Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Hogs in Cincinnati

Cincinnati was at one time the major pork producer in the world. Farmers north of the ohio would feed hogs on corn and then walk them to market. The streets of downtown Cincinnati were at times filled with pigs. At one point, Cincinnati, Ohio was called Porkopolis. Proctor and Gamble made their early fortunes rendering hog fat and turning it into soap. What I saw this morning took place less than a mile from Ivorydale, the historic headquarters of P&G.

The hogs may be getting their revenge. At 0600 AM, I was on my way into work to deal with a server problem. I was driving through Carthage, a neighborhood on the north side when I spied 2 feral hogs crossing the intersection of Vine and Paddock. I estimate the larger of the two went over 200 pounds. The other one was a bit under. There was what appeared to be a Cincinnati PD patrolman in an unmarked vehicle next to me at the light. We rolled down our windows.

"Are you law enforcement?" I asked.

"Yes. Is that what I think it is?" he replied.

"Yep." I replied. "If you want to do the right thing, you'll put a cap in them, right now."

The officer followed the hogs and transmitted his situation over the radio, asking if there were any reports of escaped farm animals.

The hogs squeezed through a gap in a chain link fence and were gone.


Cincinnati is going to the hogs.

They are everywhere, they jack up my yard when I have lots of acorns on my trees. They fuuck up my hunting at the deer lease. I trap-kill all I can.

Coshocton OH, 200 miles to the East was. at the time of our Rev War, a major settlement of the Delaware Indians. In their language Coshocton translates to “place of hogs”.

A century earlier, in and around Boston, our first major Indian War, started in Parton account of the Wampanoag Indian hog drivers were underselling the local Puritans in the Boston Market.

Fuggin Indians.

Indeed, P&G got their start making soap and candles from hog fat and renderings. Little known fact, what put P&G "over the hump" from start up to well established company was the U.S. Civil War. There was an ingredient used in soap making at that time called "rosin." Some type of catalyst. Didn't take a lot. But, was essential to the soap making process.

As tensions started to mount between the North and the South, Mr. Procter and Mr. Gamble took a "gamble" and sent their two sons south to New Orleans. The two sons purchased three river boats loaded with rosin and proceeded back upriver to Cincinnati. They got back to home port just before the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers were blockaded to commercial traffic for the duration of the war.

After the war broke out and river traffic was shut down, due to their "gamble", P&G became the only soap maker in the North with a sufficient inventory of rosin to continue steady production of soap throughout the War. As a result, P&G became the sole supplier of soap to the Union Army for the duration of the Civil War. That contract gave P&G the solid financial footing to continue with future growth and expansion.

Shaman and others-have the piggies established a sizable population down in southern Ohio?

"Chicago" means "skunk place" in the local Indian language. Good choice.

Don't know about southern Ohio but there are none, nada, zero by the North Coast (NE Ohio), though I expect some at any time. In my youth there were no deer, coyotes, turkeys, beavers, or resident geese here. Now they are thick and we're even getting bears.

Two or three years ago, they were confirmed on game cameras and by CO's in Lewis County, KY right across river from Portsmouth and West Union, OH, and in Campbellsburg, KY across the river from SE Indiana. Which means that by now they should be in my AO as well. Thankfully, they are not yet "plentiful" here like they are in TX and FL !

Some years back Nat Geo ran an article about the pig, the earthworm, and the honeybee as introduced species that changed the face of North America. The worms and honeybees have been here ever since. The mystery is, what happened to all the pigs?

Travelers in the Piney Woods of East Texas in the 1820’s reported feral hogs so thick on the ground in places it was impossible to keep them out of camp. There was reported too a sub-class of the lowest sort of settlers who subsisted on those hogs. Of course free-range pork, lard and corn were the main food staples for Americans all along the Frontier.

So how come feral pigs mostly went away and are since back with a vengeance? I dunno that anyone has figured that out.

There have been a few fenced game ranches north of Portsmouth for several years where wild boar hunting was their specialty. I've seen Fallow & Axis Deer around Manchester that were believed to have escaped from a high fence in that area. Both though, are still a good piece away from Cinci.

Did you beat em to death with a 2x2 ?

Hanco, that is an outstanding photo

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So how come feral pigs mostly went away and are since back with a vengeance? I dunno that anyone has figured that out.
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I would assume that eradication of the screwworm fly was a big factor. The decline in "wild" hog populations in the southern U.S. started about the same time as the screwworm was introduced, and the population has been expanding rapidly since the eradication program was completed.

I want to think it was Hog Cholera that done them in, but not sure.

Boggy Creek Ranger some years back didn’t think screwworm was the cause, having seen them on pigs back in the days. IIRC he said that afflicted hogs wallowing in the mud would suffocate the screwworm maggots.

Screwworm were in Texas at least since the early 1870’s. During the last major Kiowa raid (1874?) into Texas a teenage participant received a serious head wound, screwworms did him in

Anyone have any word on James?

Where are you from Indy? I grew up on the Pa. border south of Youngstown.

Cuyahoga County (near Cleveland).

There is a map on the ODNR website (or was) that showed where there were huntable populations of hogs in southern Ohio. As I remember these were west of Portsmouth. About a decade ago, I worked with some guys who were taking them in Highland, Adams, and Scioto counties.

I couldn't find it just now. PUBLIC LAND AVAILABLE FOR FERAL SWINE HUNTING

Instead, here is a list of where ODNR says you can hunt hog on public land:

Broken ARO and Flint Run Wildlife Areas – Jackson County
Cooper Hollow Wildlife Area – Jackson County
Egypt Valley Wildlife Area (infrequent reports) – Belmont and Guernsey counties
Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area (infrequent reports) – Belmont and Harrison co
unties
Vinton Furnace State Forest - Vinton County
Wallace H. O’Dowd Wildlife Area – Athens and Hocking counties
Superior Wildlife Area – Vinton County
Turkey Ridge Wildlife Area – Vinton County
Wellston Wildlife Area – Vinton County
Zaleski State Forest Richland Furnace – Vinton and Athens counties
Tar Hollow State Forest – Hocking County
National Forest Ironton District – Lawrence County
Wayne National Forest Athens District – Athens County
Richland Furnace State Forest – Jackson and Vinton counties
Wayne National State Forest, Ironton District – Lawrence County

Hanco
Do you eat the hogs or is it just eradication?

We eat one every now and then, 2x2 hold the gate up. Caught this one the same weekend.