Had a big boar come last evening. At first I thought he had giant tusks. Looking carefully before I shot, he was foaming at the mouth pretty heavily. He appeared to be healthy. Is this foaming sign of some disease, or maybe in the rut? there were not any other hogs around at the time.

It could have been rabies. Contact the local game warden for advice.

George

quote:

It could have been rabies. Contact the local game warden for advice.

Plus one on that.

What part of north Texas are you in?

Forgot to ask, was he comimg in to a bait and did he eat?

I've seen that numerous time in large boars.

Don't think its rabies!

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2008/10/27/pig-courtship/


ya!


GWB

That was the reason for me asking if it came into a bait and actually fed.

I really do not think a rabid animal would feed.

I've seen this several times. Otherwise, they seemed perfectly healthy -- well, until I tripped the sear, that is.

ya!


GWB

He had not eaten yet, but he could have at another feeder about a quarter of a mile away. That last posting looks very similar to his appearance. Didn't touch him because of rabies fear. Because he was healthy and coming to a feeder, I guess he was alright. Thanks for opinions guys.

It never hurts to err on the side of caution.

What Bobby said.

Doesn't cooking kill rabies virus? Or bacteria. whatever.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Doesn't cooking kill rabies virus? Or bacteria. whatever.

It's not cooked when handling/butchering it, though. Things happen. Gloves tear or can have a tiny defect.

Even though I don't, which probablyu equates to being damn lucky, but I see very few hunters anymore that don't wear disposable latex gloves when cleaning ANY animal, deer/pig/rabbits, does not matter.

Common in Boars during Rauschzeit, or Rut, nothing to fear and no disease. They snap and grind their teeth together making the foam. Can see some in this film.

Rauschzeit

Can you give more details concerning "Rut" in pigs???

Don't know about anywhere else, but here in Texas pigs can/do and will breed at any time during the year.

Rut is usually restricted to the various bovine species, never heard or reads of it in pigs, and truthfully I live and work in an area where I see various numbers of pigs of all sizes/sexes on a daily basis, and the picture Geedubya posted is the first and only example I have seen of a boar foaming at the mouth like that.

The rut is probably not so common with Ferals and the older females often getting shot, which breaks up the groups. In the wild boar world, if the leading older females are not shot, they keep 'their' group in line, and these leading females then determine when all the females in their group get bred, normally November thru January. If the groups keep getting broken up, the females are bred all year long, which is common practice with ferals.

Texas is different, any dead pig is a good pig which then exacerbates the damage, lol, carry on.

Is it possible that there is more to the situation than just the loss of older females?

Especially considering that the hogs in America and I guess Austrailia are the descendants of domestic pigs that thru the domestication process, changed/evolved away from the "Winter Rut" to a point where sows can come into heat multiple times during the year, with the season not having any influence?

I have seen exactly what Dom is talking about on my Uncle's farm where he raises pigs. He specifically lets the one sow get old. When I asked him about it, he explained to me that the oldest sow in a domestic group controls which of the other sows breed, and when. That way they don't all get bred and as he put it, all hell breaks loose.

At least in this part of the state, they breed all year long. I have seen tiny piglets and/or breeding activity every single month of the year. You can also look at a larger sounder and see the various ages.

Same situation up here. Daily I see sounders made up of sows with 30 to 40 pounders and other sows with one to two pounders and there is 20 to 40+ total pigs in the sounder.

You both are exactly correct, and you see them bred all year long because the LEADING SOW is continually being shot and the groups then have no leader. Just like a bunch of teenagers with no adult supervision -- raising all kinds of hell.

I know, it ain't gonna change, you guys know best, but maybe now you know why they are bred all year long. Like I already said, carry on

I would hypothesize that the year round breeding in feral hogs is due to mild winters here in the south. If they were in an area with harsh winters that killed the winter born piglets, they would eventually end up with one breeding season with the ensuing rut. Just my uneducated, non expert opinion.

Slightly off topic, but one of the more impressive things I've heard was fights between rival boars for their porcine paramours affection.

Dom-

There is more to it than the lead sow controlling things. And hogfarmer may be onto the answer with the weather variable.

Back in the late 80s or very early 90s, a fellow I knew fenced off a couple sections of land to build a hog hunting operation. With a supplemental feeding program and even planting things like sugar cane, they let the sounders grow for the 1st 2 1/2 or 3 years until they felt the carrying capacity of the land was being broached. (The fence kept hogs in but did not stop predators as both coyotes and 'cats will go over a fence of normal height. They were feasting on piglets, and I helped him a couple times with that problem. )

After that initial period, they opened up the hunting but only took a limited # of boars and pit-sized pigs (75-100 pounds) for the initial 6-8 months. So the pecking order of the females had ample time to be established. But they still were breeding year-round. I wish I could check with him for more details as I am sure there is much I have forgotten over time, but he has passed on, and -- last I heard -- his hunting operation is now a working cattle ranch once again.

And this, too, was in the temperate Texas climate.

Personally, I am going to stick with my theory that since our feral hogs are direct decendants of Domestic Hogs that have been manipulated thru the domestication process to be able to produce multiple litters in a years time span.

Yes our weather in Texas and the amount of feed availbal year round, both natural and from feeders that have been in corporated to attract deer and other game and the pigs have adapted including their breeding cycles.

Hey you Texans don't take any offense.

I've seen the same thing with Texas women when I was trucking around your fine big state.

I've come to believe that's just "females" for ya.

George

A boar will follow a female that's about to come in. Foaming at the mouth is just part of the process. Nothing sounds like a boar after a female! If another boar shows up then the fighting begins! I was in my original tripod on a friend's place when a fight broke out! Glad I was 10 feet in the air if it was anything like it sounded! Wow!