Posted on 08/31/2024 1:46:17 PM PDT by Libloather
What has four legs, hails from Spain, is notoriously difficult to kill, multiplies by 10 each year, and causes an annual $2.5 billion damage to the economy?
If you guessed feral hogs, you are correct. An estimated nine million nomadic pigs currently roam America, destroying crops and properties which lay in their path, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Hogs even cause the occasional fatality - either through a rare bloodthirsty attack on a human or by charging across a highway and triggering a road traffic accident.
In the most pig-dense states like Texas, law enforcement officials offer bounties of around $15 per hog ear to citizens who successfully shoot one down.
And the species is reproducing at an alarming rate, with the average hog birthing two litters of around five piglets per year. It is little wonder then that groups of self-styled 'hog hunters' are cropping up across the country, armed with 'hogcopters', bows-and-arrows and guns to wipe out thousands of the feral beasts each year.
'They're wildly out of control. They're uncontrollable,' said Andy Butler, who has shot thousands of hogs and runs a Texas-based company equipping law enforcement officials with the knowledge needed to safely shoot the beasts.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I am very comfortable kill’n feral hogs and letting the ‘Yotes and buzzards eat them.
Killed four Thursday.
As for the posted excerpt, feral hogs breed three times a year and I have never heard of a bounty in Texas for kill’n hogs.
I have eaten several. The rule of thumb is that if you walk up on them and they stank from rutting, let it lay. I haven’t had a bad sow.
I cut down the spine on both sides and take out the loins. Then, move back to the hams and be done. No need to gut them.
I’ve heard people who do that and they castrate it and cut the tail off. That way, if they see one without a tail next time, they will know it is a barrow.
He knows some guy who uses the meat for dog food.
You can get the works starting at $5,495.00 which includes 2 hours of flight time. LOL!
I have heard some folks capture them and feed them domestic feed for awhile before butchering so they are cleaned out and better.
Ture. The corn fed ones taste better.
That’s the border patrol in some countries but not here yet.
Like I learned to carve out duck breast to avoid incessant plucking unless I desired whole birds for roasting
We killed A LOT of ducks
We had a surgical tubes on spindle plucker which did help a lot admittedly
The duck plucker
Made by magna corp in Mississippi on who’s duck camp I hunted on in the delta
My hog experience is Edward’s plateau where we had a huge deer lease nw of burnet
Same with dove. Just the breast.
What’s the best buckshot for wild hog?
Buckshot For Boars
Recently, there seems to have been an influx of discussion on the use of shotguns for hog hunting.
https://wildboarusa.com/buckshot-for-boars/
That was a good read. It reminds me I do have double ball 65 caliber ammo. Thanks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.