Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Honest pig question...

I have never lived where there are wild hogs. There are supposedly some here in Pungo but never seen one or talked to anyone who has seen them.
If pigs are reproducing in astronomical numbers and tear up land and destroy crops, why the hell do land owners charge people to shoot them? When did they become a trophy animal that people pay to hunt? If they were tearing up my farm I would let anybody hunt them that wanted to just get rid of them.

Same thing here in California. Ranchers bitch because too many hogs but want to charge you to shoot them.

That question has rattled 'round my noggin countless times. I know of areas that are over run with hogs -- one such area is controlled by the federal government -- but no hunting is allowed. Then I'll read in the local papers, or hear at the local merchants' place of business how expensive, and damaging hogs are.

In one extreme example, I know of a landowner who flat out refuses requests to hunt, but then pays "professionals" to trap and shoot wild hogs. I guess it's a "mine is mine" thing.

The myths accociated with hogs is another thing that confounds me. Contrary to local lore (where Howitzers reportedley can be inadequate), hogs die quite easily - even to a well-placed .22 rimfire. Eating?; the vast majority are convinced that a grown hog (especially a boar) is inedible. Well, now that I've been taught by a good friend -- who's been eatin' 'em for forty-years -- how to go 'bout dressing 'em, I can't tell the difference in taste 'tween the loin from a forty-pound piglet, or a three-hundred-pound sow.

ARE THERE DISHONEST PIGS ??

Well, I meant the following in another sense entirely, but I suppose it could apply to DC:

"I know of areas that are over run with hogs -- one such area is controlled by the federal government -- but no hunting is allowed."

In some areas they are uncontrollable. Many areas are off limits to hunters or can only be taken during others games open season.

The area I deer hunted had large areas of cut over timber, over grown with weeds shoulder high. Only open areas are narrow firelanes. Their sign is everywhere but you rarely see them. They are nocturnal and on one hand WL&f won't allow them to be hunted at night while encourageing hunters to shot them on sight and you are not even required to recover them.

About four years ago I killed five one morning before sun up. These animals had never be shot at before and they milled around in the firelane. Other club members refused to shot them for fear shooting might mess up their deer hunting.

Some landowners don't allow hunting of wild hogs by the general population because in a lot of cases the general population does more damage than the hogs. Better to use a smaller group of hunters that the landowner can control. I know this doesn't apply to anyone on here but there are a great number of "hunters" in this world who do not subscribe to the same code of ethics that is displayed by those who frequent forums like these.

It is not the hunting public that designates an animal as a game animal. Write your congressperson about this. It won't do any good to contact your game and fisheries department. There are areas that are getting wild hogs, areas that have wild hogs and areas that used to have wild hogs. There are three (at least) different philosophies present concerning wild hogs in those three areas as well.

Wild hogs are good to eat as long as their condition is good. A fat hog will taste good, a poor one will be a challenge especially from a tenderness view. Some of the best tasting wild pork I ever had came from a 450# boar with nads the size of softballs. No wild taste at all, no boar taste at all. He had a layer of acorn fat about an inch thick and he made one helluva smokehouse full of sausage.

On the other hand I killed a big nursing sow and I could have soled my boots with a slab of meat from her.

Alan

I remember when, in Ca, you didn't need a tag for a pig. No season, no limit. Then, you needed to buy a book of tags for a couple bucks. Then it was less tags for more money. Then it was one tag for more money. Still no limit or season though.

The problem with land owners is they tend to be distrusting of outsiders and worry about lawsuits. Others are just anti hunter types. And public land is getting so over run with hunters in Ca that it's educating the hogs and they are dang near nocturnal and rarely come out of the brush.

Speaking of piggie myths, I love these shows of late on the Discovery Channel about hogs. They're always talking about how they "believe" there is Russian hog DNA in our pigs. "That's why they're so big and mean." Seriously???? No chit. There's lots of documentation of the Russians releasing hogs by the hundreds into Ca hills as a reliable source of food when they operated the coastal forts here. Gee, I wonder where Russians would get pigs from to bring here? Hmmmmm..... Stupid shows.

Think he was referring to the title of the thread, "honest" pig question.

Either way, I got a chuckle out of both these posts.

Greed, liability concerns, distrust, take your pick. When the population runs completely off the rails, land owners become much more tractable. One of my neighbors was adamantly opposed to killing hogs on his place. His girlfriend thought them cute. He called me a few weeks back...weather's been bloody since.

Being involved with hog eradication programs at a state level is good for the resume'. Check with your state's wildlife officials to find out if they do that and what is required to be part of that system.

Hogs only seem hard to kill up close. Hogs are often in herds, move faster than people expect and they may attack if you get close. That threat can get the adrenalin pumping and as every LEO knows, the first thing you lose is fine muscle control. That makes it difficult to hit the hog's off button if you are rushed and trying to hit a charging hog. I think that's where the myth comes from.

As Allan stated, there are a lot of reasons to not open private land to public access. It is hard enough to keep the "public" off in the first place, and I suspect most who complain about not being allowed on another's property do not own, or have never owned, property of their own. Fixing fences, picking up trash, finding gates open that should be closed added to the "occasional" incident of theft or vandalism can cause landowners to be protective. Those folks who still can't understand should talk to Obama. Opening private land to everyone who wants access would be right up his agenda.

On the other hand, if you hunt, you obviously spend money for firearms, ammo, licenses, and other equipment, plus transportation costs (unless you expect landowners to fly you in?). Why is the concept of paying to hunt on someone's property so infuriating? If you actually hunt for the sport of it, isn't it worth a fee to hunt a sometimes challenging animal of large size that can be very good to eat, and not have to schedule around seasons - or even daylight? Bring big coolers, and take enough pork home for the winter. I even know guides who will butcher the pigs for you - with no limit on how many you kill except your shooting ability and the number of pigs encountered that night. These guys have PERMISSION to hunt on private lands, because they have earned it in ways a first time visitor never could.

When I managed the ranch down south, I tried letting hunters (most of them from Arizona) come down and shoot hogs. When they came by the office, I would tell them where the hogs had been hanging out and causing us problems. (The ranch was big--321,702 acres total.) They invariably wanted to ride their jeeps and quads all over the ranch and maybe shoot a hog on the way out at the end of the day. Rarely did they stop back by and let me know whether they had actually killed any hogs.

Contrast these folks with a neighboring rancher over in Arizona with two teenage boys. In years when they didn't draw a deer tag, Matt would call and ask permission to shoot a few hogs. He and the boys would come by the house on the way in and I would tell them where to find hogs. Later in the day, they would stop back by the house on their way out with anywhere from three to five hogs in the back of their pickup. They would tell me where they found hogs and thank me for the opportunity to put a little meat in the freezer.

I think some of you are missing the point. If this animal is the blight on the environment that it is made out to be, how did it become something people must pay to hunt?

Example, we have nutria that tear up land and drainage ditches. There is no way in hell you would have to pay to trap or shoot these giant rats.

Basically, I am trying to figure out how a nuisance and unwanted animal has reached trophy status that your average joe must pay to hunt like a trophy big game animal.

I may be off base here as I have lived in the north east my entire life and a handful of other countries but I think it is summed up by greed. I watch all these tv shows on whitetail hunting and every magazine I open has tons of ads to pay to hunt them. I can't understand why anyone would pay to hunt a whitetail deer. (not talking about the cost of the gun, clothes, tags, ammo etc...) They are everywhere and most states have liberal tags to control numbers.

I would guess that most landowners who have a problem with pigs, feel they can be re-imbursed with a little hunting revenue from the damage that the pigs have done to their property.

They probably already lease out their land to deer hunters already, and know the drill.

There are a few wild pigs just north of where I live, and they're all on private land which doesn't allow access.

Although I fully respect their right to do whatever they want on their land it's just a matter of time before the pigs are everywhere...

They charge money cause folks will pay...

Very simple

Snake

texas99 and mudhen, understand what us land owners have to deal with. rio7

Because you can't get rid of them anyway might as well turn them into a cash crop. In the right spots in TX you can make more charging people to shoot pigs than the damage they do.

I've waged war against pigs and not even made a dent. By wage war I mean nightly for months on end with several teams of guys shooting from a high rack. Normally that's a guy driving the truck, 2 shooters and 2 spotlighters in the truck and youc an shoot a 100 pigs a night for a month and the next month not even tell you shot any.

You literally get to the point that you get tired of shooting pigs.

If you have 10,000 acres you couldn't get enough hunters out there even if you let them for free to kill enough pigs to have a serious impact, especially if everyone else in the county wasn't shooting them 24/7 either.

Many ranches shut down pig hunting before deer season and won't start back up until after deer season. In TX that' means 5 months that people aren't shooting pigs, they will never get ahead. Might as well cover some of the damage cost.

This will piss a lot of people off as well but the more you charge the less headaches you encounter with people on your land. If you owned land with 180" deer on it would you let every Tom, Dick and Harry come out while deer had antlers on their head to "shoot pigs" for free? I sure as hell wouldn't.

15 years ago you couldn't pay to shoot pigs in South, TX. Eventually the ranchers tire of dealing with the people coming and going it requires to kill pigs and they look at the results and say might as well charge and cover some of the damage.

As much as I don't like hogs tearing up my land & roads, I only allow people I know and trust to hunt with deer rifles on my property. And usually only with my supervision. Especially since we kill most from dusk till morning. But if I wanted to guide paying hunters to kill a hog, that is my business on my private property. Might pay for some of the damages done to pasture and food plots.

I can't eliminate them, but I can trap and shoot enough to keep them in balance on my small place.

stumpy