I read an interesting blog about the true weight of hogs on http://huntersnetworks.com/Hitman/blog/292/ I tend to agree that they are not as heavy as many make them out to believe!

All it takes is a simple scale to get within a couple pounds of the truth. I use an old farm scale, and while it's probably only accurate to maybe 6 or 7 pounds, that's close enough for me.

In my area, most fully mature, older boars will weigh between 180 and 240 pounds. I have been fortunate enough to take a number of hogs larger than that, but they are the EXCEPTION and certainly not the rule.

I scale weigh every hog that I kill.

Many things can influence the perceived size of a hog, including angle of the photo and the lens used. Wide angle distortion can exaggerate the foreground and minimize the background, making things nearer the camera appear larger than they actually are.

For that reason, I do not use a wide angle for "trophy" shots. Instead, I'll use either a standard 50 mm or a long telephoto to compress the image and blur the background.

Below are some hogs for which I don't believe I ever posted the weights. I purposely selected these because at least a couple of them show how angle can vary one's perception. Let's hear your guesses (just number them 1 through 6). In a couple days, I'll post the actual weights.

Most hunters grossly overestimate the wt. of hogs. I've seen several that were describes as "250 or better" that MIGHT have weighed 150 soaking wet. It is fairly hard to estimate wt correctly even with the hog in front of you. A lot depends on how long he is, how fat he is, etc and that's somewhat hard to judge with nothing to compare them to.

The only BIG hg Ive ever shot was the 430lb'er.. He was so big that we just HAD to know what he weighed.. The neighboring ranch from ranch I shot him on had a digital scale for weighing wool.. we ran over there and put him on there just grins!!

Most all the other pigs Ive taken were in the 130 to 170lb range.. a few 200lbs'ers thrown in there.. That big boar was just a freak of nature!!

I try to weigh most of them -- if they are big enough for me to care about how much they weigh. I saw a photo of a hog and the hunter proudly standing over it (on another forum) and the guy claimed the hog weighed 350+ pounds. If tat thing went over two-hundred pounds I would've eaten my hat.

As Bobby pointed out, the angle of the photo influences the perception of the size and weight. I've had some look big that weren't and some look small that weren't. The hog in my signature (not te one satnding up! ) went 200-lbs and some change, but the angle of the photo is deceptive and it looks a lot smaller.

There is the most important factor that cannot be overlooked. With every subsequent telling of the tale of the hunt, the animal grows larger.........it's a hunter's right to exagerate........

What, no guesses?

Heck--I'll show my ignorance:

#1-80
#2-110
#3-140
#4-100
#575
#6-70

Here are the hanging weights of hogs taken off our lease before field dressing over a 3-yr period (2005-07):

95, 160, 194, 75, 87, 163, 185, 165, 104, 120,
58, 148, 132, 172, 78, 176, 187, 70, 82, 146, 160, 134, 30, 29, 84, 30, 156, 167, 60, 48, 40, 145, 134, 60, 123, 105, 110, 130, 136, 122, 120, 142, 137, 77, 178, 130, 150, 165, 92, 91, 131, 66, 57, 93, 80, 76, 93, 138, 57, 102, 95.

My big boar didn't make 250# but an awfull lot of folks think he's bigger.









This one has been on here before but it is my big one sorry if anyone has grown tierd of seeing it.......or me.

Hard to guess on pictures, I prefer dressed weights and not 'dead' weight when talking boar weights. Here's 3 pics of the same boar, field dressed weight 39kg or about 85 lbs. I shot a few good ones over the years, was gonna weigh one before dressing, pegged the 100 kg scale out, so gutted it, and thought it was going to top out again. Scale stopped at 95 kg, a very decent sized boar for our area here. I hunt a lot alone, so when you gotta call a buddy for help getting them loaded you got a good boar, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

In the woods:


Dressed and hanging:


39 Kilograms

I'll take a wild stab at Bobby Tomek's pigs, although it's harder for me since they're not field dressed, I may be a little light. Like said, pics are difficult to say the least, and some of those look 'different' from over here. Heads, ears, etc give an indication though. The last two look like twins, from the same group. Waidmannsheil, Dom.
1 - 70#
2 - 90#
3 - 140#
4 - 55#
5 - 50#
6 - 50#

OK Bobby--a couple of us bit and are on the line. You gonna post the actual weights and see if we end up flopping in the live well?

Ok, I'll bite but admit these are pretty wild guesses.

1-145
2-120
3-80
4-105
5-60
6-45

Ha Ha! I knew #5 would get a few folks since it was framed & posed similarly to #6.

#5 was basically twice the weight of #6. Check the size of the gun in each of those two; that's one of the keys.

#3 was the heaviest of the lot. He was deep through the chest, which is not apparent in the photo, and he was rather fat as well (you can some one of the "rolls" on the shoulder). I also have him positioned with the head turned a bit back towards the body and into the photo, which tends to minimize the apparent size.

I have to say kudos to Gatogordo. He hit #4 right on the money.

Dustoffer was within 5 pounds on #4 and only one pound off on #6 -- that's not bad at all!

Dom would have been pretty close on a couple if the weights were for dressed piggies.


I also have to say that judging any animal's weight without a common reference in the frame is very, very difficult.

1. 131
2. 152
3. 249
4. 105
5. 127
6. 63

For comparison, here's a view of one that featured incredible girth and was extremely fat. He went 353.

this one will be fun..
try to guess the weight of THIS one --all the same hog, just collected from various cameras, by random people, on the same hunt

while we are at it, guess this one..

NOT the big ole boar with a hat (6'4, 250 or so at the time), the one laying down!

Jeffe,

By the size of his nuts I guess he is around 150 kilos ????

L

Lorenzo,
as close as i could measure, you are a little light.. we put it on a 300LB scale (140 kilos about) and kicked it out of the truck.. scale pegged out, over the top, and the pigs head was still on the ground... 330-340lbs as we guessed.. Neal finished the deal.

biggest true feral I had seen until a month ago... until "Lucky" made it over the leevee.. perhaps not FAR over the leevee, but yeah.. perhaps Lucky was 400.. he was HUGE