Dustoffer added a link to Bob's night vision thread. I love the technology and really enjoyed going through the website. I couldn't help but notice that, although the boars were huge, their tusks were not. I was wondering if it might be because the boars grew heavy quickly on the available food, but hadn't necessarily grown old enough for big cutters.

Matt

Sounds like a reasonable hypothesis to me--but what do I know--I just shoot 'em and eat 'em.

Most big boars, most places, wear their tusks down digging and rooting. A lot depends on the type of soil and food they have available. We rarely see really big tusks in our area, but we had a freak hog killed here a few years back just South of us on Anderson Creek that held, possibly still holds, the worlds record for tusk length. Needless to say the angle of his tusks was different than most. I've personally never killed what I'd call a really big hog, but I've killed 4 over 300 pounds and they all had relatively short tusks.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
Most big boars, most places, wear their tusks down digging and rooting. A lot depends on the type of soil and food they have available. We rarely see really big tusks in our area, but we had a freak hog killed here a few years back just South of us on Anderson Creek that held, possibly still holds, the worlds record for tusk length. Needless to say the angle of his tusks was different than most. I've personally never killed what I'd call a really big hog, but I've killed 4 over 300 pounds and they all had relatively short tusks.

It's the same case in Florida and particularly prevalent due to the amount of sand -- they grind 'em down.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
Most big boars, most places, wear their tusks down digging and rooting. A lot depends on the type of soil and food they have available. We rarely see really big tusks in our area, but we had a freak hog killed here a few years back just South of us on Anderson Creek that held, possibly still holds, the worlds record for tusk length. Needless to say the angle of his tusks was different than most. I've personally never killed what I'd call a really big hog, but I've killed 4 over 300 pounds and they all had relatively short tusks.

Charlie, I don't have the experience with hogs you do, but a 300 lb. + is a huge animal in my book. The teeth on our pigs are usually not all that large, though some are rather impressive. The ones with 1" to 1.5" seem to do the most damage to cut vest.

Regards,
lm

This one weighed 208 on the hoof and that's a 7mm Rem Mag cartridge in his mouth.

Very nice teeth!!

He wasn't a big boar so far as body size, but he was an old one. Based on tooth wear, probably 5.5 or older. Obviously, he hadn't been around me much or he would have celebrated fewer birthdays.

Matt,

You are partly correct in saying they can grow larger faster therefore thier body mass is larger because of the availability of good food. Yet when it comes to thier tusk its not very impressive. I see this type of thing regularly.

I also STRONGLY believe that genetics plays a huge part in the size of a boars tusk as well as age.

Larry- I agree with you in that the 1-2 inch tusk gives us the most problems as well. Although the last boar we caught had 4 inch tusk and one of the dogs got stuck on it. Luckily he is still with us and didnt die from his injuries. Sometimes it just pays to be lucky.