More Little Pigs

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Yep, our family butchered hogs too.

A few penned up domestic hogs are not a threat to the environment and it's critters. Wild hogs in Oklahoma are an invasive species. They pollute streams and ponds with hog manure, destroy crops, cause erosion, destroy small ground dwelling critters, and the nests of ground dwelling birds. i've caught two large boars killing fawns.


For many years i field stressed and skinned hogs for other folks. Only one recipient of wild pork ever offered to buy corn. Only two people helped check the traps and assist in field dressing/skinning. Folks began to order hogs by size and sex. Finally i had enough: "Self, why should i, an 80 year old man, continue to furnish hogs to ungrateful demanding recipients."

Every year i have two or three hogs processed at my expense, they are donated to the food bank The vast majority of my trapped and hunted hogs are now chunked.
 
I plan on doing a good bit of hog eradication in the coming weeks. Got the corn, got the trap, now gotta get motivated. You, sir, may have just provided the motivation.
 
Yep, our family butchered hogs too.

A few penned up domestic hogs are not a threat to the environment and it's critters. Wild hogs in Oklahoma are an invasive species. They pollute streams and ponds with hog manure, destroy crops, cause erosion, destroy small ground dwelling critters, and the nests of ground dwelling birds. i've caught two large boars killing fawns.


For many years i field stressed and skinned hogs for other folks. Only one recipient of wild pork ever offered to buy corn. Only two people helped check the traps and assist in field dressing/skinning. Folks began to order hogs by size and sex. Finally i had enough: "Self, why should i, an 80 year old man, continue to furnish hogs to ungrateful demanding recipients."

Every year i have two or three hogs processed at my expense, they are donated to the food bank The vast majority of my trapped and hunted hogs are now chunked.

Sure points out how little a city dweller such as I know of the subject. Childhood memories are best left as just that and nothing more.
 
something so vital to families in those days are now such complete vermin to the point that many are shot and left to rot is somewhat disturbing, but certainly understandable of some folks.

Paying someone to shoot pigs in an enclosure, not so much. JMO

I am not a fan of the waste myself but even less enthusiastic about repairing the damage they cause.

I would love to make money out of the problem like others that sell hunting opportunities but I don’t really want that hassle either. My friends enjoy hunting them but just can’t keep the population under control with one or two at a time.

Its much more effective to shoot them in numbers. That said I don’t feed all of them to the buzzards, I do keep the good easy parts.

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It’s not hunting, rather eliminating an unwanted pest.

I will admit that we don’t raise hogs at our place but we do run cattle.

The night before this photo, this field could have been bailed for hay.

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You wouldn’t give 2nd thoughts to killing a mouse in your pantry, yet there is no possibility it could cause as much damage to your property in such a short time frame.
 
Yes, they do a lot of damage. During deer season they go nocturnal, makes 'em hard to take as targets of opportunity.
 
Yesterday morning i got into the tree stand before daylight with my Savage model 24F .22 Hornet over 3" 20 gauge. At about 07:30 a sow and her nine little pigs came in. Shot the sow in the ear and killed the pigs with two rounds of #4 buckshot. .
 
Paying someone to shoot pigs in an enclosure, not so much. JMO

Realistically, that's the only way many people are going to successfully hunt a pig. They're still wild, and with each shot they get more educated. I just came back from an OK high fence hunt, they do offer free range hunts but my guide said on that you only have about a 20% chance of even seeing one.
 
Realistically, that's the only way many people are going to successfully hunt a pig. They're still wild, and with each shot they get more educated. I just came back from an OK high fence hunt, they do offer free range hunts but my guide said on that you only have about a 20% chance of even seeing one.
LoL sounds like 25 plus years of hunting white tails in Maine. Some years yes some years no.
 
If anyone ever wants help with culling wild pigs please reach out. I have been burned paying to hunt hogs. I don't like deer meat, love wild pig meat, and will get in my truck with a rifle right now for the opportunity to put pig meat in my freezer for my family.
 
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It’s not hunting, rather eliminating an unwanted pest.

I will admit that we don’t raise hogs at our place but we do run cattle.

The night before this photo, this field could have been bailed for hay.

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You wouldn’t give 2nd thoughts to killing a mouse in your pantry, yet there is no possibility it could cause as much damage to your property in such a short time frame.

^^^^^

Exactly. In the 30 years I've been 'killing' hogs on my property, never once...was it for sport. I'll leave that to others. They are a scourge.
They are (and will remain) a 'shoot on sight' animal. There is no one in the County I live in going hungry for lack of available feral hog meat. Just come and get it.

I drag 90% of what I kill off to a bone yard where they are readily consumed by Coyotes and Buzzards. I don't in any way consider this to be 'waste'. I think all too often...it is thought unless the meat resource is utilized by 'humans' then it hasn't been used to its best effect...and I would argue that.

Meanwhile...as a land owner with a feral hog problem, I will continue to reduce their numbers at every opportunity.

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Flintknapper, that's beautiful country! How long does it take for the hogs to tear it up like that?
 
I have seen damage like where that mower and bronco are parked done over night. They can’t do that in blackland soils that are compacted or the rocky soils of West Texas but in the sandy loam of east Texas, they can make it a mess pretty quick.

If it were not for the grass, it’s not to terrible to smooth back out but using a harrow, the grass turns into balls that you can’t smooth out, think giant dense tumble weeds.

So it’s really best to leave it alone and wait for the grass to go dormant then fix it, if it’s not too wet, like it’s going to be again this weekend. In any case if you wait so you don’t have to fight it, a year is wasted as far as hay goes.
 
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Update:

i have eliminated 19 little pigs including nine and their big mother. It appears that about 30 pigs remain. About 15 pigs are running by themselves; someone may have killed their mothers. Pigs running alone are easy to kill.
 
[QUOTE="Milt1, post: 11359604, member: 214683"]Flintknapper, that's beautiful country! How long does it take for the hogs to tear it up like that?[/QUOTE]

A matter of hours. Where the soil is Sandy Loam...they can destroy acres overnight. Smaller patches in just hours. We also have areas of Iron Ore soil that is rocky and much denser. It doesn't suffer as much with respect to depth of the rootings, but they still dislodge the top soil (however deep it is).
 
Good Lord man. Only in America could such abundance be taken so lightly.

You gents will have to excuse me. I’m going to start skipping the hunting forums.

I know, right? I swear, virtually nobody takes the brains anymore and uses them for the tanning of the hides or harvests the hooves and bones for making glue.

I'll provide dead hogs to anyone that wants them. They just need to give me their phone number and I will call them when their pigs are dead and they can meet me at the gate of the property where I am hunting and take possession of a whole hog. I will even help them load the hogs in to their truck. For those who wish, I will brain shoot hogs for people so that they can have more meat. You would be surprised how many folks don't want to be called in the middle of the night for a free dead hog. Some downright resent being awakened. They would prefer that I kill the hog, butcher the hog, dispose of the unwanted parts, bag the good meat, label the bags, and ice down the bagged meat and deliver their bounty to their front porches in ice chests that they can deal with after they get up and have their morning coffee. One guy even wanted me to load his freezer in the garage for him. To heck with that.
 
They would prefer that I kill the hog, butcher the hog, dispose of the unwanted parts, bag the good meat, label the bags, and ice down the bagged meat and deliver their bounty to their front porches in ice chests that they can deal with after they get up and have their morning coffee. One guy even wanted me to load his freezer in the garage for him. To heck with that.

If you change your mind, let me know. :)
 
i've said my rant about folks and hogs.

i know one exception to "no one wants a whole hog" rule. One couple are grateful for two undressed hogs every year. They notify me and i kill a really large fat hog. They want the hog whole because some of the innards are used. The lady is German and she's a world class cook. They bring their lift gate equipped truck, load the hog and leave. They always leave me some summer sausage or other good stuff.
 
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