicated to the kill and the aftermath, by the way.
I saw an AP article on this, but every single photo on their site looks absurdly photoshopped. They say it was independently confirmed by an “investigative journalist” and link to a fake looking news story on their own site…
I saw that on CNN too, and I am skeptical. Until we get some independent third-party confirmation that this is really a huge pig and not a photoshopped hoax, I will remain skeptical…
From the link you posted (very high-quality web site, by the way)… this photo looks altered.
And this article says that a taxidermist has verified the pigs size, but the reporter didn’t see it… “because the hog is in post-processing mode…” Hmm. Don’t you think they could have had an independent person see it before it was dismembered? hmmm, how convenient…
Well, I see a couple cites of pigs a lot bigger. This one is 1600 pounds. This one in China is 1980 pounds
I went to undergrad at UC Davis and our dormitories were out in the boondocks near the pig pens. Well, it stunk like hell on some days and there were some huge fucking pigs there. I’ll bet there were some that weighed close to 1000 pounds. Unbelievable huge. If you go to a county fair somewhere near pig raising country you will see some unimaginably enormous pigs.
Yes I noticed that… there is a link from the main page that says “Jamison’s Hog has been confirmed by investigative reporter,” that links to an article that is a page within the monsterpig.com domain but that is designed to look like you’re reading a page from the “Anniston Star” web site.
And the article is written by “Bran Strickland, Star Sports Editor,” (not an investigative journalist) and is titled “Hog heaven: Taxidermist confirms monster pig,” - again, not an investigative journalist confirming it.
Yes I agree, those photos look photoshopped. I can’t believe CNN has picked this up. If CNN is going to cover this story, they should, at the very least, find a biologist to comment on if its even possible for a wild pig to get that big. And then ask to see the carcass in person.
Hold up. In the pics this animal has a dark gray/black looking coat. It looks very much like the Russian Boar which was introduced to the US. As has been cited above, domestic hogs can approach weights of 2000 lbs. Why not a wild hog? Wild hogs have become a nuisance here and the game wardens are always eager to talk about having them harvested. As a matter of fact, wild hogs can be hunted year-round in Mississippi.cite.
Domestic hogs can get very heavy.
That’s big for a feral pig running around but I’m a titchy bit surprised at the skepticism expressed upthread. Of course it’s legit. Maybe not down to the pound and inch but certainly ballpark. It’s not as if this size pig is an unheard-of one-off; ask any pig farmer. “Investigative journalist” and “independent third-party confirmation” my a$$. This is Alabama for goodness’ sake. You guys need to get out of the city. 
Their website has all the earmarkings of a home creation by gentle, sincere folk whose sense of significance is advanced by such a trophy. I admit I would have shot the sucker in a heartbeat but I must say I think pumping it full of poorly-aimed rounds from a revolver–even a .50 caliber–over 3 hours is a slow and unfair way to “harvest” it. It’s big, fat and ugly, sure, but even my cynical bones believe in a clean kill, even for items that need killin’.
In their defense, Dad and Junior look like they eat as heartily as their prey did. Perhaps the thought of that much bacon temporarily skewed their judgment on how best to git 'r done.
Considering Junior is supposedly in 6th grade, perhaps he’s been photoshopped as well?
Why did the kid have a pistol on a hunting trip?
I thought that was rather odd too.
My first thought was “What in the hell did he kill it with”?
My father bought (and later gave to me) a .356 lever action carbine. No, not a .357. This is a necked up .308.
It’s basically a brush gun. Made to be used at relatively close distances in heavy woods or brush.
Conjecture……
I would guess that it would not be that strange to hunt wild boar with a hand gun. Distances are short, the boar are actually pretty fast and shots would have to be taken fast.
And it was a .50 revolver, which would put Dirty Harry to shame.
City slicker, ain’t ya?
It’s actually fairly popular to hunt with pistols, as an addtional macho factor. Some of the machoness is lost on me when I see videos of guys shooting a dog-treed cougar with a pistol…
Though technically a boar, and technically dangerous, this is still basically just a big farm pig, set free. Dad was there with the backup high-powered rifle, and the pistol was fitted with a scope for more accuracy. From what I read into the story it was a matter of tracking it down, plugging it intermittently, and finally putting it down for good at point-blank range after 8 or 9 shots over three hours.
If Junior didn’t get an “A” for the 6th grade show 'n tell, then he got cheated.
[tangent]
I happened to run into the local pig farmer at the feed store here in Exurbia a couple of weeks ago, and we got to chatting. He breeds and raises piglets to sell mostly to boutique farmers who do all-natural specialty organic farming, rather than factory-farming swine. He mentioned then that his boars can be up to 900 pounds – in the context of talking about how friendly his pigs are, and how freaky it looks to have a 900-pound boar trotting (waddling?) up to you to get a good scritching. Of course, he’s got a limited number of hogs, living in a big enough enclosure that they can keep themselves clean, so it’s easy for him and his family to give the pigs lots of attention and affection.
He also has cows, horses, chickens, and I don’t know what all else, but he says pigs are his favorite animals and that they’re smarter than dogs. Having seen a display of his piglets at the annual agricultural fair a few years ago, I’m here to tell ya that piglets are amazingly cute and adorable, even when it’s in person, not just starring in silly movies.
I can’t get his website to respond at all, but I found the photo elsewhere. I don’t know whether it’s Photoshopped, but it certainly looks like the kid is kneeling a fair distance behind the animal (and not actually resting his arms on top of it), using the perspective to make him appear smaller and the hog bigger.
The relevant question, though, is how big a hog could a big hog hug if a big hog could hug hogs?
