wild boars

[Elijah Gunn]

Just went for a walk in the woods with my daughter today. When we got back we ran into a neighbor who told us about a bunch of russian boar hogs that  escaped from a ranch in a neighboring county. My question is  what do you do when you come across a boar in the wild? I heard somewhere a few years back that wild pigs kill more people each year than sharks do.
Thanks, Mark

[billy_56081]

Wild boars while not harmless are not much of a worry. The 2 legged boars are way more dangerous.

[Graybeard]

Unless you are real good at slipping along quietly with the wind in your favor the chances of you running into any wild hogs is not that great. The chances of them actually charging or attacking are somewhere between slim and none. Now it's always possible that if they are unsure of where you are or if you have their preferred means of escape cutoff they will run at you but it's likely more of a that's where I wanna go thing than them really charging at you in an attack mode.

[jgalar]

IF your daughter blabs away like mine does then the chances of seeing any wildlife is remote.

[rex6666]

most all wild critters will move off if they hear you coming, except
maybe polar bears. Put little bells on your shoes, (hope you heard that joke)

[Sourdough]

I've hunted them in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria.  Unless you are real stealthy, chances are you will never see them.  If you do happen to run into them, they will be surprised.   If they come your way, get out of their way quick.  The only time they become real dangerous is if piglets are involved.  From a safe location (tree stand) I would arrow a piglet, when that pig squealed the entire herd would come to the rescue.  That would give me the opportunity to arrow many more.

[rockbilly]

Last Saturday morning I was walking a low area near a creek and marking for a cedar clearing project.  Since I was walking tall grass I had my high top boots on, and and slipped 5 .38 shotshells into the old model 60 for snakes.  I walked down to the creek, pushed through some thick cedar and walked up within 10-12 feet of two large hogs.  I reached for the little .357 then realized I was loaded with the snake shot.  I wasn't threatened, but I did stick three of the .357 hardnose bullets back in the gun.  The hogs turned and took off leaving behind what I might have done in my pants had they decided to come my way.

I have heard tales of pigs attacking a person, but normally this only occurs when they have no other means of escape.  Like GB said, it is rare to walk up on one.

[lrs]

I have had wild hogs walk to within a car's length before, when I was hunting.  I'm sure the wind must have been favorable.  It was "interesting".  But the instant they know you're there, they practically outrun their own shadow, hightailing for the nearest faraway place.
I can not ever recall walking up on one.
My stepfather and I were sitting on a deer stand 3 years ago, and a bona-fide monster almost came out of the brush.  It was right at dark, back in the brush a little.  At first it did not register as a hog.  I thought it was just the base of huge tree that must have been blown down or something.  ( This was our 1st year at this place ).  You know how things can look different right at dark?
Then it started to move.  We both watched it for a minute or so, then it went back into the woods, never coming out.  I had my scope on it, though it was difficult, on account of the darkness.  It would have been an uncertain shot, b/c of the brush.  To this day though I wish I would have just pulled the trigger.  Since we were watching a feeder, I thought for sure it would come into the opening.
I promise you that hog conservatively weighed at least 500lbs, though I suspect it would have hit 800lbs.  It did not have the body or coloration of a domestic hog, as near as I could tell.  It was black, built like an indian arrowhead.
We were both shaken up a little, it was that big.

[Graybeard]

Those born to the wild and which live their entire lives in the wild just don't get that large.

[Dee]

No they don't GB. We have had feral hogs here in East North Central Texas for over a hundred years. The hogs whether boar or sow, usually don't live much past 6 years old I am told by the old timers. Now that's me! Their molars wear down foraging and their health goes with their teeth. There are so many here, they are considered pests, and it's open season year around.
The biggest I have seen, are the ones I have killed. One is in my avatar that I am straddled. I killed HIM with a 52 grain match hollow point while he slept under a cedar in a cedar break. He never knew I was there. I are a sneaky old Cherokee.
This hog weighed about 300+ lbs. I make him look smaller because I are a large variety of Cherokee.
Their ferocity is a myth, but it sure is fun to see the Dallas boys show up with their "hog guns". I must admit them 300 Win Mags, and 458 Win Mags, will kill a 200 lb hog though.
One just never know when they might be charged by an enraged "BORE"  .
By the way, they will also run from a 20 lb Jack Russell terrier too. That's why I seldom take Huff with me. He scares them off. A sow with babies in the brush is different though, and a boar cornered with dogs will kill the dogs if he can, and he can.

[lrs]

Those born to the wild and which live their entire lives in the wild just don't get that large.

I didn't ask for his driver's license. 
But my story is accurate.  I have been hunting wild hogs for about 20 yrs, most in the east Texas area.  I have seen wild hogs.
I'll freely admit my guessimation about his weight could be off, but I don't think it was.  My step-father claimed the picture would have weighed 20 pounds. 

[Dee]

Those born to the wild and which live their entire lives in the wild just don't get that large.

I didn't ask for his driver's license. 
But my story is accurate.  I have been hunting wild hogs for about 20 yrs, most in the east Texas area.  I have seen wild hogs.
I'll freely admit my guessimation about his weight could be off, but I don't think it was.  My step-father claimed the picture would have weighed 20 pounds. 

No one is calling you a liar Irs. What GB was trying to say, ( I think) and I was saying is they don't usually get that big in the wild. The hog you saw (at nearly dark) could have been a domestic escapee. This happens, and just like a common house cat turned lose in the wild, a hog will go feral just as fast. In good light, a domestic turned feral, and a true feral hog look not very much alike. That is all that I was saying, so chill out.

[Elijah Gunn]

Thanks for the replies.
So they aren't as dangerous as I thought. Still plan to be careful of them.  We can shoot wild pigs on sight here in Michigan too. That is if the cougars, and black panthers that are being seen more and more often don't get the pigs first.LOL

[lrs]

I did not get the feeling my honesty was being challenged.   
I agree that they usually do not get that large in the wild.  Most men do not grow to be 6'10, but a few do.
I have not seen many wild hogs that would go over 200lb.  And by 200 lb, I mean just a quick estimation.
I've seen a handfull between 200 - 300lbs.   I was hunting with a brother close to Bryan, Tx in 1989, and I let him look through my new scope, on a .243, right at dark, and a BIG one walked out about 25 yds from us.  Hog never knew we were there.  Brother shot him through both lungs, factory ammo, 100gr winchester power point.  The hog ran back into the brush.  We recovered him, loaded him in the trunk of my wife's car, it took all of his and mine combined strength, and we did not get it into the trunk until about the 3rd try.
Took him to my uncle's, a farmer, who thought that hog weighed about 400 pounds.  That's about what I thought.  This was a pure black piney woods rooter.  Was not cut, did not have any notched ears, had a long snout.  It was a magnificent animal, to me a fine trophy.
A couple of years later, same brother hunting at night, shot a bigger one, I THINK he got this one on a scale, and weighed in at 600lbs. This hog was clearly domestic, ears were notched, and he had been cut.  He had been living wild obviously, but he was born in captivity.
I think it is inaccurate to state wild hogs just do not ever achieve huge proportions, period, end of story. I maintain the vast majority do not, but a few of them are out there.

[Graybeard]

A hog that two men can with difficulty load into a car trunk likely is in the 200-250 range. Darn few can lift 200 pounds along or their half of 400 to that height. I think most folks over estimate their own strength as well as the weight of every critter they kill.

I've shot a couple in the roughly 200 pound class once in TN on a guided hunt. They had no scales so I'm guesstimating the weight. After gutting him it was all me and the guide could do to lift him onto the tail gate of his truck. Still I'd bet that he wasn't more than 200 pounds live weight. Another shot out in TX on the Reed Ranch we named the Gray Ghost Whumpus Hog was in fact weighted and came in slightly under 200 pounds. He was pretty close to the same size as the TN hog further reinforcing my estimate of that one at around 200. Four of us dragged out the GGWH and I sure was glad there were that many of us. I didn't help with the loading of him as I was so out of breath I was having enough trouble just standing.

I can recall back in the days when I was still younger and a lot stronger (I used to be a weight lifter) that I had a heck of a time loading up a nine point buck I had taken. The only way I was able to get him onto the tailgate eventually was to tie a rope to him and pull up the head to the tailgate and tie off the rope at that point then go back and lift the tail end up to the tailgate to get him in. Yeah I'd have sworn he was a 200 pounder or more but on the scales he weighted 134 I think it was and they guesstimated his live weight at 184. He was field dressed and at that 130 something when I was putting him in.

Unless an animal is put on the scales we cannot KNOW their weight and I think pretty much everyone grossly over estimates real weight of critters cuz dead weight seems a heck of a lot more than it really is and we all seem to over estimate our own strength.

[Singleshotsam]

When my wife shot her 1st doe, we field dressed it and I loaded it onto the back of my 4wheeler...
I could have sworn that bloomin doe was 150 lbs field dressed... got back to the house and she wieghed in at 87lbs lol... I'm 6'5 and 240 lbs, talk about a blow to my ego

[Sourdough]

I exterminated a lot of hogs in Turkey.  Over 180 in one day, and I went on many forays.  I'd use a bow till I ran out of arrows, then I would pick up my Smith & Wesson 12ga pump.  These animals did a lot of damage to the local farms and they were desperate to get rid of them.  The Turks would often bait them into an enclosed area then close the gates and call the base for help killing them.  I knew several young men that were married to Turkish women and they would come by my place and get me to go and help out their wives families.  These hogs were of the Russian variety, and most were in the 60 to 70 lb range.  We shot them and left them for the dogs and varmints.  The Turks would not touch them.  They would use a Front End Loader to remove them and dump them in an out of the way location.  Then they would take the Loader to the river to wash the bucket, so none of the blood got on their land.  Of each bunch there was usually a couple of old sows, and one Boar that would go anywhere from 150 to 250 lbs.  I know how heavy they were because we had a set of scales that we hung from the bucket of the loader we used to pick them up with.  One exceptional large Boar weighed in at a little over 500 lbs. but he was the exception.  Many times we would bring back a couple of the average size ones for a pig roast at the base.  As soon as I drove in at the Rod and Gun club, and we pulled a hog out of the truck and started dressing it out all the Turks left.  They would not come back for two or three days, wanting to make sure all traces of the hogs were gone.  Even the Christian Turks would leave.

Sometimes we would go and actually hunt them in the mountains along the Iraqi and Syrian border.  I would buy a case or two of European shotgun shells and take with me to a village where I wanted to hunt.  When I got there I would go to the local Chai House, buy a round for all men present, then tell the elder I wanted to hunt hogs.  If the Elder gave his consent word went out and all the men that owned shotguns would turn out.  They would usually set me on a stand, or keep me in a favorable position as we walked into the area.  Some of the men would work as drivers and drive the hogs to me.  I got plenty of action.  The village dogs knew what was coming and would follow at a distance.  The men would throw rocks at them if they got too close.  Once I killed a few hogs there was no holding the dogs back.  The dogs would stay there unless they heard more shooting, then here they would come looking for fresh meat.  Those dogs were far more vicious than the hogs.