I was a teenager back in the late thirties and early forties. There was no stock law requiring livestock to be under fence at that time. It was customary for hogs to live in the woods and mostly depend on acron crops and other means of survival. Many became as wild as any deer. Ownership was determined by ear marks on adult hogs to identify ownership. Unmarked adults were fair game to anyone who wanted meat or had a dog that would catch and hold a hog while ropes were tied to control the animals. Believe me a wild hog can attack when cornered or protecting piglets. Since our family had plenty of hogs our interest in the wild adults was primarily for selling. Using dogs was the usual method because live trapping caught more gentle than wild hogs. Three cents per pound was the going rate for wild hogs on the market. Some would reach two hundred pounds but 150 was the usual if well fed. Often people tried to pen up wild hogs and feed them corn to fatten them for butchering. Most would eat only enough to stay alive and actually lose weight with corn available. To prevent our hogs from going wild I spent much time in the woods visiting them and throwing them a few grains of corn. Tame hogs tend to stay in family groups and stick to a rather small area so long as food is available. Being in these woods with a .22 rifle had a second reason. At that time a few hog stealing two legged varmits were around. They had to determine where I was and what I might do if I caught them stealing marked hogs. I didn't know myself. Why this post? Because the fact that I have lived in the woods a lot among hogs and I respect and admire their intelligence. Actually, they are smarter than the ordinary dog. If I were able I would go somewhere and get me a wild hog. Since I have never hunted them for sport I would enjoy reading the experiences of others. Do you look and follow sign or ambush from travel routes. Or what other hunting methods would be interesting to me. Thanks.
Old Timers Memories
- Thread starter ozark
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Is cholera a problem with hogs?
Our herd of around 300 hogs was wiped out in the mid forties by cholera because we had not vaccinated them. That desease spreads fast and very few hogs can survive it. I am wondering if the desease has been wiped out or if it could spread through the wild hogs. Can anyone shed some light here?
Our herd of around 300 hogs was wiped out in the mid forties by cholera because we had not vaccinated them. That desease spreads fast and very few hogs can survive it. I am wondering if the desease has been wiped out or if it could spread through the wild hogs. Can anyone shed some light here?
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Ozark, we had feral hogs on the deer lease for the first time last year. They tore up our tube feeders, destroyed food plots and quickly became "persona non grata". The edict went out among club members that if you saw a nice buck and a hog, shoot the hog first!
We killed about a dozen and a farmer on adjacent land counted over thirty crossing his pasture just after deer season ended. We shot them when they came out to our feeders. Like you said, they are pretty smart. After one week of hogging they all became nocturnal until the season was over and you didn't see them during day time, just at early light and right at dark.
Every one we butchered was full of corn. We had some guys that trap them commercially out to the lease in May and we couldn't find a trace of them. Don't know where they went, but suspect at sometime they will be back.
We killed about a dozen and a farmer on adjacent land counted over thirty crossing his pasture just after deer season ended. We shot them when they came out to our feeders. Like you said, they are pretty smart. After one week of hogging they all became nocturnal until the season was over and you didn't see them during day time, just at early light and right at dark.
Every one we butchered was full of corn. We had some guys that trap them commercially out to the lease in May and we couldn't find a trace of them. Don't know where they went, but suspect at sometime they will be back.
mehulkamdar
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Ozark,
My experience is from a different country and completely different terrain. In the Palani Hills of Southern India you have wild boar come into the fruit orchards and potato fields in the monsoon months (usually what are the Fall months in the US) and boar are one of very few animals that you can hunt. Hunting was banned in the mid 70s in India and hunting boar and some other agricultural pests is permitted on what is called a "crop protection permit."
The technique used in India is usually to wait by rotten fruit that has fallen off a tree and been smelling there for a day or two. You can also mix some fish bones or egg shells from eggs that haven't been boiled (the boiled ones smell less) and the boar are usually shot with 12 gauge shotguns loaded with ball. Ranges are usually very short over there and if you hit the boar a little behind the front shoulder it usually goes down quite fast. Many farmers have shotguns (rifle licenses are more difficult to acquire and rifle ammunition costs more and is harder to find) and there is usually a celebration after you shoot a boar.
Technically boar can be shot round the year over there though they are very intelligent as you rightly point out and they only go a little foolish when there is something tasty for them to eat. That said, people do get attacked by sows with piglets from time to time over there and occasionally seriously hurt.
I have not shot a boar in the US and hope to sometime in the future.
Good hunting!
My experience is from a different country and completely different terrain. In the Palani Hills of Southern India you have wild boar come into the fruit orchards and potato fields in the monsoon months (usually what are the Fall months in the US) and boar are one of very few animals that you can hunt. Hunting was banned in the mid 70s in India and hunting boar and some other agricultural pests is permitted on what is called a "crop protection permit."
The technique used in India is usually to wait by rotten fruit that has fallen off a tree and been smelling there for a day or two. You can also mix some fish bones or egg shells from eggs that haven't been boiled (the boiled ones smell less) and the boar are usually shot with 12 gauge shotguns loaded with ball. Ranges are usually very short over there and if you hit the boar a little behind the front shoulder it usually goes down quite fast. Many farmers have shotguns (rifle licenses are more difficult to acquire and rifle ammunition costs more and is harder to find) and there is usually a celebration after you shoot a boar.
Technically boar can be shot round the year over there though they are very intelligent as you rightly point out and they only go a little foolish when there is something tasty for them to eat. That said, people do get attacked by sows with piglets from time to time over there and occasionally seriously hurt.
I have not shot a boar in the US and hope to sometime in the future.
Good hunting!
