From another post:

Really, are pigs that bad to have around? I've read countless comments like "they tear up crops!", but never have I ever read "they tore up MY crops!". It reminds me of people who think carp are nasty to eat, but have never eaten them and don't know anybody who has. Is it just a rumor that has spread itself so thoroughly that it's been accepted as fact?

I live in the SE Texas panhandle in Motley Co on the north side of the North Pease River and have the pleasure of having feral hogs on my property and property that I lease. I also said "I cann't wait till they get here". Boy was I stupid. They put farmers here out of business growing peanuts, they will destroy hay bales in the field and in the stack in no time. They got sixty 1500 lb. round bales for me in two nights, about $3500 worth. Ranchers that feed range cubes don't even get out of sight of their cows till the hogs run the cows away to eat the cubes. They destroy stock ponds by wollering and rooting in them and break concrete storage tanks by rooting under the edge causing the tanks to leak. If a heifer or cow is having trouble having a calf and the hogs find her they will eat her. They will eat ANYTHING, quail eggs, turkey eggs, rattlesnakes, I could go on and on.
I kill usually six or more a week just driving from place to place and have killed as many as twenty a day not trying to hunt them. We have a helicopter that comes twice a year and they kill over 700 a day every day for as long as they stay. My cousin does the shooting and I know this number is not inflated. I use an SKS, a 22-50, a 308 and any pistol that is within reach and have been known to drive over them with my pickup. I buy ammunition by the case. I have shot sows with little pigs and they will return to nurse from their dead mother. I have shot sows with one week old pigs and have killed the same litter mates six months later.
Almost all land here is leased by the acre yearly which includes whitetail, mule deer, turkey, quail, dove and hogs. The rule is; if you have a shot at a 15 point buck and a hog you better shot the hog first or you will be thrown off the place and filed on.
As far as the population explosion here is concerned the Conservation Reserve Program has had a positive effect on all wildlife. We have had a few wet years that furnished an abundance of food and as my neighbor stated; "Hogs have four pigs at a time and all eight will survive." It takes three months, three weeks and three days to have a litter of pigs, thats two and half litters a year minimum. Its funny no matter what the color the parents are the pigs are redish brown with two or three black stripes running length wise down their body. Mother nature works in neat ways.
The only thing that I can imagine worse would be fire ants and I'm sure that time is coming too, bet the hogs would kill them out also. Sorry for the long post....

Let me know when and where and I'll be there to help!

So what happens to all the dead pigs??

That's a lot of bacon!!

They are still laying where they fell.

You're just feeding the ones that are still out there!

I was invited, along with three others I had never met, to a game preserve to hunt deer in NW Fl, and the owner informed us later that we had to kill two sows before we shot any deer and we were to shoot a doe, then any buck over a 6 point. Two of the others finished a drink and left rather than abide by the rules. The next morning I was back in camp by mid-morning cleaning 3 sows, a doe and an 8 point. I also got invited back again.

Ole Miss Guy,

Now THAT was a heck of a morning hunt! Congrats on accepting the rules and helping clean house. Cooperation made for a great memory (I'll bet!).

Whack 'em and stack 'em Coy! Need help? I'll bring the ammo.

You can walk any field or pasture where there are a lot of pigs and see the damage...It is simple as that unless you just don't know what to look for...They root huge holes in the fields and pastures and around water tanks, these holes lead to erosion pretty quick...The pig is very destructive...

They cost me big bucks in MY pastures when I lived in Texas and they continue to do so for my family that ranches there.

No contest here, it happens, its a proven fact, check with Texas A&M, they have studies on pig infestation...

They are not native to the area, they were planted there and are still being turned loose there, they are nothing more than farm pigs turned loose and are now called "ferrel pigs" At some point in certain areas some European boars were turned loose and some pigs in Texas show a lot of this breeding, and they are the best hog for the sportsman...I like to hunt the European pigs.

quote:

We have a helicopter that comes twice a year and they kill over 700 a day every day for as long as they stay. My cousin does the shooting and I know this number is not inflated.

I'm certainly not saying that isn't true, but I'd have to see it to believe it. If the chopper flew 12 hours a day, if you factor in just fueling time, that is more than one hog every minute. Sounds pretty farfetched to me.

When they are more than 30 to a group its not farfetched at all and most groups have at least that or more. I stood on a hill behind my house and watched them kill 42 in less than 20 minutes one morning. If any of you have hunted from a helicopter before shooting 2 or 3 a minute is not that unrealistic. Hogs don't jink around like coyotes do they mostly run in a straighter line like antelope. The helicopter only comes after a freeze and before the mesquites put on leaves in the spring. I've got plenty of phone numbers if you want to call bull.

I have seen the helicopters fly in and get a bunch of 100 or so hogs running, they tend to run in a bunch and straigt, then the shooters in a short time kill almost every one of them..I didn't count it or time it but it was a lot of hogs in a hurry, then the trucks and a tractor with a bucket came in and hauled them to a dump and burried them...Quite and operation...and it went on all day long for a week or so and they still have too many hogs..I understand this is a yearly event on the ranches in that area and on the adjacent park or reserve, whatever it is..Its the breeding ground I understand.

Depending on the lay of the land, I could see it. You could certainly kill in the hundreds on Matagorda Island if they let you. or most anywhere on the coastal plains, for that matter.

I stand corrected and apologize for my doubting words.

I'm ready to load up a few thousand .308 rounds in my truck and go help out those poor beseiged farmers and ranchers in Motley County.

Are any of the younger hawgs edible? I do know commercial lower grade pork sometimes smells like cooked armpits. On the other hand I can see a major undertaking in doing a lot of butchering - this would take a large van and trained personnel capable of doing field work.

Does anyone bother with the hides these days? The last major manufacturer of pigskin hides for footballs is located a couple miles from me. I buy leather there. There would also be a decent amount of bone meal. Having buried some dead dogs around a peach tree whose crop wasn't thinned, the calcium seems to have aided in producing a decent crop of smaller but flavorful peaches.

They are all edible and are usually very good (the old saw about the boars being inedible is mostly untrue, not referring to dogged hogs) BUT you can't legally sell feral hog meat for US consumption. Not inspected and likely diseased. A high percentage of wild hogs also have trichonosis (sp?) and some have brucellosis which capable of human transmission. I don't always do it, but it is definitely better to use surgical gloves when cleaning them and handling the fresh raw meat. I don't kill them in anything like the quantity they're talking about above but it is still hard to not waste some of the meat. We give a lot of it away, but many recipients want them cleaned (kind of like fish). If I've got to clean them, I might as well keep them or let them lie if we've got too many in the freezer pipeline, widows or families with no men in the mix being an exception. I hate to waste food, but I can assure you, ANY TEXAS RANCHER OR FARMER that I know has a firm opinion that the only good hog is a dead hog and what happens to it after that is of little consequence.

I'm waiting for "Dead Dog" peach brandy to hit a store near me.....

Gatogordo is very correct!

Even the biggest boar is good eating!

Here is what I have found:

Sows with piglets are usually drawn down from feeding the piglets. Good, but often not very meaty and very lean.

Young boars are great! They do no work and don't get all worked up for breeding. Meaty and not too lean! (best IMO)

Big old breeding boars are good too. You just need to make sure they are not all jacked up for a fight, etc... They only have to eat and breed so they are usually fat and tasty. Some older ones can be a bit tough, so cook 'em slow and low.

Piglets (from football size on up) -- just clean em and cook em whole. These will not have any gamey taste at all if cleaned correctly.

The only hog I won't eat is one that has been wounded previously or is shot while in the middle of a fight. (not a problem for me because I dont hunt over dogs)

Don't waste the meat. You will be amazed how GOOD a big smelly boar will taste after you get him cleaned up!