Hey all,
I know there are LOTS of states that have huge wild hog populations and no doubt within those populations there are BIG hogs that can be taken. I would like to know where you would go if you were wanting to have the best chance to take a real MONSTER HOG.
Another question is what draw weight would be suggested for hogs like what I am talking about?
Thanks for your time.
Nala
I've seen pictures of some pretty big hogs in Kentucky. I think where ever there are feral pigs they CAN get pretty big.
Check-out the specimens that Kingwouldbe knocks over in California. There's a thread or two in the Dangerous Game forum. They're monsters.
or check out Ben's homeland Australia they'v got big howgs out there and lots of em.
everything is bigger in texas is what they say.
Gawgia.
They're ALL feral pigs here in the states. Some have more russian bloodlines, you can see it in their faces and shoulders.
If you're talking about wild pigs, California does seem to have some larger offerings but beware some of the photos you see where guys are sitting 15' behind the dead animal and remember too that half of us can't judge weight on hogs for ****.
There are some pics in GON this month of 1100 lber and an 800 and something but these are escapees from farm lots even though thery are "shot" by "Hunters"
Truly big (300#+) wild hogs are hard to find. They are basically noctournal and stay in the heaviest brush you can imagine PLUS, they're smart!
You can get some big ones with dogs but then, you gotta give the credit to the dogs for hunting and can only be happy with the shooting part.
Wingnut, Mike form Dryad bows killed a 300+ hog about a mile from the house. I have been watching is Mamma for the last couple of yrs. she don't have a lot of russina in her genes if is a black and white volklswagen though. If she has a litter she is very aggesive.
I think Wngnut has got a pick of his Rojo Grande somewhere.
rusty
Here's one I could find quick:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/mwestvang/24b710e3.jpg)
Mike
Just a simple question, don't get excited.
Are you saying that is a 300# hog?
Like Biggie I was thinking California - pictures from there show hogs big and fat. Long time ago when we were all in the Paradise in GA only one out of One Hundred Killed was over 200#. In SC we take one 200# for about every 25 hogs taken and One 300# for every 100 hogs taken - so you need to hunt and work hard in the southeast. Also I think the more russian blood the more likely they will not get very large - this seems more likely in the Feral bloolines - exceptions sure - but most of the time anyway.
<>< <---------------<<<<<<<
Biggie,
We did not have a scale but had a couple of guys that have done a lot of pig hunting help me with it. Both said it was about 300#. Mind you that you and I are close to the same size. I'm 6'4" and over 300 in this pic.
I'm along side and not behind the hog too.
Mike
I've seen them on the hoof that will go 300+ in Ga. Very rare to see one that big in the wild down here. The largest I've taken was 200+ and was about the size of the one posted above. Average adult boars will go around 175-185# I would say. CA is probably the best bet unless you want a game farm animal. They can go 500+#.
Romania has some pure russian strain hogs that top the scale at 700# of pure wild hog. My dad killed on there about 15yrs back that was weighed at 520 live weight.
The giant forest hog of North/Central Africa has been known to top 600# as well.
In the USA, I would not make any hunt plans based on finding a monster. You might die of old age first, you'd have alot of fun trying. I would base my plans on quantity. Where there is alot of hogs the will be big ones. The California situation is as I see it: A hunt where you can spot and stalk in ideal terrain. The fact that you can do this allows for one to be selective and harvest good big mature hogs. The terrain and one's hunting skills make this possible. Over the rest of the US the ability to spot at long distances in required/desired terrain is minimal so hogs are taken as is and when is. I don't believe that the hogs in California are any bigger. I just believe we have some good guys that have the terrain and the skills and the ability to whack good big hogs.
Thanks everyone for the info.. I have checked out the thread in the Dangerous Game section and those California hogs are indeed HUGE. I think it would be something just to SEE a hog that big roaming the wild.
Besides the fact that I wouldn't know how to even go about finding a place in California I doubt seriously I would ever get the chance to go there. That pretty much confines me to the eastern US and MAYBE Texas. One day I am going to do it though.
Nala
Biggie, what do you think the live weight would have been? I don't know but I can tell Wingnt worked my but off getting it in the truck :) and even then it was a real good thing Mike was real strong :)
Of course 'em boys could have been funning us about what they thought the weight was. That reminds me of a story.....had a fellow coming down from New York that was really a non-hunter and wanted to kill a turkey. before he got here we went out a bought a emu. pinned it up it up near his bind. when he got to the stand with my buddy as a guide. we turned the emu out. becasue of cross fence there was no where for the emu to go but in front of his blind. he nailed the emu (they were giving them away at the time if you would just come get thme. they were not paying for their feed). He gave us call on the radio and we came a running. Holy Cow now that is a "moy grande trukey" and a nice one too. we took his picture with the bird. Took him and the pic to woody's bar and grill. he showd the picture around and the whole dang bar went a long with it. they said man that is a dandy and a real trophy.
we tried to eat the dang thing....no breast meat and the legs were tuff as railroad spikes. so he takes his moy grande turkey pic back to New York and still showing it till this day.....and to my knowledge no one has told him :)
rusty -that pig werent' no runt :) - Craine
Mike I got one that went 250 on the scale. Yours looks a little bigger so I dont think 300 is a stretch. When I got mine I was so focused on the hog (third one that walked out) after I shot ther were 30 hogs headed back to the thicket and one looked like it would go 600+. I know there out there...
Biggie do them hogs oink with a accent????
Blueline
This one was 225 lbs live weight on the button. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v306/beachbowhunter/norbert6.jpg)
Nala, Kingwouldbe is getting a hog hunt together here in California at the end of January at Tejon ranch. 300lb hogs are not uncommon up there and the price is affordable. Personally, I want to keep 'em under 200 lbs!
Norb
I end up with nasty pm's after everyone of these threads I post on. NOBODY get excited, I'm not referring to any of the photos on this thread(yet), but on past threads people proudly posing with their 300# pigs that are obviously no where near that and I am always suspicious when someone tells me an animal weighs EXACTLY 300#'s or any of the other even 100# increments. I have only seen two wild hogs that I would guarantee were over 300#'s and both of those were in Australia, the one boar I saw several times and he had tusks like a warthog, the closest I ever got to him was several hundred yards. Another time I had a rifle hunter shoot a big boar right at dark and then another pig I guarantee was twice as big, stood up and took off, I asked the hunter why he shot a small one until we walked over and saw the dead one was at LEAST 200#'s and I guarantee the one that got away was at least twice that big. I just remembered another one that was in the 300# range that we walked up on in Australia where it was feeding on a dead buffalo, we didn't have a hunter at the time and this boar had NO fear of us, we stopped at about six FEET when he wouldn't budge and Andrew said "shoot em", I said no, I would prefer to leave him for a paying hunter, which is at least partially true, but that was a BIG boar with no fear of us and I knew there was no way that I could drop him in six feet regardless of how good a shot it was and we didn't even have a rifle with us.
There are lots of places to go and shoot a big pig, if you don't care whether it is wild or pen raised, really truely monster WILD hogs are very rare. The other thing is that big WILD boars are one of the smartest and wariest animals in the woods, so often the only thing you see from them is the tracks. I just remembered one more I saw in Australia and it was definately over 300# and could have been over 400#, but it was getting fairly dark, I staked out a dead cow that had big pig tracks around it and right at dark this huge hog showed up, it was the only one I ever saw in that area and it grabbed a mouthful of that cow and DRAGGED it around in circles, but I never got a shot at that one!
We have taken two really large pigs on our place. One was 467 live weight, a sow believe it or not, weighed on cotton scales, and a 322 lb sow also weighed on cotton scales.
Most of our boars are lucky to be 250...big in the front, with lots of head and little behinds. The sows are shaped like barrels and if they are dry, they can be heavy.
If you want a big shoulder mount with nice tushes, go to Australia or California. Iran has the largest pigs with the biggest tushes I have ever seen, but right now you'd have some difficulty going there to hunt as you can imagine.
(http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e322/rayhammond123/iranianboar.jpg)
If you want to have fun, kill bunches, and eat nice, our Georgia and SC pigs are great for that as long as they don't live in salt marshes.
Pics of a couple large pigs we have killed-
(http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e322/rayhammond123/terruslargerone.jpg)
this pic has been photoshopped by me, to remove a stick holding up the hog's head, and I did a crappy job of it, but the body and head have in no way been changed or resized...
(http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e322/rayhammond123/mikeshog.jpg)
This last one is a GA hog, and has already been dressed out.
(http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e322/rayhammond123/MaconCountyhogMarch063.jpg)
Mr. Hammond you have some big hogs at your place and are not too far away from me. I'm saving up and hope to be in contact with you soon about a trip down. Nice pictures.
WOW!! I would be absolutely tickled to death with a hog like those posted above.
Thanks for sharing the pictures.
Nala
This hog was taken in California he was 210#
(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f85/wtpops/IMG_1936.jpg)
Here is a pic of his skull
(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f85/wtpops/IMG_2014.jpg)
This one was taken in Oklahoma by a young man on his first hog and trad hunt
(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f85/wtpops/ShilohHunt008.jpg)
nice pigs, wtpops!!!!!
Europe has some bigguns!
(http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o203/Apex-Predator/Monsterboar-1.jpg)
(http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o203/Apex-Predator/Monsterboar-2.jpg)
(http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o203/Apex-Predator/Monsterboar-3.jpg)
OMG!!! - Apex, I would have never had the cojones to drop the string on that thing...geeeze
rusty
The last pics look like they are from Turkey, when I was stationed in Germany alot of the Europeans went there for the huge hogs, They tend to get bigger in muslim territory for some reason.
Are those hog pics REAL and not doctored up or done using camera trickery? If they are REAL I am gonna have to put that destination on my itinerary for the future. That is an unbelievable hog. I didn't think they got THAT big.
Thanks for posting it. I am gonna have to save those pics on my puter for future refrence.
Nala
I love those pictures.
But, I just struggle to comprehend a pig that is as big as a buffalo bull, even bigger. Forgive me, but I feel a little bit like Doubting Thomas from the Good Book!
Apex Predator: is that you in those pictures? Are there any with a weapon or hand for size reference? Do you have any weight numbers for those pigs? Are the photos of one or two pigs?
Again, please forgive me for questioning - I mean no offence, my mind is just somewhat boggled looking at them.
Cheers,
Ben
Guys, I stole these shots from another board. I do believe the pics are real, but obviously staged to make the critter look larger than life. Here is the link to the outfitter, that appears to be in Turkey. If I'd have known these things were over there I would have given them a whirl, since I've been there half a dozen times!
http://www.naturetours.com.tr/galery_eng.html
BOWHNTR, simple explanation-Muslims don't eat pigs.
Ray I realize that :thumbsup:
There was an interesting show on one of the cable channels a while back about giant pigs. I don't recall if it was all about pigs or other animals too but they were talking about genetics and reversion to "wild" state. They also talked about "hogzilla" and several very large pigs in the 1,000# range.
One of the things they pointed out was the difference in head shape between a domestic pig and a wild one. A domestic pig will have a more dished face and upturned looking nose and a wild one will have a head shape that is more of a straight line from the forehead to the snout. If you look at Ray's 4 pictures, I think it was the third one that has a dished shape to it's head and the other two have the straight profile. The third one was likely fewer generations from domestic. I think they said it had a lot to do with wild pigs rooting constantly actually distorted the bone growth of the skull. Domestic pigs get fed in a trough and don't need to or have to root for their food so their head grows shorter and concaved.
I thought it was kinda cool.
Many areas of Europe have huge hogs of Russian strain. As I mentioned earlier Romania has huge hogs, as does Turkey, Austria, Hungary and many parts of Russia. These wild hogs grow big and are only hunted by a few select fans. Across most of europe the standard metheod of hunting these hogs is to shoot them from an elevated stand in crop fields. This hunting is done at night as these big guys are mostly nocturnal. This is the reason for 56MM scopes that originated in Europe, light gathering.
It is not uncommon for hog to go 500 to 700 pounds in these regions. The thought of stalking a 700# hog up to 10-15yrds and arrowing him is scary. Better be some big trees around.
I don't know if he was hunting them in his home state, AR, but on the two shooting instructional videos by Ricky Welch he killed some nice hogs. One of them was a monster that didn't look all that big when he shot it, but when he walked to where it was laying, behind a rather large log, it was clear there was more there than met the eye. When he recovered it, it was a big hog for sure.
Bill
Apex,
those are some nasty looking hogs for sure...but in looking at that third photo it certainly appears to have been photoshopped to the max.
Look at the greenery around the animal itself- its completely different from teh stuff behind the pig...I think that is two separate photos put together.
Same thing with just the head of the pig and the guys' faces behind....I am pretty certain thats a full shop job on that one.
the first pic, I'm not good enough to know..like I said, they are gnarly looking but I don't think they are huge pigs..if there isn't any photoshopping going on there those pigs could well be over 1000 lbs...i dont know, thats really big, brother.
Out here in Florida the Hog population is goin nuts like in Texas and other states. The State Park officers are hireing trappers to remove them since they will not allow ANY hunting on park property. The trappers trap them and sell them to the Hunt Farm guys. I have seen several out running around on the N end of lake Okeechobee that run well over 300# and lots in the 200# range.
I have not had oportunity yet to hunt them but I am working on my hog bow and arrows, be ready soon.
See ya out there
I don't know what breed they were, but a rancher I know in Alberta had two enormous boars in his yard and said they were over 500#'s, which I can tell you is HUGE, but he said that he had another one about the same size which they had castrated and turned loose with the cattle, when they rounded it up and sent it off to the slaughter house it was over 1000#'s, he told me the exact weight, but I just remember it was 1000#'s+, they had to load it into the truck with a frontloader as it was to big to go up the ramp. I had two different bowhunters I was guiding in Australia, make stalks on monster pigs in tall grass that turned out to be BUFFALO, in both cases, I KNEW they were buffalo, but the hunters didn't, I can tell you I had a good laugh when they came back with their eyes showing a lot of white, they didn't think it was funny though!
Well Ray, I didn't claim to have taken the photos! Big hog any way you care to slice it. I've been close to one over 300# on the ground and he was pretty intimidating! Heck, he may go over 400#. All I know is that he was with a sounder that had four other mature boars. They were the typical 175-180 pounders, with tusks and large grape fruit sized gear. He was twice as tall at the back! The other boars were constantly sparring, but none would mess with the big boy.
I'd say the biggest ones would be in the Senate as they are on a 6 yr feeding cycle as opposed to the 2 yr cycle for the ones in the House.
Same holds true for both...you want to be 15' behind them when your picture is taken...
Ray, those pictures are probably an example of forced perspective. Here's a couple more examples.
(http://bp2.blogger.com/_xHQgaqFbFvE/RavzrDs1adI/AAAAAAAAAA8/jih-ryxprd0/s400/giantrabbit2.jpg)
(http://bp1.blogger.com/_zM7GAYPCjRE/RmCYcQzOcRI/AAAAAAAAAMA/cwzH_0hvtsg/s400/100_5126.JPG)
In fact the whole Lord of the Rings movie is full of forced perspective to make the "hobbits" look small compared to the other actors.
Talendale - holy moly! that looks just like the swamp rabbits I hunt down in the boggy bottoms :)
rusty -now your talking- Craine
Rick, I can just hear the conversation....
"Now look Elmer, if we castrate that 500 lber, he'll get REAL big! So get in there with your pocket knife and get to work"... :scared:
dat is one skaaaaaawwwy wabbit!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Beachbowhunter, You remember the Wild Kingdom TV show? You want to be Marlin Perkins flying around safely in the helicopter, while Jim Fowler castrates the giant angry boar with his penknife! Surprisingly when you are wringing cattle, thats the thing that seems to bother them not at all!
Rick, there's a magic switch at the base of the tail that immobilises them, and stops them from kicking. I used to hold the tail up while my Dad would castrate them. If ever the tail slipped out of my hands, there'd be trouble!
This is a bad picture but this hog bottomed out a 500lb hanging scale with a lot of people watching. :) My buddy killed this one in NC along a river on land that had not been hunted for years.There were 3 others over 400lbs killed the same season.The sheild on this one was over 3" thick.It took 5 of us and two 2x10s to get it into the back of the truck.If he had not shot it crossing a road we would have had to leave it in the woods. :D In all my other hunting I have never seen a hog that weighed much over 200lbs however.
(http://funhunts.homestead.com/files/boar2.jpg)
A customer of mine had a boar taken from her place in south east missouri that was in the 380's feild dressed. She had a picture of him on a trailer that was 5 ft in width and over hung it on each side. She also has a sholder mount of one her care taker killed with a spear that was just shy of 300.
I've had pig farmers tell me a pig never stops growing, which could be why some animals are so much bigger than others. If you check out the link to the boar hunting in Turkey it shows a rub on a tree that goes to the guys shoulder. There's another pic on there that shows about a dozen boars all laid out and they look kinda small so who knows.
The boar in my avatar photo weighed by scales 225 lbs. Arkansas hog with a knife and two dogs.
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/98961377_ba82843a4c.jpg)
I've killed some much bigger with a rifle, although not many. Some of the sows we get are barrel shaped and get to over 300.
I saw a boar at Ray's place last weekend that will for sure go over 300 lbs. He looked like a large black triangle. That big rascal is still there. Lin
Im going to go south and do some pig hunting your killing me with those picks. :banghead:
Rusty your email doesn't work for me....email me.
These are all what I consider "big" TX hogs. All of these were taken on my lease near Columbus, TX with the exception of the last one which was taken on a ranch 3 miles away.
A big pig and a nice trophy but he's no Hogzilla
this is a pretty common sized boar on our place.
this is the biggest one I have photos of on my place.
This one came off a neighboring ranch and looks like a grizzly bear with hooves to me! Now can you hog gurus tell me how much these pigs weigh? By the way im thinking of doing an all trad hog hunt and BBO building class on this place in February after deer season. We have tons of pigs.
<<<<<>>>>>>
I have noticed the really large ones where I hunt start to get that rhinocerous (sp?) look about them. Like the one in your last photo. Thier shoulders start to have a segmented look. I would guess that one is over 300#, which is not common.
You better put a stick of tnt on your arrow thats huge. :eek:
yeah big hogs are rare.
depends what you call big though. under 200lbs is relatively easy. Above that is tougher by the lb.
In all the years I've been in louisiana I've only seen 1 I guess to be 300lbs or so. There is a very notable difference between a 2 and a 3. And there was extenuating circumstances. It's bow only. It was during the closed season, deep in the swamp in an area that had all the trails brushed over during katrina. I figure he was a 200lbs pig around the storm and with nobody to bother him and lots of new growth he raised the extra digit.
Most truly big ones were pen fed. Whether people will admit it or not. Think about it. The bigger the animal the more food it needs. It's very difficult for a pig to maintain hundreds of lbs of weight in the wild. If you had to find your food do you think you could stay 300lbs?
But here is a tip. I scout year round and I notice the largest hog turds. The 15-16 inchers. Very often have bones of frogs and small animals. Also remnants of insects. I think them having access to protein during the spring when other pigs are eating greens and roots is a big factor.
So my opinion for a BIG PIG hunter is to look somewhere warm and wet. Maybe with a nutria problem. Swamps would be a good place to start.
If your looking for a place to hunt I recomend Ray Hamond's place in south carolina. I got my first pig there and it wasn't very big but I've seen some pictures from there and they were pretty big. :saywhat:
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/Bigputtsy-1.jpg)
David there is no end to the size of hogs you have posted! ROFLMAO!!
Please tell us the story of your 'companion' above!!
why that's the pig from Green Acres- all growed up!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Washington D.C. ;)