Posted on 04/04/2013 5:55:29 PM PDT by SJackson
If you had to pick the single most controversial issue in America the past few months, the AR would no doubt be at the top of that list. And if you had to characterize the media’s position on the subject, it would without hesitation be unfavorable.
Given those facts, it was surprising when CNN ran an exclusive online video on March 22 with a semi-positive focus on the use of ARs for hog hunting in agrarian Georgia. The segment ran on Anderson Cooper 360 and featured interviews with Jim Pritchard, a Georgia farmer, and Hal Shouse, owner operator of hogSWAT, a local hog hunting outfitter that utilizes ARs and night vision optics.
As the segment points out, feral hogs number around 5 million in the U.S. and do an estimated $1.5 billion in damage each year. Farmers encourage outfitters like Shouse to host hunters on their property to help alleviate crop damage done by the rapidly multiplying hordes of wild hogs. With nightly hog hunting excursions for paying customers, Shouse said the use of ARs and standard 30-round magazines are a practically useful tool.
Victor Blackwell, the host of the segment, asked Shouse why the AR is at the center of such a heated issue: “When you say AR and 30-round magazine, that’s a political hot button.”
“Sure it is, because people have decided to make it [an issue],” Shouse explained. “Tragedies happen, but the weapon didn’t create these tragedies. Sick individuals used this weapon, this tool, and they did something destructive with it, something ugly. That’s all you can say about it.”
Blackwell also asked, “Who needs this weapon outside of the military or someone who wants to kill someone else?”
“You know ‘need’ is a big word. You don’t need a lot of things that you choose to use because they make your job easier. I could do this with a single shot weapon, sure, I just wouldn’t be nearly as effective. But I don’t want to. I’m a legal, responsible gun owner, I’ve evaluated all the different weapons out there and I decided this weapon is what makes sense for me and my company,” Shouse said.
You can dunk 'em in boiling water, yeah 250lb dead pig in boiling water, or you can use the burning straw method which stinks badly. And then scrape. And probably either use a brand or a torch to get rid of the hard-to-get-rid-of hairs.
You gotta leave the skin on for bacon or hams. And not cook it in the process of releasing the hairs.
It takes screwing up a few times to gain those skillsets.
/johnny
I guess I would expect them to be gamey - not that that’s always a bad thing depending on what the critters eat...
/johnny
Do you eat the “oysters”? They’re gooooood!
My son got his first hog off a .223 and over 30 hogs later that’s all he uses.
When I was a kid there was an old couple across the street that had a hog killin’. My daddy dropped them with one .22 shot between the eyes. They had 55 gallon drums of boiling water sitting under three poles tied at the top. At the top of the poles they had a wench, what we called a “come-a-long”, to pick them up with then ease them down into the water. Once pulled out the hair was easy to scrape off. It was a fun day.
I'm lucky if I get the liver.
/johnny
No. But they are already healthier than most tame hogs fed in SPF barn. They are free range, few have diseases and don't walk around in their own crap.
We trapped them for years and at times fed them out before slaughtering them. They are very lean, not bred for quick growth. No hormones. Made some really good whole hog sausage. Barely enough fat to keep from sticking in the pan. EXCEPT: if they have been feeding on peanuts. If so, avoid. You cannot get the oil off of you or the equipment.
No peanuts around here.
***If you had to pick the single most controversial issue in America the past few months, the AR would no doubt be at the top of that list.****
The AR-15 first went on the market back around 1965. That is 58 years ago. They did not become a problem till the anti-gunners needed a new schtik to get their anti-gun platform moving again, and started beating the drums against those”evil” AWs.
Here in Arkansas feral hogs are shot and left to rot as most have psudo-rabies.
Was recently in north central Texas hog hunting and one gentleman had a an AR with .458 SOCOM upper. Similar to shotgun slug, heavy, but lots more velocity..developed from spec ops. Used frangible rounds or barnes bullets with devastating effect. Took down 320 pound boar from one shot in the back. Eviscerated interior and broke like 7 ribs.
.300 blackout wasn’t good enough?
Close.
interesting I’d always heard hogs/pigs had an extra bone in their forehead that deflected lower powered cartridges. So I wouldn’t have expected a .22 to do the trick. Especially after a young lady when I was in high school a long time ago tried to commit suicide with a .22 to the temple and lived when the bone deflected it enough.
They why do cops “need” 30-round magazines? Are they planning to engage in massacres?
Why do the overlords automatically rate 3X the ammunition as the peasants?
That was NOT the intent of the 2A.
Exactly. The grabboids libtards are pretending that AR-15s are some new death ray just dropped out of UFOs from Planet Evil.
Just a warning. Have slaughtered some that were brought in by friends who had killed them on their peanut fields. Will never do that again.
We helped them butcher them. Glad I did not have to eat it.
My dad put three hogs down with three shots. I’ve seen on Swamp People that aligators have a hard head and you have to hit them at the right angle or it bounces off. Of course on that show they also say the kill spot is the size of a quarter.
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