BigSurArcher

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Got to the property at noon just to put up some trail cams for deer real quick. It was sunny and about 70 degrees and there were bucks (13 of them) all over the place. Took a walk with the trail cams and binos and saw some pigs out and about. I can't stand the white ones, so I ran back to my truck and grabbed my bow. Slipped in to 33 yards about 20 minutes later and double lunged the white boar in the herd. Cleaned him up and was on my way home by 2:45. Should be a great eater.

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Krisdude

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nice bud, got to love a mid day hog, and a nice shot too
 

asaxon

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Ancestry Question

Yumm

That pig looks very domestic, both in coloration and in phenotype, shorter hair, snout, ears. I've seen pictures of some of the released hogs at Big Cedar Canyon and those do look quite "domestic".

Can you tell, in general, how long they animals ancestry has been wild by the look of them?
 

BigSurArcher

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Yumm

That pig looks very domestic, both in coloration and in phenotype, shorter hair, snout, ears. I've seen pictures of some of the released hogs at Big Cedar Canyon and those do look quite "domestic".

Can you tell, in general, how long they animals ancestry has been wild by the look of them?

Coloration IS a phenotype.

The reason I shot the white one is because he looked so domestic. Most of the hogs in this country look a lot more wild, but now and then you see some white or belted ones that appear as if they were fresh off the farm. I try to shoot those ones and leave all the black pigs to breed. Even the more wild looking black ones are nowhere near as wild or russian looking as the hogs I hunt at home in Monterey County.

You can't tell how old the ancestry is by looks, but you can gather a pretty good idea of the origin. In Monterey County the original population of pigs were bought and imported from Russia by Hearst. The ones I hunt in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties were introduced by the missionaries as they traveled and farmed across Northern CA a couple hundred years ago. They raised pigs for meat, but many got loose over the years.
 

TonyS

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Andy,

I understand that there is a difference in the teeth.

And actually it is a documented fact that monterey pigs were released by a farmer up by China Camp around the last turn of the century. Those were russian blues. Hearst has lately had zebras escape.
 
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bigboarstopper

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Good hog. Good sneak.

Somewhere sometime some oldtimer hog hunter told me about a tooth that the wild strain have that the domestics dont. There is a small tooth thats behind the lower tusk on either side before the rest of the teeth. However, I have seen some domestic looking hogs have it and some wild wooly looking ones that dont. I guess if its true then it comes and goes depending on the genitics.
 

BigSurArcher

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Andy,


And actually it is a documented fact that monterey pigs were released by a farmer up by China Camp around the last turn of the century. Those were russian blues. Hearst has lately had zebras escape.

Interesting. I've read it in documentation that Mr. Moore, the original owner of Rancho San Carlos won the pigs off of Hearst in a poker game so they were released on the San Carlos property instead of the Hearst property. Maybe this was after, or about the same time as the guy turned the pigs loose at Chews Ridge. The first wagon trail built that went over Chews Ridge down to where China Camp is was built in 1870.
 
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Richmellott

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I'm digging the way you chose your pig.

Hate those white ones, but haven't seen any. My grandfather had 200 pigs, and guess what my least favorite job was every summer? Right, cutting, giving iron supplements, hauling dead piglets, and feeding slop. Oh, and cutting corn, and throwing it over the fence to the big hogs. I am so into this for revenge for my childhood! I'm not really serious about that, but I can smell pigs a good distance away. I'll never forget that smell, and it helps me when I'm hunting. :throw-up-on:
 

Live2hunt

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I can't stand the white ones

Now that's pretty racist right there!!!.....hehe.

Congrats on the bow kill. I love blondes!!!


L2H
 

asaxon

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Ancestry

Coloration IS a phenotype.

Of course color is part of the phenotype - I should have said color and other phenotypic markers. With the random assortment of genetic materials, I guess white more domestic looking ones show up by simple chance though I for one have no idea about the dominance and penetrance of coat color and other phenotypic markers in pigs. I do know that some of the physical changes as pigs go "ferrel" is actually due to epigenetic modifications (changes in DNA methylation and histone structure if you really must know) and not changes in gene sequence and that is why they can revert to the "wild hog" look so rapidly in just a few generations. Interesting about the pigs from Mendicino vs Monterey... Tx

Tony and BBS, that is very interesting about the teeth. I'll be up at NativeHunts near King City next week with the Admiral and NativeHunt say that they have pure Eurasian Boars there so I'll see what they say. As for the zebras that got away for the Hearst property (and got shot by the neighbors), I had an interesting discussion with folks on the Jack Ranch about this as Jack Ranch is owned by the Hearst Corp. They were not "amused".

And thanks to all for the tidbits about the wild pig introductions. The history of all this sounds quite interesting to me. Is there a place where much of it is written down?
 
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