Feral hog problem

[Quercus]

@Nansbread1

(never heard of hog leather)

Not a (North American) football fan, eh?

[HoneyBadgerDC]

@lance_strongarm

Seriously, that would work great if it’s a really rural area or protected natural area uninhabited by humans. Kind of like reintroduction of wolves or bears.

Jaquars are native to South Texas, Not sure if there are any left or not but it certainly couldn’t hurt.

[jnglmassiv]

@Lumpy

The question was whether feral hog would be too tough or too gamy to be palatable.

I’ve read that uncastrated males are quite unpalatable and never eaten.

[nightshadea]

Nat geo had a series of specials on this and the infamous “hogzilla” (even A&E had a series about professional hog removers aka “hoggers”)

Apparently it only takes about 6 -12 weeks for your little pink piggy physically to turn into a boar and back into the farm pig … (all they did is put it back in the pen to change it back )

Some schoolmates of mine were from Africa and one of the coming of age rituals were to hunt a boar so they and the males from the village they lived in met up in Louisiana dressed up in the native costumes and used spears …they caught 5 or 6 of them … sent most of the meat back to the village … was told they had so much fun they made it a yearly thing

[nightshadea]

@Scumpup

Let’s not overstate their toughness too much, shall we? My former brother-in-law and I massacred a whole clan of them on his property to stop them destroying creek banks with their wallowing. We used a pair of SKS carbines and Russian-manufactured fmj 7.62 x 39 mm ammo. That round is actually slightly less powerful than the old .30-30 which isn’t considered a real barn burner these days.
Further, people hunt and kill them with knives. That outfit is far from the only bunch doing such hunting, keep in mind. Pig-sticking has been a thing since at least the 1990’s. Some folks like to use an old fashioned boar spear, but sticking is so popular that there are knives, like the Ka-bar Baconmaker, marketed specifically for the purpose.
As far as why people hunt deer in preference to hogs, I suspect it is nothing more than deer hunting is a long-established activity in many parts of the US. Feral hog populations of huntable size are relatively new and are only in some parts of the US. Here in PA, feral hogs have only begun to show up. If our Game Commission has a teaspoon of brains among them them, they will continue to allow them to be killed day or night, all year round, and over bait.

Actually I’m told that feral pig hunting is becoming popular because theres no limits and in some places you don’t need to be licensed

[cornflakes]

@HoneyBadgerDC

Jaquars are native to South Texas, Not sure if there are any left or not but it certainly couldn’t hurt.

This is little more than a hunch on my part, but I suspect that part of the problem is the suburbanization of a lot of rural land. Male cougars can have ranges in the hundreds of miles, and the building of new subdivisions seems to drive them out of an area. Bobcats have been outcompeted by feral cats, and as a lesser factor there just aren’t as many human hunters per square mile as there were decades ago. Feral hogs don’t seem to be as avoidant of humans, especially when so much of their food comes directly from humans. In the end, the pigs stick around and breed while the species that prey on them are scattered and have moved on.

[Orwell]

@Scumpup

As far as why people hunt deer in preference to hogs, I suspect it is nothing more than deer hunting is a long-established activity in many parts of the US. Feral hog populations of huntable size are relatively new and are only in some parts of the US. Here in PA, feral hogs have only begun to show up. If our Game Commission has a teaspoon of brains among them them, they will continue to allow them to be killed day or night, all year round, and over bait.

Exactly right on all counts. Deer hunting is a tradition going back centuries throughout most of the country. Hog hunting is relatively limited in geography. I certainly wouldn’t feel under-armed using a .30-30 or 7mm-08, and certainly not a .30-06. I doubt I’d use a handgun with less power than a .44 magnum, though. And I’d rather be up in a tree, at least until the intelligent swine learn to climb trees.

Even though hog hunting might be kind of fun, I’m sure farmers do not want to see them become established in PA. The game commission would be wise to follow your suggestion.

[TSBG]

I’ve had boar sausage and boar salami, but I guess I figured the pure product would be stringy and inedible.

I had a friend who kept an old pig, enormous thing, and she told me it couldn’t be sold for meat because it would be too tough. This was a pig fed on corn and kept in a pen, not some leathery free-ranging beast.