Another first for me

Dani

Dani

Well-known member
Gold Sponsor
Well I took a break from ducks this weekend to go try for some quail and woodcock in my turkey woods. I've seen and heard both so I thought, why not. Also took a couple of buckshot shells since i've very seldom gone into those woods and not seen a pig and I figgered if a small one was around, I'd be happy to take it home. Well I got there and my turkey woods are BONE DRY. The creeks that used to run through the woods are just memories.

Ah well. I decided to go check out more of the area that I don't normally have access to b/c of the water. I found a wallow that had a piggy in it. In my quest to sneak up on her, I scared her off. Not a surprise.

But I decided to sit and wait, perhaps another pig would come by. And I sat about 30 minutes when I heard something come running towards me through the woods. I turn and coming at me, towards the wallow is a piggy. When he finally presented a shot to me, he was in the wallow, and he fell hard in the mud.

Sooooooo this weekend I managed my very first piggy! Really he was bigger than I was looking for, but not too big that I didn't want to let him go.

DSCN6864a.jpg

 
That's a nice piggy you got there Dani. And that is one heck of a schnoot on that thing. Probably would have been sniffing truffles if it was in France.
 
Wooo! That's a good one, it's dead. With that long snout it looks like it has some russian in it's background. Now you can go on one of those crazy pig shows and yell at everyone instead of killing hogs. :)

Tim
 
Congrats on the pig! You'll have to let us know how it tastes.

There is a population of them south of here. I've thought it would be neat to get one, but from the sounds of it I don't think I really want them roaming the woods. Do you see much damage from the pigs around you?
 
Nice Dani, A question though. How does one clean one of those things. Do you skin it or do the scalding thing? Either way it looks like a lot of work to me. ;)
Ron
 
Cool! Thats some good eats!
Take the hams, brine them & put them on the smoker low & slow for 4-6 hours.
 
Good shooting Dani and congratulations.

Ok, this is pretty obvious evidence that they are running around in Florida. How many other states are experiencing the same invasive feral pig issue? All? Just some?

The state of Michigan really doesnt like the little buggers http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/Wanted_Poster_Final-no_name_371221_7.pdf
declaring an almost hysterical wild pig eradication program, but when you ask other hunters or check the DNR sightings maps, the numbers seem relatively insignificant...29 of 57 sighted in 2011 were actually killed. Thats just about statistically invisible if you compare it against statewide deer-vehicle collisions of something like 60,000+. http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/2011FSMap_010512_372841_7.pdf

Looking back even further into the data, I see 340 sightings over the ten year period from 2001 - 2011.... 286 of whom never made it home for dinner with Mrs. Pig. http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/FS_kill_101211_366218_7.pdf

I understand the downside possibilities when facing an "invasive species" but based on this data in Michigan, it would seem like, statistically, you could have the same chance of finding that many left-handed raccoons. It just doesn't sound like something that warrants an all out declaration of war on pigs. Don't get me wrong, I would love to go after them if I knew where the things actually lived but the data says theres only one living in Genesee County. He probably lives around me somewhere and I haven't spotted any evidence whatsoever of such a lonely pig. From all I have seen and read, I would say he is just looking for love in all the wrong places...should go next door to Oakland Co...theres 4 hog hotties over there.
 
Scott, if yu had a significant pig population you would have no doubts about them being worthy of an all out assault. You can not believe the amount of damage they can do to a field, after the hogs are through it looks like the field has been plowed. Also, they compete with other wildlife, including wood ducks, deer and any other wildlife. Also, they can present a safety issue, they will charge you if surprized. They taast good but I would rather not have them here in Alabama.
 
Thanks y'all!!

Dave, he was cut up in the woods and taken out in pieces. I think in Feb I'm going to invite my gramma over and my mom (and my uncle in NC who wants to shoot a pig though I doubt he can come) and I'm gonna smoke one of the hind quarters...looking forward to it...

Ron, you shoulda seen me. After the pig was shot, I was sure it was dead, I hauled him out of the wallow, got a picture. I stood there thinking NOW WHAT? The biggest mammal I've ever cleaned was a rabbit and while i'm sure overall the procedure is similar I can't very easily nail his legs to a tree to quickly skin him out. So, I decided to butcher him there in the woods...skinned him and started cutting into quarters. The front half was tore up from the buck shot pretty bad so I just left that but I got the loins, back strap and hind quarters off of him. I need to google how to dress a pig if I try this again...I really wanted a piglet size so that I could just smoke him whole...

Scott, I'm not sure how many states have the feral pig problem but I know it's big in GA and FL and I would assume AL and other states in the South. They can do a lot of damage very quickly so it's no surprise that any states that are seeing them start to show up are trying to erradicate them as quickly as possible. As Steve said, they can take a field and make it look plowed over night...and they have done that to some of the roads and dikes in the management areas as well. Makes walking some of those roads treacherous to your ankles. In high school I worked on a preserve as part of an internship on the north side of Jacksonville that has a significant pig population. One day the other student i was working on a project with startled a pig that neither of us saw. It was a big pig by our reckoning...and we both ended up flying up some trees to get away from it. I don't know how long we sat up there but it eventually wandered off and we sat up there just to make sure it wasn't waiting on us. Scared the daylights out of us that's for sure...

Dani
 
I am not sure just how many feral hogs are running around Iowa, but it is legal to shoot them.

Dani,

What would you guess live weight to be on that piggy?
 
Scott pigs proliferate very quickly. sounds like the state is doing the right thing here, erradicate them. they will devastate everything in there path
 
Just about every hardwood bottom and swamp in the Coastal Plain of Alabama is flat out covered up in wild pigs. On private lands that is no closed season and no limit. Private landowners can trap them as well. Seasons are not quite liberal on public lands, but on most WMA's you can hunt them from October 1st through February 28th. And lots of guys do. Even so, we arent making a dent in the population.
A sow can have up to 10 piglets in a litter and can have two litters per year. Each new sow is ready to breed at 3-6 months of age, which means if a sow has 10 piglets, 5 female, 5 male, there is potentially 60 new piglets from that first sow and her daughters in one year!!!!
Now we all know that a lot of piglets dont make it to maturity but even so, they have a huge reproductive potential.
And they are vaccuum cleaners, they can devastate a corn or sweet potato field in a couple of nights. Root-up a oak forest so that it looks like it was tilled.
Only good thing about them is that they are great to eat, get a yearling under 75 pounds or so, and its better than any pork you ever ate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top