This boar was shot in '90 or '91 at a ranch near Medina, TX.



He got nick-named Mr. T because he was big, bad and black. The landowner had a small herd of moufalon sheep for exotic hunting and Mr. T developed a taste for mutton, eventually killing and eating the entire herd. He would ambush them at night. This all happened before my time on the ranch.

One night I was hunting over a feeder by moonlight and was watching some young piglets feed when a huge black shape ambled in and began feeding with them.

Usually a boar won't tolerate company from young'uns when feeding and at 50 yds the gender details aren't so obvious, so I thought it was a big mature sow. Which is my favorite wild hog for butchering.

Short story, I made a good head shot with my 220 Swift but as I approached I could see balls as big as baking potaoes. Somewhat disappointed ( I eat boars but don't prefer them), I loaded him up and took him back to camp. The landowner's son was there and identified the boar as the infamous "Mr. T". So I mounted him as much for the story as anything. Live weight was 319 lbs. And in spite of perceptions, he was very tasty!

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
Mr. T developed a taste for mutton, eventually killing and eating the entire herd.

Did people see this?

Yes. When the sheep bed down they bunch up and are much more vulnerable than other wild game. Mr. T would sneak up and attack with his tusks. Often he would follow up killing one a day or two later after being gored. For the most part, the tracks told the story but it was witnessed once. We all thought it may have originated by his coming upon a sick or wounded sheep the for first time or possibly from foraging the gut pile. He was hunted hard while there were still some sheep alive to try and stop him but he was too lucky.

Over the course of two and a half years he killed over 30 animals plus whatever newborns were available. Never any cat or dog tracks, just hog.

Tiggertate,
Great story and mighty fine boar. Thanks for posting.
GWB

Over the course of 5-6 years he was one of only two boars over 300 lbs shot off that property. The rest were 240 or less during my time there. I've wondered sometimes if the high protein diet did that. He was a very lean, mean 319.

quote:

Originally posted by Geedubya:
Tiggertate,
Great story and mighty fine boar. Thanks for posting.
GWB

You would have loved the place, Geebubya. It was an entertainment camp for the company that employed me. We had a captive hog population for economical year-round hunting and got into that feed/kill upward spiral where you absolutely have to hunt them 300 days a year to manage the cost. As you probably know, when you hunt a captive hog population that hard they get smart as hell and very challenging at times. We were feeding 10,000 to 12,000 lbs of hog feed a week at the peak and killing 30-50 a week when it wasn't deer season (didn't want to spook the deer with people out and about all night). There were trough feeders for the deer (away from stands)and to keep the pigs out, there was cotton seed mixed with the bulk high protein. Cottonseed will make a piggy so sick he'll never go near it again. Good trick if you ever need it.

That's a very interesting story. We lost a couple adult goats and a number of kid goats to hogs in the past, so I know it does happen.

They even crippled up a full-grown billy right before daybreak about 10 years ago. He managed to get away but died a couple hours later.

If you've ever seen them kill a fawn, lamb or kid goat, it isn't a pretty sight. A hog will basically grab it in its mouth and shake it to death. If there's more than one hog around, it becomes a tug-of-war with the helpless victim being ripped to pieces. I've seen this once -- and it was enough for me. I've also come across a few kill sites, and the tracks, fur and widespread blood tell the vicious tale.

I hunted at a game farm in Missouri a number of years ago and they also had some exotic sheep on the property. The key word here is had as the entire population of them (a couple dozen I believe) was killed and eaten by the wild hogs they had.

I’ve never heard of hogs killing sheep before. But then again not too many exotic sheep in California. You learn something new every day!

Nice hog and congrats on the hunt.

great story, Harry.

and hogs will pull down fawns, in a second. its not pretty

Hogs are omniverous and oportunistic. Always ready to eat. The also have an excellent sense of smell. One of the places I hunt is 23 miles from the nearest town, 6 miles from the highway, down a private road where you have to pass through 4 gates. No cell service. Texas hill contry is rough and semi-arid, and over-run with hogs. I am up there quite often by myself. I always am armed with either a smith 57 in 41 mag or 45 acp with at least two clips, with hardball ammo and a stout knife. I do not want to be in the position of breaking a leg or hip and becoming dinner for a bunch of hogs. However, considering how many I have killed it might be karma.
GWB

Geedubya wrote:

quote:

However, considering how many I have killed it might be karma.

Even with a very serious subject, GWB manages to find a way to inject some humor. I am just thankful I took that drink of iced tea BEFORE I got to that last sentence...

One of the games we played was going out at night in two-man teams, night-stalking boars. One would carry a 12 ga for back-up and the other would be the shooter using a rifle. Both guns would be set up for this with tactical lights and pressure pads; all that stuff.

This was done on foot, walking around in the dark until a feeder lid could be heard popping in the distance. It is a real adrenaline rush, I don't mind saying. If you heard lids bouncing like popcorn popping it was going to be a family group; sows and young'uns. If it was an periodic bang, it was usually a mature boar feeding alone. In the still of the night you could hear the noise hundreds of yards away so you had a long stalk for your imagination to start working on you. Once we snuck up to 30 yds or so and got in position, the shooter was to stand up, point the light, shine and shoot.

Sows invariably ran at the moment the light came on and usually boars as well but occaisionally a boar would charge the light which was the whole point of the technique. Closest thing to dangerous game we could muster in Medina, TX!

Once or twice we had really inexperienced shooters who had heard all the war stories (real and otherwise) about these hunts and actually broke and ran under the strain.

I was shooting one night and had someone I thought was a solid hunter backing me up. We snuck up on a pair of boars late on a pretty dark night. I got ready to rise and shoot, said my "on three!" whisper and just as I got to "two", an unseen hog behind the cedar to our right about 15 feet away started growling. Next thing I heard was a shotgun hitting rocks and feet pounding gravel. The guy must have felt really stupid about two hundred yards later with no gun, light or company and visions of killer hogs working on him.

I went to a blind for the night and let him walk back to camp by himself. He was a gone pecan by the next morning.

tiggertate,
A little off the subject of "meet Mr.T", but considering your previous post, I have seen guys scatter when charged by a "killer" armadillo or Possum.

Something else that drives me nuts is spiderwebs. When I was a boy I'd go out of a morning early before daylight and walk through the woods on a trail, usually heading toward the creek bottom, see if I couldn't rustle up some squirrels or wood ducks. Well there were these big old banana spiders that would have a leg span of 3 to 4 inches. They, or another spider would have a web across the trail. If you didn't remember to carry your gun in front of you, the spiderweb would catch you full in the face. I used to hate having those big spiders crawling on me in the dark. To this day I worry more about them than having hogs charge me.
GWB

With all these tales being told, it makes me wish we had hogs running loose here in PA.
A bane for farmers and ranchers, but great for hunters! I envy you guys.

onefunzr2,
but you guys have your own "pigs", don't you?
Aren't they referred to as whistle pigs or groundhogs?
GWB

quote:

Originally posted by Geedubya:
tiggertate,
A little off the subject of "meet Mr.T", but considering your previous post, I have seen guys scatter when charged by a "killer" armadillo or Possum.

Something else that drives me nuts is spiderwebs. When I was a boy I'd go out of a morning early before daylight and walk through the woods on a trail, usually heading toward the creek bottom, see if I couldn't rustle up some squirrels or wood ducks. Well there were these big old banana spiders that would have a leg span of 3 to 4 inches. They, or another spider would have a web across the trail. If you didn't remember to carry your gun in front of you, the spiderweb would catch you full in the face. I used to hate having those big spiders crawling on me in the dark. To this day I worry more about them than having hogs charge me.
GWB

Those damn banana spiders scare the beegeezus out of me too. All summer long I run into their webs on the riding mower. Makes me shudder every time, even though the spiders are supposed to be harmless.

quote:

Something else that drives me nuts is spiderwebs. When I was a boy I'd go out of a morning early before daylight and walk through the woods on a trail, usually heading toward the creek bottom, see if I couldn't rustle up some squirrels or wood ducks. Well there were these big old banana spiders that would have a leg span of 3 to 4 inches. They, or another spider would have a web across the trail. If you didn't remember to carry your gun in front of you, the spiderweb would catch you full in the face. I used to hate having those big spiders crawling on me in the dark. To this day I worry more about them than having hogs charge me.
GWB

Four wheeling in the dark through the woods to my duck swamp running through the webs and having a great big spider in your face, yuck!

Those Banana spiders will make you hurt yourself!

Y'all have banana spiders in Texas?? I've seen 'em on Okinawa, but didn't know they made their way over here.......

We gottem in La. big and ugly, they will give you a fright, but are really harmless. I think they are native here, not a transplant.