Are these the average run of the mill feral hogs? or domesticated escapees?

Look feral to me...

I've seen hogs with a lot more hair, but these have enough and don't seem to have curly tails.

I'd say feral.

they 're pharell

Thanks. It was the pink little guy that really threw me off.

If it's in my scope, it's feral.

The straight tails gives it away -- wild piggies fit for domestic plates!

Keep in mind that whether or not a tail is curly has nothing to do with being domestic or wild. That is just folklore. You can google pig breeds and see all the domestic pigs that have straight tails.

Breeds like the Meishan, Cumberland, Improved Suffolk, and many more have straight tails. Many ferals have curved tails.

I'd guess they are feral. The tail has nothing to do with that though...

At some point in their family tree they were all barnyard hogs. It doesn't take them long to go from the cute pink piggy you see on a hog farm to the lean mean bulldozers rooting up a field.

Feral Hogs.

But it is important that we not use the term to suggest that "feral' hogs are another species. Feral is a 'state' of being, loosely meaning 'wild' or having returned to the wild (from domestication).

So.... at what point can we look to characteristics and proclaim a hog (or other animal) "Feral"?

I think certain generalizations could be permitted....but as with most things there will be exceptions.

My advice: If it doesn't have an ear tag and/or you can't readily identify it as one of your own or a neighbors, CHOOT IT !

That one pig was pretty pale but I believe all are feral. When I was growing up, they always said if the ears stand up they are feral pigs, if floppy then domestic pigs.

Berkshires, Hampshires, Kunekune, Mulefoot, American Yorkshire, Red Waffle, Pietrain, Wessex Saddleback, Choctaw, Ossabaw Island, and others all have ears that stand up.

You know your pigs.

Actually, I don't, but learned early on that claimed diagnostic traits are usually not diagnostic. They are just the hunter version of urban myths. At best, such claims are just tendencies to be one way or the other and not definitive as often indicated.

With that said, a given feral hog that comes from a long ancestry of being feral isn't apt to have many of the stereotypical domestic traits.

Here is a brief overview of the identification situation from Noble that sums up things pretty well.
http://www.noble.org/ag/wildlife/feralhogs/characteristics/

Here is a more involved read from A&M
http://agrilife.org/texnatwildlife/feral-hogs/distinguishing-feral-hogs-from-introduced-wild-boar/

The way I see it, If they ain't in a pen, they's WILD!!!