Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 Anyone else having trouble with these critters. They are a problem in NW Arkansas for sure. Several years ago they tore up a lot of the yard. Came back a couple of days later and I was able to shoot one before they scattered. It took all day with the tractor to smooth it out. They came back tonight and started rooting again but ran off when the dog started barking. I'll have to take some pictures in the daylight. This is the damage from their first visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luketheviking Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 They are bad here in SW Arkansas as well, they trap them all around my house. I have shot one in my front yard and haven’t seen any in the yard since. Between the armadillos and feral pigs I'm not sure what has messed my yard up more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 Can you eat the meat of feral pigs? I have heard conflicting reports. Some have said that they are all infected with trichinosis and cooking will not render the meat safe for human consumption. If so, it is a waste and a shame. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luketheviking Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 There are a lot of people here in SW Arkansas and Texas that eat them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott NC Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 My old neighbors hogs used to wander over and root up the sod on my place. It sparked a long lasting feud. I don't know what they were looking for under there, maybe they eat roots or bugs. Or were trying to build a hog wallow. Did a lot of damage. I finally strung an electric fence around the whole place and that stopped it. We continued on feuding though.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidesaddle queen Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 hogs destroyed my pastures 2 yrs ago.. one sow decided she lived here..lol!! she took up with one of my horses.. i looked out and they were standing the shade of a crepe myrtle tree..lol!! a lot of the hunters got together and for weeks hunted hogs.. they set some of those big spin traps.. folks eat them around here. i have not had any damage or seen hog tracks since,, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 Ive heard of people live trapping them and feeding them grain for a month to clean out their system and then butcher them, but I think most people around here just consider them a nuisance an shoot them for destroying property, fences an crops, I don’t have a problem with feral hogs at my place but I swear like Luke said, an army of Armadillos has invaded my field and decided to burrow everywere, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 No trouble with feral hogs around here, but feral teenagers on the other hand... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 When i was in Louisiana i knew a lot of folks who were pig hunters. We have open season on them here in Ohio, i think most places do, but i have never seen a wild pig in Ohio. I am sure there are a few but not many. We do have coyote though. They dont tear up the ground like that but will do a number on live stock. May want to look at that ground. Maybe they were diggin truffles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted September 19, 2021 Author Share Posted September 19, 2021 Especially the teens with the jacked up pick-ups and big mudder tires. They regularly tear up golf courses around here. These pictures don't do justice to the damage. I didn't realize how fast the trees are shedding their leaves. Looks like an early fall & winter. Just a couple of days ago this was all green grass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 Do y'all know if feral pig meat tastes like domestic pork or because it is a wild animal is it a dark meat like beef or venison? "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 Flavor depends a lot on what game has been eating, feral or wild pig is no different. I've only eaten wild pig once, I went on a Javalina hunt with Dad and the riding club when I was 13-14 yro. A pack had been doing a lot of damage to local farms so a drive was organized. They set up a V shaped fence we lined up about 20' apart and drove them into the fence where shooters took them. There was a big BBQ afterwards and it tasted like BBQ pork to me but you k now how discriminating a teenager is where food is concerned. Cook it well done and it's safe. Trichinosis is a parasite, round worm that lives in meat. Eating improperly prepared meat containing the cysts release eggs which grow in the intestinal walls, breed and release more eggs in the blood stream which spread every darned where. It's treatable with drugs, the earlier the better, extreme infections can have lasting effects but it's not common. The following site is to the point and where I brushed up on the details. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/trichinosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20378583 The infectious things that cooking won't kill are typically prions. Even Salmonella can be killed by cooking well done and it's a tough one. Boil hard for 20 minutes hard to kill. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 I have a friend who lives up on a mountain here and he has said that nearly every time he leaves to go to town, he runs across a bunch of wild hogs. He always carries, pistol and rifle, and if he sees a juvenile, he'll shoot it for the meat. Never eats the adults...says they taste a little gamy to him and are tough. Rest of them, he dispatches as best he can. Says the young ones taste ever bit as good as store-bought pork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 The guys back home said under 125# if you wanted to eat it. Where I grew up in CA they hunted them with rifles, pistols, and knives. The knife guys would go with dogs as partners. The lead dog would grab an ear or jowl, then the other would come in and help hold the hog until the guy could jump in and cut it. My brother the vet patched up a few lead dogs who got gored when the other dogs hesitated a bit too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 That sounds like way more fun than I could stand. I did know one guy who wanted me to make him a boar spear with a cross guard so that he could go to AR and hunt the old fashioned way. I lost touch with him and don't know if he ever fulfilled his fantasy. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 You know what I think it is George? I believe you and I live lives with enough excitement and challenge we don't have to do things like hunting pig by hand. I'll bet if we ran across a couple of these guys in a bar we could have them talked into hunting wild boar with a club, naked and painted blue. Well, okay wearing a horned helmet would make it too easy. Nevermind. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 Clubs and spears? I thought that’s what 45-70 with 600 grain projectiles is for… maybe I’m just lazy but I don’t want to meet a 500+ pound wild animal with tusks up close that sounds like like to much work, even for the little 100# ones, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 You use a 45-70 for a club or spear? You have a bayonet for it or what? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 Frosty, only after I run out of ammunition lol! but the bayonet isn’t a bad idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 Frosty, I agree with you. The only way it would be as exciting as what I have already experienced is if you gave the hogs trigger fingers and AK-47s and a couple RPGs per group (herd? sounder?). I'm not sure that I'd want to trust the integral rod bayonet on my .45-70 M1883 trap door Springfield as a last ditch weapon against a large charging wild boar. "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted September 20, 2021 Author Share Posted September 20, 2021 25 minutes ago, Frosty said: You use a 45-70 for a club I used a Mossberg bolt action 410 shotgun as one, on a 200- 300 pound Razorback boar, when I was a young man in the Everglades. However that is another story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 Don't be a tease, the audience is assembled and waiting. I didn't say I wouldn't use a fire arm, or anything at hand if I had to. There's a colony days story about a woman in Palmer who took out a grizzly bear with the axe from the splitting block when it started chasing her milk goats. I've never experienced even close to combat exciting and I'm not sorry. I have too many friends who came back from Viet Nam and never recovered. I am profoundly grateful for everybody who serves but I can't say I'm sorry the draft didn't take me. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted September 20, 2021 Author Share Posted September 20, 2021 When I was 15-16 years old I did a lot of Everglades hunting by myself, always sort of a loaner. Anyway one nice day I was about a half mile into the glades river of grass, heading for a hammock, a raised dry sort of islands with a lot of palmetto bushes and some have trees. When I came upon this large Razorback boar who was rooting under a palmetto bush and didn't notice me (or didn't care). I had my model 183 D Mossberg loaded with a slug and 2 rounds of bird shot. I usually hunted the small Key deer or birds. I had what I considered the perfect shot with the slug on the boar, he was about 20 yards away and was dead but didn't know it yet. He charged with the intent of taking me with him. I fired the two rounds of bird shot which kinda slowed him but he kept coming. Because there was no tree to climb, I had to resort to using the Mossberg as a club (broke the stock in half) and my K bar knife to finish him off. He was too heavy to drag out so I just took the tusks which were about 7 inches long. When holding them in my palm they went from my wrist to the tip of the middle finger. I gave them to my friend Jimmy Jumper, who was the G G Grandson of an early Seminole Indian Chief. Jimmy and I would go hunting together on occasion and he taught me the ways of the glades. His hunting gear consisted of knife, spear and bow & arrow. I often wonder what became of him, lost contact when I enlisted in the USCG in '64. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 Wow that’s a heck of a story Irondragon ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 I checked on Spokeo and found a Jimmie T Jumper, age 75 in Stuart, FL and a James David Jumper, age 74, who lives in Chandler, AZ but previously lived in Davenport and Lakeland, FL. Could either of those be your old pal? (Small world moment: My wife, Madelynn, is originally from Lakeland, FL). "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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