How big do pigs get?

20 July 2001, 02:37

<Cameron>

I'm new to hog hunting and was talking to a 'self-confessed' expert (yeah right) pig hunter yesterday. He claimed that he once shot a 400 kg wild boar. Now thats about 900 lbs I think, and almost 2 times bigger than your average Siberian Tiger. Is this possible? Apparently this monster stood about 4 foot high. Now I am from a small country town where exaggeration is second nature so I wasn't too sure whether or not to take this gentleman serioulsy.

So how big do wild hogs get? I know that fattened up domestic or farm pigs get very big, but nearly 1000lbs is one huge hog!

Any genuine information appreciated, no exaggerations please, so if your're from North Queensland Australia - please don't respond lol!!

Thank-you for your time

Cameron

[This message has been edited by Cameron (edited 07-26-2001).]

20 July 2001, 03:16

<Doc in Texas>

There is a old boy here in Texas how show with a Bow and Arrow a boar that weighed 1150 LBS. last year. so I guess that they can get over a 1000 lbs.

Doc

20 July 2001, 03:53

Robert D. Lyons

A Siberian tiger weighs between 400 to 700 pounds, depending on if it is female or male.

20 July 2001, 04:00

<Cameron>

quote:
Originally posted by Robert D. Lyons:
A Siberian tiger weighs between 400 to 700 pounds, depending on if it is female or male.

I know about Tigers, I'm asking about pigs!

http://www.5tigers.org - Tiger Size - " Siberian Tigers are the heaviest subspecies at 500 or more pounds (225 kg), with males heavier than females. The lightest subspecies is the Sumatran; males weigh about 250 pounds (110kg) and females around 200 pounds (90kg)"

Pig sizes please?

20 July 2001, 04:21

Sheister

I've seen many farm raised pigs (breeding stock, mostly) that would go 4 feet tall and weigh close to 1000 pounds. I've also heard and seen pictures of many wild boars that weigh in at around 400-500 pounds (some much more than that).
Since most wild pigs are descendants of farm raised russian boar stock that have escaped or been turned loose, the only factor that determines the size and condition of these animals is feed availability and age. In most areas, hunting pressure isn't sufficient to control the numbers and food is sufficient, so I see no reason a wild hog won't reach the same weights as some farm raised hogs. This is especially true in areas where farm fields are the dinner table for these gluttons, such as the farm valleys of California and the Southern States. I wouldn't know about Australia, but a little spotlighting at night where pig sign has been spotted would probably tell you just how big these guys can get!- Sheister

20 July 2001, 05:05

Carnivore

Here is a link to an article where a guy killed one 705 pounds with a spear. I'm sure they get much bigger. There seems to be alot of links and pig info for Australia here.

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bamster/readers.html

20 July 2001, 06:44

RCHAPURA

I have seen them here in Florida "feral" that will go 800+ lbs. largest presonaly taken 550 lbs.

20 July 2001, 10:39

<Hal S>

On the bathroom wall, at the Bass Pro Shops store in Grapevine, TX, there is a picture of a guy posing with a boar that he killed that weighs 1050 lbs. I think the pic says it was killed somewhere in Southeast Asia (I forget the name of the country)
I have seen some big hogs in Tx and heard of ones that go over 500 lbs, but I have never seen a 1000 pounder, either dead or alive. I have a picture of one killed in Central Texas estimated at 600# that I would send, but I don't know how to attach a picture to this post. Anyone know how?

20 July 2001, 12:00

<Doc in Texas>

http://www.steglich.net/red/1-25/index.htm

Try this out for size. it was shot here in Texas.

Doc

20 July 2001, 13:06

<Bill>

I have taken a couple in Argentina, the heavier one in the 400lb range. I have seen some that were much, much bigger.

My frined shot one that weighed 450 or so.

In the Safari magazine they have down there they had pictures of a boar that weighted 800 lbs as I remember.

20 July 2001, 16:40

Stonecreek

300 lbs is huge for most feral hogs, and 150 to 250 is more in line for the typical "adult" hog. But the photo in Doc's post is for real. I doubt that hog weighed what the accompanying article indicated, but it would easily go more than 800. Like deer or any other animal, they have to live long enough to get really big. 800 is possible, but he'd have to be out there by himself for a long time, and a good rainy spring with lots of grazing will make 30% difference in body weight.

20 July 2001, 22:41

1894

I was based in Berlin where we used to exercise in the Grunewald forest. We were warned about the boar which we nickamed 'Grunepigs'. All we ever saw of them was a grunt, a squeal and a lot of crashing. We all thought what's the big deal, how can they be so dangerous if they only ever run away.

Well one night I was parked in a layby in the forest and trying some reconnaisance on a young female. I felt this grunt which literaly shook the whole car but seemed to come from outside. I looked out and there ambling past so close I could have reached out and touched it was this boar and it was huge, it's head and shoulders were nearly level with the base of the window. It was absolutely enormous and the power that emanated from it was incredible.

21 July 2001, 04:00

<10point>

In the Middle-ages, in Europe , they used to believe that the Boar was the incarnation of the Devil.

I guess they got a taste for Human flesh , from scouring the battlefields, and you had to be a bit careful when you were walking about the forest's........10

21 July 2001, 14:15

Nickudu

quote:
Originally posted by RCHAPURA:
I have seen them here in Florida "feral" that will go 800+ lbs. largest presonaly taken 550 lbs.

Rchapura,
Have you hunted out off Indiantown Road (Jupiter) on the Pratt-Whitney lands? Where are the better hog hunting areas?? What do you like to use on them? Any photos?

Regards ... Nick

23 July 2001, 16:25

Karl

Whilst the size of these animals may be true, whether they represent the best sport at this size is another thing.

One of these spearing stories the guy ran the monster down on foot, stabbed it once, ran it down again and stabbed it again.

What an truly athletic and vicious pig

Sort of like punching out an obese guy and saying "I just knocked out a 500lb giant with one punch!"

A lean asian/russian 1/3 the weight of those monsters would give better sport and LESS chances to make mistakes.

My point?In my experience after 500lbs you are starting to get into fat guy territory.

Karl.

23 July 2001, 23:44

<Don G>

I saw a cross-breed Russian/domestic cross in taken in East Texas one time that had to go 800lb plus. It was a big old boar that was plenty lean and agile, but it was hanging head down at the time. Couldn't outrun a 300WinMag.

I've never taken a pig bigger than 250 lbs myself, with most in the 150-200 lb range. If you are on foot they will definitely get your attention!

Don

24 July 2001, 11:24

Karl

Don,
Was it weighed?In what way did it display its agility.
eg was it taken on the run with the 300?

Karl.

24 July 2001, 15:52

<Don G>

Karl,

It was doing Swan Lake when the guy shot it...

Seriously, the boar had been jumped and bayed by a pack of dogs. The guy said he lost three dogs before he could get up to them. The boar was not weighed, but I was raised on a farm. I'm better at judging calves than pigs (and not great at either), but I'd guess that boar weighed between 800-900 pounds on the hoof. He was lean and cat-hammed, but his back was broad and he had very massive shoulders and he was VERY long in the back. I'd say if he'd been farm-fed healthy and fat he'd have gone 1200 lbs. I did not open the jaw, but I'd say he was five years old - maybe six.

I never saw a wild pig on the hoof that would go over 400-450 lbs. Most I killed and were killed by our group were 150-200 lbs. We passed on pigs less that 100 lbs, as we were getting them strictly for sausage. We'd mix the meat and fat into our deer meat to give it some fat content and lots of "character" for the sausage.

I did hear of a South Carolina fella named D. - a friend of my twin brother's - who shot a pig that weighed an honest (later weighed) 1000 lbs on their deer lease. He was hunting alone on a weekday and couldn't load it, so he dragged it behind the truck to the blacktop where he waited for a passerby to help him. When he flagged down a slow-moving farm truck, the farmer spoke before he could. "You haven't seen my prize boar have you...."!!!

D. wound up spending the morning helping the FARMER get the pig loaded. I'll bet it was a frosty morning, too!

Don

25 July 2001, 17:10

<Hunter - DownUnder>

Cameron,
Check out www.australianhunting.net theu gus there have some photos of huge Aussie pigs.
The biggest I've ever shot was around 120kgs although a mate of mine that owns a gun shop near Sydney has a photo of one he got must be 300kgs +. It looks a bit domestic though, he took it out near Nyngan NE NSW, and when he lay down beside it, its back was longer than he is tall, he'd be about 6' tall.
Real scary bush pigs would max out at about 200kgs (440lbs) in Australia.

25 July 2001, 18:14

Karl

Don,
How many 'Texan Guess Pounds' to a regular pound?

Seriously,
I believe the original poster was talking about less domestic blooded pigs than the ones mentioned here.

Interesting the flak Aussies get claiming our wild bulls and other bovines are a real big game choice and sporting animal.

And here is an entire thread about Americans hunting pigs which look like they escaped from a piggery and in one case did!

Guys as much as I like blasting anything that moves, I think I will stick to game that can at least outrun me.

Karl.

26 July 2001, 08:52

Tombo21

AS someone whose family owns a ranch in Texas and have a brother in Arkansas, I have have done my share of hog hunting. Hunting hogs in Arkansas "bottoms" and in the hill country of Texas. Those suckers are flat scary and a real rush. They can outrun you and they got big ol' tuskies. They will flat tear up your best sh_t unless you are spiritually in tune. The last hunt I was on was in Arkansas and was killed with a .357 pistol at about 15 feet away by a buddy. It was heading towards us at full tilt. (I had to throw away my underwear)

26 July 2001, 18:34

<Cameron>

Some great informative replies, and some great anecdotes also, but as Karl suggested -I'm interested in 'sizes' of true feral boars rather than anything domestic or semi-domestic. Even the pigs I'm hunting up here in North Queensland may be considered to be truely feral, however they live on and around large (anywhere up to 1000acre) banana
plantations. Their only predator being me. They feed up on nicley fattened banana's and while they are considered feral, most aren't always as fierce or dangerous as pigs found further north or out west.

I have heard 1000++ big scary pig stories, and I'm glad you all lived to tell your tale, but could I please stress that its size rather than apparent 'scary-ness' that I'm interested in.

Thank-you all,

Happy hunting

Cameron

27 July 2001, 00:10

<Don G>

Karl,

The big one I saw hanging looked like a 50/50 mix of feral and Russian. He did not look like something I'd see at a county fair.

I do have one pig story (-well two. Most pig hunts are not exciting.) Many here have heard the stories, but I'll tell it anyway.

It must have been back around 1978. I was bow-hunting a friend's place in Texas for deer. I heard pigs in the creek bottom below me the first day, so I carried a 357 revolver as well as the bow in case I saw a pig.

The next day I hunted the whole morning standing beside a tree about 5 yards off a trail. I started at dawn and by 10:00 I badly needed to pee, and my legs were tired. I figured I could hold my water a little while longer, but quietly slid down to a seated position with my legs sprawled out in front of me to rest.

Sure enough after another hour (I had almost decided to give up) I heard a pig in the bottom. I laid down the bow and drew my pistol. Within ten minutes this 150 pound pig had worked her way up near me and started to pass by me on the trail.

Boom. Perfect heart shot just as she passed, in behind her right shoulder at an angle into her left shoulder. 147 grain 357 hollow point hand load at twelve feet. I had seen all the movies, so I knew she was toast. (It seemed odd she didn't fly backwards as if jerked by a string like the bad guys in the movies.) I raised the pistol to a two handed port arms in front of me to watch her death throes.

She grunted and wheeled at the shot and started towards me like a lightning bolt. By the time I got the pistol back down she was almost on me. Her inch and a half teeth looked like elephant tusks! I shot her right up the snout and she dropped with her head between the ankles of my boots.

I heaved a big sigh of relief.

I was surprised to find my pants were wet. And it hadn't rained.

I bought a 44 magnum before I went pig hunting again.

Don

[This message has been edited by Don G (edited 07-26-2001).]

27 July 2001, 12:33

<Hunter - DownUnder>

I've been walking up a wide river bed in the bush carying my 6.5 swedish and came across a true wild boar (not feral domestic) it only weighed about 80kgs and came out of the scrub on the oposite side of the sandy river bed and crossed right towards me I raised the rifle and froze. It was the very end of the day when you have only about 3 minutes of light left before real darkness. The pig kept coming and was going to pass within about 20 -30 feet of me so I let it have the 6.5 with 140gn factory ammo right in the broad side. It was just behind the shoulder but a little lower than I would have liked (an unscoped riffle would've been a lot nicer at this time) and the pig took offheading more or less right for me. The second shot hit it in the chest, left of centre taking out its front shoulder and it nose dived in the soft sand about 10 feet away. Later inspection showed that the first shot had passed straight through. Those 6.5's really penetrate. Since then I've hunted with 120gns, they blow out and don't over penetrate on the pigs.
I can understand other hunters fear of the wounded pig and mine was still at a reasonable distance. It's unfortunate that handgun hunting here in Australia is illegal cause I would've loved to have a .50ae at the moment he ran. I've seen other pigs not real big run with a full 5 shot magazine of 303 round through them, they can get moving for a short burst before they drop.

27 July 2001, 15:02

<Don G>

I'm not sure that pig was really after me - but she was headed for me anyway.

I've seen the way they can rip up dogs. I want no part of them when I'm on the ground and my legs are asleep and I can't move at all.

I don't remember being scared, I think I just focused on the main issue at hand, and let the small stuff go!

Don

27 July 2001, 15:40

<Bill>

Don,

Now you have to listen to my Boar story, as I read yours.

I was down hunting boar last November in Argentina. We were in the pampas region, for those of you unfamiliar with this area think of a flat area full of grass that extends for miles and miles in all directions. It is compeletly inudated witrh water, and in some areas the grass will be 6 or 7 feet tall, with a foot of water or mud at the bottom.

We would hunt on horseback, no dogs, no bait, no tree stand. The strategy was to ride into the wind and see what good Boar we could see then stalk up to them.

For the first two days the hunt was very interesting and quite exciting. I took a nice boar (great for up north) the first morning, saw Rhea (like an Emu), and the rare Pampas Deer. The next day it was my friends turn to shoot, we chased a group of pigs on the horses before he got off to shoot, he killed a monster. He hit this thing 4 times with a 7 Rem 175 Hornandy in the boiler room and it was still going. I have it on tape, the most amazing thins I ever saw, some of the rounds passed through to the skin on the pigs far side, right through the heart and the pig did nbot know he was dead. The tusks were quite spectacular and the pig dressed out around 450 lbs.

My guide and the gaucho's felt bad that I did not kill a boar that did not have tusks as big as my friends and they made me finding a monster the mission for the rest of the day.

We rode around the rest of the day and did not see any good boar so we started in. I was about 50 yards behind the guide and one of the Gaucho's and they stopped. They motioned for me to ride up to them (I don't speak spanish at all).

When I was next to them the guide (Nacho) said "is Boar", and pointed to the ground and my gun. The grass was well above the horses back, and when I got off I sank about a foot into the mud. The grass was above my head and so thick that you could not see 1' in front of you. I prepared for the stalk.

I was standing behind the horses and next to Nacho as another gaucho stood next to me. Nacho pointed to a black fur spot 15' away. Immediately things were looking bad, there I was in grass I couldn't see in with a 7 Rem Mag equipped with a Leupold 3.5-10 scope and a boar bedded down 15' away. Worse yet, I did know which part of the pig I was looking at, nor did I like the fact that I was standing behind horses (us New Yorkers figure a horse will kick you if you scare it).

Nacho looked at me and said "shoot", again I replied "shoot??", "shoot' he said and so I centered the reticle on the blck fur and pulled the trigger.

All hell broke loose, apparently there was another boar nearby, big one that didn't like us, this thing came charging by infront of us after the horses which it chased away. During this charge the pig I shot was making a crazy grunt-snort-scream sound and started after us. The weird thing about tall grass is you can't tell which direction the noise is coming from, neither can you see it.

I looked at my guide and he had a look of sheer terror in in eyes as he started to run, as I began the guy to my right opened up with his 45 as we ran away (pig hunters are probably laughing right now, at the time it seemed the thing to do).

As we ran I remebered that I had only loaded two rounds into the rifle, now I had one. I reached for the other magazine in my many pocket Filson Jacket, I could feel it but couldn't figure out which pocket it was in. After a mag change the guy who was shooting the 45 ran his gun dry threw it in the mud and drew his 12" gaucho knife (kinda like in predator).

We had run to the other side of and area about 20 feet wide that the pigs had rooted the night before, the boar looked at me with a hellish grin as it broke through the grass. One more shot through the front and he went down for good. I had never been so relieved, I though I was toast, when you run from one of those things in the papmaps, there are no dogs in the way, nor are there any trees to duck behind, it is you and the pig.

Turns out the reason it couldn't catch us was because the part i shot was its rear hip, which I completely broke. I asked the guide via and interpetor what happened later, he told me that since it was getting late and a storm was apporaching he wanted to get me another pig. When he was riding up front the gaucho saw the back of a bedded pig, all he could see was its size and its balls, so he figured what the hell.

I won't take a shot on game if I don't know hwta part of it I am shooting at ever again, lesson learned. The pig was about 350 lbs or so, with decent but far from spectacular tusks.

[This message has been edited by Bill (edited 07-27-2001).]

27 July 2001, 20:55

<Don G>

Now THAT'S a pig story! Did the the tusks match the balls?

Don