Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Where to hog hunt in Texas

Long before they became a problem, feral hogs were mostly found in the coastal counties of south Texas. When populations started to get dense, hog cholera would rip through the populations and knock them back to practically nothing. I don't know exactly when hogs that were resistant to hog cholera entered the population, but it was after I left Texas at the end of 1975.

Back then, it was unusual for hogs to grow large enough to attract attention. I shot a few for the Mexican families on the ranches were I was doing research. The only 300+ pound hog that I have ever seen was on the Welder Wildlife Refuge near Sinton. He was pretty famous and most of the wildlife students were competing to see who could "collect" him.

My partner Charles DeYoung and I saw him rooting by a dirt tank late one evening as we were headed in, right after sundown. I had my rifle in the truck with us, so we slipped up through a mesquite thicket and I killed him with one shot to the head. It was a real chore to get him loaded in the back of the old Dodge pickup that I drove in those days.

We took him to the Necropsy Lab where we weighed and measured him, and took some tissue samples for the vet students, and samples of stomach contents for a fellow grad student who was studying their food habits over on the Aransas Refuge. Hanging from a gambrel with his nose touching the floor, his rump was a over six feet in the air. He weighed 356 lbs.

We butchered him and the meat pretty much took up all the spare room in the freezer in the student dormitory. It provided all of us poor grad students with free meat for quite a while.

Holy cow Ben, I mean pig, that is a lot of carnita's...

Only been in pig territory for 10-11 years. Killed several when I was younger, but got on a lease 10-11 years ago with lots of hogs. I've killed plenty, and plenty of 300-400 pounders.............Until I bought a set of scales, then the biggest ones were in the 170-180lb range. A pig is hard to guestimate the weight on if one is new to hunting them.

20 pounders are indeed delicious.

Rockinbar ,

I've seen that hog of Glenn's , guess I've watched about all of his video's -he and his family and friends kill some big hogs .
Beautiful country in his video's down around you'all's place !


Big old sows and boars grow very smart with age , I've seen huge tracks near my feeder area but rarely get game cam pictures . Just a few weeks ago a huge boar came through- I tracked the hoof prints down a bush-hogged row that were easily noticeable . The tracks averaged about 2" deep -3-4" in some spots --he was heavy . I say -he- because from what I've read boars have very rounded hooves -they get rounded hooves due to covering many miles looking for sows in heat .

The website TxBoars has some pictures of some 400+ pound hogs killed and hanging on the scale in the picture .
You might have to sign in there and take a test and use your real name and about ten other things to see them though .


A member of our lease killed a giant boar -he's a Doctor -went out and bought -$10-12K night vision scope after seeing the boar . Killed it -three men could barely budge the beast - I can't remember what they said it weighed over 500lbs. though . They brought a 4x4 kubota tractor out to recover it - took it to a marina in Panama City Beach and weighed etc. -there was a picture of it on the wall of the marina -but someone stole the picture .

When I first moved to the deep south I was coming home from my Offshore job and saw a huge boar get hit on I-10 headed home to biloxi . The NASA restricted easement area just as you cross into Mississippi from Louisiana- a silver Mercury Capri passed me and was about 300-400 yards in front of me . I saw what I thought was a black cow running down the right side of the ditch -it hooked a hard left and ran right in front of the small car and boom -he barely got on the brakes before the hit . Car parts flew -and steam from the busted radiator made the scene almost disappear - I pulled up and he was just sitting there not hurt but freaked out a bit . It knocked the boar 50-75 yards down the Interstate .
I didn't even get stopped and a Ms.State Trooper was flying across the median with his lights already on -he had seen the whole thing unfold too .
The huge boar lay there kicking -the sound of its hooves clacking together as it kicked was amazing .
The Trooper yelled to me --don't get out -get back in your vehicle -it's not dead . I was only 20 years old so of coarse nothing could possibly happen to me -right- grin .
I just went on home but never forgot that big son of a gun - I'd love to know what it weighed .

Apparently the ranch is down by Waelder. Looks just like the country there in the bottoms.

Postscript;

Last accident I worked before retirement was a Hog vs. Hog about 15 miles from the house here. About 0500 hrs and a poor guy hit a big damn sow with his Harley. He had compound fracture of leg. Bad shape. Never heard of he made it. He was really bad.

when your name is ranch boss and you dance with other guys.....

Damn Jeff ! Waelder ain't far from you either! Hearin' any banjo duets down there???

Used to be a pen full of wild hogs that were kept and fed for ranch hands on the Callahagn...

No clue the weights and I sure hope I make time to scan some of the old 35mm pictures I should still have...

Was told over 500 easily. A couple of the boars. They were HUGE to us when we'd go look.

I shot a sow there once with a bow, unfortunately never did find her, the shot looked great, she had a scad of 20 pounders with her and we just flat could not follow the trail long enough... I'm sure she died. IT was a close chip shot, about 6 yards on the ground.

The other 2 folks that had no association with me and watched me stalk her and shoot her only said she looked as big as a VW bug. I'm fairly sure she was 450 plus. Probably over 500.

Carolyn shot one that bottomed a 310 pound scale with her bow years ago. Did not look to weigh that but thats what the scale said. Worst meat I"ve ever smelled. Took a come along to load him.

I"ve shot a lot of pigs, big ones run probably 160 to about 210 or so generally and for some reason once you get past 200 its a really rare pig generally speaking.

LOL my hearing is bad... All I've heard teh last 2 days is sirens on grass fires. Lucky our dept worst was 15 or so acres and we managed to save 3 houses and a pumphouse that was already on fire, just by being speedy and damn lucky not to get stuck and me dragging a 200 foot 1 inch line by myself a couple of times until I coulnd't hardly breathe in the post oak sand on foot... LOL.

Take it easy!

There is a local 'pay to hunt' operation not far from me. I have met the fellow and he will buy every live hog I can bring him. Just catching a few in snares, it isn't worth the trouble. To make it pay, it would turn into work...

Did I mention I was... RETIRED!

I wasnt there, but usually what you hear is the clacking of the tusk (popping of the teeth).

When they do this, you can be assured of 2 things... 1. they aint dead, and 2. they are pizzed off. You dont want to be around a pizzed off hog!

Agree.

If he was clicking, I'd hit'em with another round or two 'till the "clicking" stopped...

Dead hogs are generally pretty quiet...

DF

Some folks not familiar with hogs or even javelina just don't have a clue is right...

I've seen a couple BIG hogs standing on top of round bales. Hard to believe their agility considering their size.

If I was gonna be hung at sunrise for not killing a 400 pound feral hog, I'd be in Cottle Cty Tx the night before with rifle and spotlight. That farmland around Paducah grows some damn big hogs.

My second cousin owns and grew up on 3000 acres of Piney creek bottom and surrounding hills in e texas. Raises cattle and timber. Kills wild hogs and his bilaws trap them. If he says he saw one feral over 3ft tall and about 450-500 lbs, big enough to scare him, he did.

I once saw a tan sow with piglets on a 97 section ranch on the Pecos river north of Pecos where i was allowd to hunt that i was afraid to shoot with the 223 i was hunting coyotes with. Well over 3 ft high (i thought 4 ft at the time) and making you think "volkswagon" is a sight you wont soon forget when you walk up on it.

They said the hog that attacked and nearly killed the mayor of Monahans while he was taking a dump during a dove hunt many years ago was a monster. Lucky his buddy ran up and shot it. That was on the 67,000 acre Hogg Ranch i hunt out of Kermit.

I dont know how many wild hogs ive killed on that old Lindley Ranch cause we normally try to put one bullet into as many as we can in a herd before they get away in the brush. We figure the coyotes will do the rest. Ive killed a bunch of huge old big russian looking boars but that feral sow was as big as any hog farm sow i ever saw.

Once a friend and I drove the back way to a lake near Robert Lee. My bud pointed and said for me to look at that. I thought it was just a couple of huge farm hogs in a little pasture until the started hauling ass and went through the barbed wire fence. I know dayom good and well the tops of their backs were over 3 ft high.

Not many people have seen either a 450-500 lb hog or 28 pt muley with a 30 inch spread. I have.

I graduated high school at Refugio Texas and hunted the huge OBrian ranch and ranches bordering the huge and world famous OConnor ranch. We killed a lot of hogs, my best bud wading in with a his bowie to stick them. We never saw a huge hog in that country..