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Welcome to Texas. Feral hogs in the yard

They are miserable things. They are one of the few animals with no closed season in Michigan that DNR encourage you to shoot any time. One nice thing is since thier import into the state was halted thier numbers seem to be dropping.

Cannot begin to image the headaches and dangers of them in your actual yard. Good luck and good shooting.
 
Some years ago before we moved into the institution (retirement community LOL), I woke one Saturday morning with a small sounder (probably a couple dozen) tearing up my entire front yard. Needless to say I was pretty pizzed since I used to put a good bit of work into keeping my yard looking nice. Well, I grabbed my pants and out the door I went yelling like a madman to run them off. They had literally rooted up about 1/2 my whole front yard. The part of the property I used to keep looking as a front lawn was about 1/2+ acre.

Anyway, as they were heading for 'high country' with all the pigs and shoats following the best they could, I saw out of the corner of my eye around the side of the house, a Whitetail doe with twin spotted fawns watching the whole show. That was enough 'beauty of the wild' so to speak to make me completely overlook the hog damage.

Still had to replace the sod the hogs rooted all up, but it seemed like a pretty good trade off after seeing the deer. jj
 
Those of us who do hunt and/or eat them don't have to be real particular since they're so plentiful. In some cases I've heard folks say 'what a waste to just throw them away', but they've never tried eating a 250-300 pound rank ol' boar after spending half a day just cleaning and trying to cook that thing, and when all else is equal maybe so. But taking them out of the gene pool is the first and foremost reason to kill them, not to eat them. Even the bigger, older ones can be made palatable, if not gourmet, but it requires a lot of work and time. Far more of both than they're worth in the end.

In my experience, a <60lb shoat, or a young sow can be excellent table fare without a lot of effort. And with just a little effort can be made to be really good pork! Sometimes even a much bigger one can make really good bacon and some chops, but there is a limit.

Ain't that what the chicken says?: ....................... "EAT MORE PORK!" ;):D(y)
 
jumpinjoe said:
Those of us who do hunt and/or eat them don't have to be real particular since they're so plentiful. In some cases I've heard folks say 'what a waste to just throw them away', but they've never tried eating a 250-300 pound rank ol' boar after spending half a day just cleaning and trying to cook that thing, and when all else is equal maybe so. But taking them out of the gene pool is the first and foremost reason to kill them, not to eat them. Even the bigger, older ones can be made palatable, if not gourmet, but it requires a lot of work and time. Far more of both than they're worth in the end.

In my experience, a <60lb shoat, or a young sow can be excellent table fare without a lot of effort. And with just a little effort can be made to be really good pork! Sometimes even a much bigger one can make really good bacon and some chops, but there is a limit.

Ain't that what the chicken says?: ....................... "EAT MORE PORK!" ;):D(y)
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Yum Yum
Wild hog tenderloin.. about a 60lb er
340CBE4B-3A5A-405F-9557-E99A2521600A.jpeg
 
KillerFord1977 said:
This is what a small pack of hogs will do in one night…
Imagine a nice suburban lawn looking like this


View attachment 35803
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Saw this yesterday morning on my way to church…residential home inside the city limits of Graham, TX. Unfortunately, this is common here when we get moisture, as the hogs will move away from the river and root freely just about anywhere the ground is damp. They love the grubs common to most lawns and particularly St. Augustine, and are mighty fond of any acorn/nut/fruit bearing trees, as well as, all grain crops in their path. I’m a Habitat Manager focused on growing healthy deer on my place. Hogs are competition for deer. Consequently, I’m not very fond of them. I began dealing with the squealers just after I first moved here by hunting ‘em down for sport and groceries. That was fun, but difficult to say the least, as feral hogs are the most unpredictable, nocturnal game I’ve ever pursued. So then I started snaring them, worked well except for the fact that deer in this locale cross UNDER fences rather than jump over them…so, yes, that was out. Then I got real serious and started trapping them…you have to bait to trap effectively…the results were most impressive!! However, unless you want to invest in equipment to haul them to market and sell them on the hoof (not fiscally attractive for me) you have another issue…how do I get rid of the caged incumbents? So, I thought, I’ll sell them to the locals for grub, right? Well, anyone interested in this proposition has more than their share of opportunities to fill the freezer
so, no joy there either. As a result, I ended up dispersing the carcasses of the slain all across my property for the varmints to help me deal with. But here’s the challenge, how long can you keep that up when your dispatching 3-5 sizable pigs every day? Not long folks! And, unless you find the aroma of decomposing flesh attractive this is NOT a long term solution. Hum, what to do?? Ah…, the lights ☀️ came on! I’ll deny them all access to food on my property (to the degree that I could) and see what happens. So…I fenced all my deer feeders with 4’ hog panel, put guards up around all fruit trees, and stopped baiting altogether. Best strategy ever! No, it hasn’t eliminated my hog problem but, it has greatly diminished it…they now go to the pantries on my neighbors’ and consume their groceries! I am tickled to death now 🥳… I am getting mixed reviews from my neighbors at the moment though, if only I could help…
 
Saw this yesterday morning on my way to church…residential home inside the city limits of Graham, TX. Unfortunately, this is common here when we get moisture, as the hogs will move away from the river and root freely just about anywhere the ground is damp. They love the grubs common to most lawns and particularly St. Augustine, and are mighty fond of any acorn/nut/fruit bearing trees, as well as, all grain crops in their path. I’m a Habitat Manager focused on growing healthy deer on my place. Hogs are competition for deer. Consequently, I’m not very fond of them. I began dealing with the squealers just after I first moved here by hunting ‘em down for sport and groceries. That was fun, but difficult to say the least, as feral hogs are the most unpredictable, nocturnal game I’ve ever pursued. So then I started snaring them, worked well except for the fact that deer in this locale cross UNDER fences rather than jump over them…so, yes, that was out. Then I got real serious and started trapping them…you have to bait to trap effectively…the results were most impressive!! However, unless you want to invest in equipment to haul them to market and sell them on the hoof (not fiscally attractive for me) you have another issue…how do I get rid of the caged incumbents? So, I thought, I’ll sell them to the locals for grub, right? Well, anyone interested in this proposition has more than their share of opportunities to fill the freezer
so, no joy there either. As a result, I ended up dispersing the carcasses of the slain all across my property for the varmints to help me deal with. But here’s the challenge, how long can you keep that up when your dispatching 3-5 sizable pigs every day? Not long folks! And, unless you find the aroma of decomposing flesh attractive this is NOT a long term solution. Hum, what to do?? Ah…, the lights ☀️ came on! I’ll deny them all access to food on my property (to the degree that I could) and see what happens. So…I fenced all my deer feeders with 4’ hog panel, put guards up around all fruit trees, and stopped baiting altogether. Best strategy ever! No, it hasn’t eliminated my hog problem but, it has greatly diminished it…they now go to the pantries on my neighbors’ and consume their groceries! I am tickled to death now 🥳… I am getting mixed reviews from my neighbors at the moment though, if only I could help…
 
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