Why do I shoot pigs with an AR?

[LRDGCO]

I never did get night vision, just too expensive and fragile. I just use a green laser spotlight mounted to a 3x9x40 scope, po-boy's night vision.

ATN and Sightmark both have Digital Scopes with IR at the @$500 mark. Not as good as thermal but still quite useful, especially with an external IR illuminator.

 

[Choctaw]

Choctaw, I don't think your hogs were just grubbing. They were going after deeper stuff as well.

I agree.

Our place is only a section but it is heavily wooded and cut by ravines allowing us to stalk. When the wind isn't blowing (I know, Texas...) we can often hear them squealing and making other noises. That is when we get up close and surprise them where they are resting. They love wallowing in those ravines. Somehow it is particularly satisfying to hit them this way.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

ATN and Sightmark both have Digital Scopes with IR at the @$500 mark. Not as good as thermal but still quite useful, especially with an external IR illuminator.

You can add Pulsar to the list as well for digital NV (which allows for daylight use as well). Sightmark has a new model called the Wraith that will be coming out that looks really impressive.
http://www.sightmark.com/product2.php?item=1172 This lists for $600 but is preselling for $500.

 

[rodwha]

But yes. People who don’t have the problem, don’t understand. I enjoy hunting them. But I know I’m not really making a dent.

Imagine if you fellas weren’t doing all that!

 

[MCgunner]

I've been lookiing at the ATN for a while, now. I can't convince myself to put a friggin' computer on my rifle and I wonder about its reliability, plus, the green laser seems to work for me just fine.

 

[jmorris]

You need a trap.

Fast forward to 5:28 of this one.

 

[kenboyles72]

Was finally able to get my first this evening, seen them many times, but never had a shot or rifle.

 

[armoredman]

Really dumb city boy question - can these hogs be processed and the meat given to shelters and food banks, thus becoming a tax write off as well? Or is the meat foul?

 

[brewer12345]

Boy, I hope those things never get established up here.

 

[Flintknapper]

I disced up about a quarter acre in back near the back fence and planted a food plot containing 40 percent clover seed. I've noticed, when clover comes up in the front yard, I have deer all over it in the morning. It's amazing. I never knew there were THAT many deer in the woods. So, my plan was a food plot with clover, about 100 yards from my box blind. Hogs came in as the stuff was germinating and rooted the whole area. Forget food plots around here.

Impossible for me to plant Peas in one area of my property. Hogs ALWAYS find them and root them up before they can germinate. Short of putting an electric fence around the food plot (not worth it) there is no way get a crop up.

 

[Jeb Stuart]

Invasive and destructive Hogs, Nutria, coyotes. All destroying the land and natural habitat. Grackles destroy crops and Song birds in record numbers. I especially hate the Nutria. Especially in the area I live in. They are treacherous to the beautiful wetlands where I live.
Can't kill them fast enough.

 

[alsaqr]

Really dumb city boy question - can these hogs be processed and the meat given to shelters and food banks,

It's legal in Oklahoma. Every year i have a couple hogs processed for the local food bank. Also give field dressed and skinned hogs to a few folks.

Or is the meat foul?

Well cared for meat from a fat wild hog is delicious, nothing like domestic pork. Wild hog meat also lacks the growth hormones and antibiotics found in commercial pork.

 

[BigBore44]

Well cared for meat from a fat wild hog is delicious, nothing like domestic pork. Wild hog meat also lacks the growth hormones and antibiotics found in commercial pork.

And even though they can have lots of fat in them, their meat is quite lean and healthy. They have to work for their food unlike farm raised pigs. They are definitely a viable alternative protein source for those willing to go out after them. Personally, I’d rather have a nice 200-300lb sow or even boar than a 200lb deer.

 

[Choctaw]

You need a trap.

Fast forward to 5:28 of this one.

We have three traps that are actually running right now. We trap them and they just giggle.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Really dumb city boy question - can these hogs be processed and the meat given to shelters and food banks, thus becoming a tax write off as well? Or is the meat foul?

The meat is quite edible. As noted above, apparently, you can donate to shelters in OK. It is ILLEGAL to donate your kills in Texas. The law in Texas treats feral hogs the same as domestic hogs. A hunter may share his kills with friends and privately (there is some specific wording I don't directly recall) but for public distribution, be it shelter donation, food bank, or for sale, the hogs must first be inspected both before and after slaughter...which hunting does not allow for to happen. Trapped hogs can be taken through the process because they are still alive. Most trappers don't donate the meat because they can sell the hogs as live hogs. It is their business.

 

[MCgunner]

And even though they can have lots of fat in them, their meat is quite lean and healthy. They have to work for their food unlike farm raised pigs. They are definitely a viable alternative protein source for those willing to go out after them. Personally, I’d rather have a nice 200-300lb sow or even boar than a 200lb deer.

They get pretty fat around here. There's so many small acreages and feeders running, the pigs are corn STUFFED. 20 acres is a big place around here. The guy behind me has 48 acres and he's got the most acreage on this end of the road.

I know I sit out in my box blind in the evening and hear feeders going off all around me. I have two feeders, myself, but usually just run one. Can't have a food plot, gotta feed.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

OK, mentioned above is that trappers sell the hogs that they catch. Who buys feral hogs and why..?

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Who buys feral hogs and why..?

People that release them on their own property because other people pay to shoot them.

 

[Browning]

Besides land destruction feral hogs also negatively affect native wildlife.

Wild pigs can be significant predators of eggs and newly hatched young of ground-nesting birds and sea turtles, small mammals, salamanders, frogs, crabs, mussels, and snakes. They also sometimes prey upon fawns and displace deer.


Feeders are the best way we've found for cleaning them out.



Gotta be quick though. That's why most everyone I know uses a semi of some sort (AR15's, AR10's, SKS's, AK's, FAL's, PTR's etc).

Poisoning them with Coumadin in Texas has also been approved.

https://www.cleburnetimesreview.com...cle_a97f5f44-fe06-11e6-887f-ff862683bb37.html

I'm not sure how many people do that though.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

People that release them on their own property because other people pay to shoot them.

So some folks are trying to eliminate the feral hogs and others are buying them and giving them a place to,( briefly ), stay...?

 

[alsaqr]

OK, mentioned above is that trappers sell the hogs that they catch. Who buys feral hogs and why..?

1. Hog hunting ranches.

2. Slaughter houses. Much is exported: Wild hog meat costs big bucks in China, Korea and other countries. There is a wild hog slaughter house in Hubbard, TX. . Another is located around Ada, Oklahoma.

 

[Enfielder]

I'm glad we don't have this problem in NY but then again, what a fun pastime do go full tilt on an invasive. What does one do with 150+- dead pigs?

 

[Browning]

I'm glad we don't have this problem in NY but then again, what a fun pastime do go full tilt on an invasive. What does one do with 150+- dead pigs?

Mostly we shoot them and dump them these days. A lot of them carry diseases that can transmit to humans.

https://invasivespecies.wa.gov/documents/squealonpigs/Feralhogs&diseaseconcerns.pdf

 

[alsaqr]

For many years i field dressed and skinned hogs for other folks. Over the years folks got picky and ordered hogs by sex and weight. Some wanted their hogs delivered to the processor. Then early last year i said "self you are 79 years old, let folks get their own hogs". i continue to provide hogs to a few close friends and one large family.

Now the coyotes eat really well. The vultures have migrated and some carcasses go untouched.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

1. Hog hunting ranches.

2. Slaughter houses. Much is exported: Wild hog meat costs big bucks in China, Korea and other countries. There is a wild hog slaughter house in Hubbard, TX. . Another is located around Ada, Oklahoma.

Now it makes sense.