Friday morning’s “exercise” for me involved picking up my Contender and performing a single 2-pound pull on the trigger. No more reps taken as I noticed that this type of cardio seemed a bit much for an area sow…so I didn't want to press my own luck...


7mm Bullberry/140 grain Nosler SB @ 2450 fps/165 yards/shot through the heart/complete penetration with nickel-sized exit/hog ran app. 35 yards and folded

Good shootin Bobby!
Whole lotta color in this picture too.
Are all your pigs black? Seems like that's all you show us are dead black pigs and nice rifles.

Watched a buddy shoot an antelope buck thru the heart one day. From where I was it sure looked like he missed. When I told him so, he said Oh no I didn't. The buck and four does never flinched or moved when the bullet hit the dirt 30' or more behind them. Took a full minute of wondering what the H before the buck just tipped over like a rock slab and never kicked til we walked nearly half way out there. 215paces as I recall. When he fell over the herd took off hard as they could run. I've never seen anything like that before or since.

Hang in there friend,

quote:

Are all your pigs black? Seems like that's all you show us are dead black pigs and nice rifles.

You are right: there seems to be a certain type of pig in those woods.
Do you know the genetics/ type?
Great couple of posts too Bobby and keep it up.

I've killed maybe 150 in the last 2 years, and the vast majority were black. Two with white feet, couple of rusty red ones, couple of grizzled ones, but black is the predominant color. Someone told me that after a couple of generations in the wild, they mutate to black--but I don't buy that. But, anytime I see a different colored hog it's a rare occurrence.

Most hogs around here are black. We get a few rusty bown specimens but not many. And some will have the classic combo, including salt-and-pepper coloration, much like a javelina, which, despite its looks, doesn't even belong to the pig family.

This one, while bigger than most get, does seem to represent what most in this area look like, with the distinct front-to-back taper, short, sturdy (not floppy!) ears, raised area (hump) above shoulder (most notable on males), long, narrow snout and curl-less tail.

I can't recall his name right now, but a biologist working one of the larger concessions here in TX did some studies a few years back and seems to believe that European lineage is most prominent here, which tends to seem logical as records of Spaniards do indicate that they brought hogs here with them.

quote:

doesn't even belong to the pig family.

That is not exactly correct Bobby. Hogs are suidae, javelina are Tayassuidae. They have recently been separated into their own family, but their skeletal structure, dentition(tooth pattern)and dietary habits are all similar to true hogs. There are differences, but the similarities cannot be completely over looked.

Not raising any contention about evolution or religion, but like humans and chimpanzees, there are too many similarities between pigs and peccaries to completely pass it off as nothing more than parallel development. At one point in the not too distant past, pigs/peccaries and hippos were related, some researchers even suggested that some cetaceans were also related to that group.

Javelinas definitely are not rodents nor are they related to weasels. While they are not really pigs, it is really hard to believe that there is not any relationship between the two groups.

Good job as usual on the pig thanks for sharing the story and pictures.

Thanks fot catching that, Randall. I should have worded it more clearly. I should have said: "Javelina are not actual members of the pig family but are related to it." My brain and my fingers were on 2 separate paths -- quite common around here...

No, that is perfectly okay Bobby. But I have heard/read where several people have claimed that javelina were some kind of rodent or weasel.

Among mammalogists, a lot of debate takes place concerning just exactly where peccaries belong as far as relationships go. The true hogs, suidae developed in the Old World, Africa/Europe/Asia. Peccaries of which at one point of time in the archeological record had something like 19 different subspecies, developed in the New World. Parallel evolution, for lack of a better term, maybe the mechanism as to why the two species while not closely related or possibly not related at all developed the way they did.

Damn, I think I just pulled something getting that all said.

Thank you guys for the discussion, helps us "outsiders" learn a bit more about the subject.

A side note, those two I shot in Fla two yrs ago looked a whole lot like the boar Bobby. There was about 30 in the herd, some whites and some reds though young and I wanted a wall hanger. While I was laid up over the winter my "life saving buddy" stole my camera and all my pictures. I've got to buy another camera, just got a nice new computer today thanks to sis/bil. Maybe once I get a camera I can take some pics of these and get 'em posted.

Another question for anyone, but, assume Randall may know better than most. Where wild pigs and javelina live, do they share territory and how do they get along with each other if they do?

Thanks much for the education.
George

Nice work as always, Bobby!

One more for the home team. Go team.
Looks like a good eater.

Best

GWB

quote:

Where wild pigs and javelina live, do they share territory and how do they get along with each other if they do?

From my limited experience, nothing gets along well with javelina. I have had very little experience on properties where javelina and feral hogs were present. I think feral hogs do eventually force javelina out due to their more varied diet and larger size, but in places I have been where javelina numbers were pretty stable they seem to hold their own pretty well.

In the past on the guided javelina hunts I did on the ranch outside Fort Stockton, my clients and I would get up on the mesas and watch the flats and draws. If cattle or deer started boiling out of the draws, nearly every time there would be a group of javelinas come out shortly after the deer/cattle scattered.

Javelina do not play well with others from my encounters.

From what I've heard they don't even play well with each other often. They have quite a bad attitude but, I've never seen one yet even though spending several yrs hauling pipe to the rigs for ELFarmer/CO all over that area of Tx, NM, Ok.
Thanks for the reply, that's about what I expected to hear.

They are fun little bastages to hunt if a person gets out and hunts them. Flush a covey of about a dozen or so of them at about 10 to 15 yards in the brush and things get interesting real quick like.

Guess I've been lucky, or unlucky maybe in not seeing any, nor rattlers either while out hunting or in the oil fields. one day around Ft Stockton several trks of us Farmer boys went out to an old rig to load up left over pipe that had been stacked out there a couple yrs or more. Ii got the next to last load. Last driver said he and the gin trk oper could finish it up. Damned if he wasn't walking on the bottom row when they rolled out from under his feet and stepped thru in the way of a good sized rattler that nailed him on the ankle. Turned out to be a real bad ordeal for him for months. This was around '69 or '70. I've seen a lot of 'em and killed my share, even ate a good sized one I killed. Best fried chicken I've ever had.

Bet it would be fun and real exciting to get in the middle of a bunch of javies! No Thanks!