Texas Hog for jjhack

[Docwells2000]

I almost came face-to-face with two of these last night, and a dozen of their "smaller" siblings, in Fairfield, Texas. I had spent the day hunting for this "noted 12-pt" deer in the area and nothing was moving all day as a nice cold front moved in. Guess all the animals heard it was Veterans Day and decided to sleep in. I'm blackpowder hunting this year...a running bet with F,F, or F... ;-) Anyway, no movement all day yesterday, then at dusk I spot momma doe and baby doe west of me on the East/West Pipeline (Right-of-way) . She was moving south to north and I suspected she was heading in a lazy semi-circle to a feeder in the palmetto grove just north and east of my location at a pipeline intersection.

Well, sure enough...momma doe pops out north of me about 300 yards headed east, right to the palmettos and the feeder...but she stops and spots me at the intersection. While she is "standing point" two large all black tuskers come rambling across the right-of-way from not more than 5 yards behind her and they're headed east to the feeder in the palmettos, also. Then a dozen more come scrambling across behind them...the smallest 4 were in the 80 pound range.

Finally, 'momma' leaves her post and the younger doe dashes acorss the right-of-way (ROW) to the palmettos. I wait until they clear the treeline and on a trot I'm headed to my pickup which is 50 yards north of me. I grab my Ruger 9mm pistol and with my Thompson .50 cal Hawkins I head up towards the palmettos, afoot.

I get to the point that the hogs crossed from West-to-East and take a knee and set my 9mm on the ground in front of me for quick access. I cock my blackpowder gun and decide to wait until they return rather than try to walk up to them through the dry Egyptian Weed that is growing in the treeline.

It's getting dark so quickly that I can't see the from bead my iron sights on the Hawkins. I wait for 5 minutes while this feeding frenzy is occuring. By the way...have you ever heard hogs in a feeding frenzy? Shivers, man, absolute shivers... ;-)

Every time I've shot at pigs they've always tried to go back the way they've come...ALWAYS. So I decided I'd fire off my muzzleloader and pick up the pistol, prepared for their mad dash back across the right-of-way with me ready for them to come bursting out of the treeline.

I raised the Hawkins, pulled the trigger and a 5 foot stream of sparks and flame appear with that glorious roar. The hogs run a short distance EAST of the feeder and hold. During that time I am setting my musket down and picking up my 9mm. As I pick up the 9mm I rise to my feet and then "Click, Thud"...the clip slides out of the pistol and hits the ground at my feet. I hear the hogs moving, so I fire a warning shot as I kneel to pick up my clip. I notice the top bullet in the clip has dislodged and is crooked in the top position. I decide it's time to head back to the truck, fix the clip and call it a day...as I start walking back tot the truck the hogs make their dash behind me running from East-to-West back to their original location somewhere West of me in the trees and briars.

Okay...so the moral of the story...what I thought was a slow relaxed day hunting deer ended up with quite the adrenalin rush with this impromptu pig hunt. All-in-all I wish I had been back on the ladder stand in the palmettos to see all of these hogs hit this feeder, but it was a great hunt. (I'll remember to reseat my clip next time, also!!)

I'm Yer Huckleberry...

 

[Timjackson]

Bayed... My original comments on this was that this pig looks much bigger than 270lbs. and I am sticking to it.. When I said that we have killed pigs over 300 pounds, I meant it.. We hunt them with dogs and can usually drag them out with the mule or 4-wheeler and load them in the truck.. I does take 3 or 4 guys to load one usually... We do not have to pack them out like you guys do. We have a scale at the ranchhouse that goes up to 250lbs I believe. We have bottomed that out numerous times and just went with 270-300lbs.. My point is that the hog in this pic is MUCH LONGER than any of the big hogs we have gotten with the dogs. If you stand that hog straight up he looks like he is about 6 1/2 feet long if that guy is close to 6ft. tall... (Now if the guy is only 5'2", then it is a different story

).... All of the really huge hogs I have seen are not nearly that long... I am not disputing Walker's post, just saying that he looks a lot bigger than that..

Also, I am not saying that the hogs here are any better or bigger than the ones you have in cali.. But, I have killed them a lot bigger than what is normally posted on here. Then again, we are hunting them with dogs and not a bow...

Lastly, I am very familiar with all of the Los Cazadores contests... They usually have a huge turn out for the big buck contest with some awesome entry's from down in South Texas....

 

[larrysogla]

Yup!!! I agree Timjackson..Them Houston pigs in that part are heavy, heavy, heavy
. I am used to lifting tires, batteries, trans., cyl. heads, etc. but those Houston peanut fed hogs are like lead in weight. They are not very long but have a bulked up chest/body. Taste mighty good too. I'll take any hogs for a meal, Calif or otherwise, but them Houston piggies don't have a smell or musky odor. Just glad to have the opportunity to hunt in Texas. God Bless Texas. 'Nuff said. larrysogla.

 

[41mag]

Not sur ewhat it actually weighed but here is one I got this past weekend

This one wasn't as big as a couple I have gotten, like these,

but I can guarantee that both of the bottom ones pushed 400# with ease.

I have talked with a couple of folks after the fact about how I should have enterend them in one of the contest, however you generally have to enter before you shoot the critter. This to me is sort of out of the question due to the fact that I would have to load the thing up and drive for 6 hours to get it to the weigh in. No body has anything like that up where we hunt.

I am 6' and weigh 200# and can hold my own lifting some decent weight. My nephew can lift more than me, and benches 350+, and my friend isn't so bad himself. With all three of us, pulling on a choker, we managed to drag the first hog into the bucket one end at a time. It was no easy ordeal. The picture doesn't do it justice as it is full from the front to the back of the bucket and almost 5 1/2' long. The bucket it 6' across.

Granted, the one in the pic is hanging up, and mine are all on the ground, but I would bet that the one I got in the top pic would give the one leading the contest a good run for it's money.

 

[bzzboyz]

I just wanna know where these "HOUSTON" pigs are your talkin about. I've lived here all my life and I don't know of any place in Houston to hunt pigs. I know they are in some of the suburban areas, but you can't hunt them without raisin a stink from the huggers. A while back there was a problem with pigs diggin up yards of expensive homes at night. They wouldn't let anyone kill the pigs so I think they finally trapped them and relocated them. Some big suckers to if I remember correctly.

 

[larrysogla]

Bzzz,
The small town called Thompsons. Now does it ring a bell?? It is on Fort Bend County. It is cut off from Houston by the Brazos River(no bridge to cross into Houston except on Fwy. 59), probably over 6 miles?? south of the Houston city limits. It is about 9 miles from Fwy. 59, south of Sugarland. My friends ranch is on a dead end street. The last time I talked to him about 6 months ago there was road building to loop their farm road back to Fwy. 59 & the pigs have not returned to his ranch. At one time in 1995 when he just bought the ranch before all the subdivisions, golf course & road building came, he counted 30 hogs feeding in his hayfield right in front of his ranch house at 1:00 in the afternoon. You can see from the hog bagged over the weekend by "41mag" how bulked up the chest/body of the pig even when laying on it's side. Remember this pigs are more muscle than fat(fat is lighter will float on water, muscle is heavier will sink in water). I doubt an average guy can lift that pig just by himself onto a pickup truck bed. I have yet to catch a thin bodied pig in Texas, at least in parts of Texas where it is a tropical downpour when it rains. One of the treestands on my friend's ranch is only 10' from the property line, so we have to anchor these pigs when hit. The 45-70 loaded with 420 gr. Garrett Superhardcast Hammerhead +P ammo has the most anchoring power. It drills a very clean .45 caliber hole all the way thru &

drops the pig with a shoulder shot. The neighbors have not yet complained from all the shooting at night. He tried one time to use his Marlin .22 semi-auto on a big hog at night from a treestand. He emptied 17 rounds into the pig & it got mad & was bumping his treestand & then ran off never to be found. So now he uses only 12 gauge slugs. Hope this enlightens. God Bless. larrysogla.

 

[bzzboyz]

I know the area well. We used to go 4 wheelin at the Brazos River Turnaround under 59 in High School. I know that there are lots of pigs in the area, I just thought you were taking about a commercial hunt operation. I can see it if you are talking about a private ranch. A fiend of my brother in law lives along the river, but a little farther up stream. We have hunted a few times at his place, but that was a while back.

 

[Live2hunt]

I'm guessing the boar in 41Mag's first pic will go about 175#. The two on the bottom may push 200-230. By the look in the pic, 41Mag said he's 200#. The pig in the bulldozer looks just as big as he.

Northern California have big thick hogs just Larrysogla described. The hogs in central california does not get that big.



L2H

 

[41mag]

Hey L2H,

Yep, I weigh in at about 200# however the pig in the bucket of that CASE 980 back hoe is considerably over 300#. WE have a 300# scale and it bottomed out before we even got the shoulders up.

Not sure how you judge pigs, but I am guessing you have had WAY more experience than me with the river bottom hogs we hunt. So being that as it is I will just keep on shooting our little piglets and wait on you to post up a picture of a REAL hog. Oh yea and forget the 4' of room the pig in the bucket takes up from the front to the back. I am sure that probably is just hair anyway.

 

[larrysogla]

Keep having to bring this up that pigs are very deceptive in live weight, 'cause they can increase their girth without increasing their length just like bears(which are related) bulk up before hibernation. I seem to remember that bears loose over 40% of their body weight after their long hibernation. So, it may not look that long in the picture but with the rounded, bulked up body(again muscle which is heavier, not fat) of these Texas hogs, I doubt if you can lift them "PIGLETS" up over into your pickup truck bed by yourself. Not going to debate this much more 'cause I just enjoy Bzzz's, 41mag's, Satchmo's, Timjackson's hog pests as a hunt quest. Really would just enjoy bagging these pests whether in Cali or Texas. Reminds me to pull some Texas ribs from the freezer & enjoy some fine, fine wild pork. Later....... God Bless. larrysogla. YUMMMMMYYYYY.....!!!!

 

[Kevin_A]

You cant accurately tell how big a hog is by a picture, no matter how hard you try. The only way to know is to put them on a scale and weigh them. I have caught hogs that I thought had no chance of going over 125 lbs. that weighed in at 200+ lbs. and "monsters" that when weighed dissapointed me.

41 Mag--- I would guess your in the Kaufman/Ellis county area or somewhere along the Trinity around there. Am I right?

 

[41mag]

Hey Kevin,

The place I hunt the most belongs to some friends of mine. It is bewtwwn Madisonville and Crockett, right on the Trinity. We also have our family place up in Palestine that has a few hogs running around somewhere. They come and go, but I have gotten a couple here and there.

As for the weights, we decided after the big pig in the back hoe to try to find us a scale that would go up over the 250# one we had. All I could find that didn't cost $600 or more was this one,

WE had it checked by the fellow who comes out to certify our hoist and cranes, last year. It's was off by about 2# on weights of 50, 100, and 200#. That was all of the small stuff he had so we just set it correctly at the 200# mark and let it go.

The buck I got last year is what is hanging on it at the time of this picture. Since then the hogs have been hard to find. They move so much up there that your lucky if you get into them sometimes. However this time of year they move into the pecan and pin oak flats there on my friends place and with a little time you do get some good one's. There is also a corn field up the road about a ile that they were making a mess of, and hopefully this weekend I am going to intercept some of them on their way over there. As far as the weights go, I have been working cows and pigs for most of my life. After some time you get a feel for putting a weight to them, just like the fish. The area we hunt is rich with food for them as well as very densly covered river bottom. They don't have to move out of an area to live for a long time and if you didn't stumble on to them you would never even know they were in there.

Most of the ones we get are in the 80 - 150# range as has been stated y others, however there are the exceptions to this. Those that I have pictured are by far the exceptions but they are also as big as we have ever gotten off that place. They are not however the biggest we have seen. With all of the crops and cover up there, there ain't no tellin how big some of those old sows are.

 

[badger16]

Buck Medely is actually Victor Medely.