Nice hog, congrats.

I can go along with that. just gets annoying to see so many so grossly over-estimated.

out of curiosity, what part of the state/country are you killing them in? any trend you've seen about what sort of habitats tend to produce the bigger ones?

we try to weigh all our bigger ones just so I know I'm telling the truth. We killed several hundred in the texas hill country and probably never killed one larger than 200lbs or slightly over. We've killed a great many on our ranch in south texas now too. several in the 150-175lbs class. some in the 200ish class. our biggest we've ever killed and recovered was about 240lbs on the hoof. pig was huge. we did get some game camera pictures a few times of a really big sow that seemed like she had to be bigger than that, maybe 300lbs on the hoof or so. but we never caught up with her.

seems like though there are some larger ones in east texas and along the major river bottom habitats.

I won't answer for Brian, but I agree with him and TexasLawman...that the heart girth measurement is indeed pretty accurate (for normal, healthy feral hogs). I weigh just about every hog that I estimate will exceed 200 lbs. and have in the past tested the 'tape' method with good results.

I have weighed and tested well over 50 hogs...before declaring the system reasonably accurate (usually within 10-12 lbs. on mature hogs).

In the 30 years I've been killing hogs, I have taken something very close to 1,000 animals. In time, you develop a pretty good 'eye' for weight. And I agree....there is a distinct tendency for folks to either MIS-guess the weight of hogs or to intentionally 'embellish'. Exceeded perhaps...only by fishermen.

But... I have no reason to doubt the weight of Brian's boar and consider him to be honest and forthcoming in reports. His videos bear that out.

With respect to the average weight of hogs (in good condition) there is no doubt in my mind that habitat plays a large roll. In my area, (Deep East Texas) hogs are clearly (on average) heavier than other parts of the State.

If you like...I can post pics of Sows that easily exceed the weight of Boars from many other places in Texas.

That said, an HONEST 300 lb. boar is a rarity here, but boars in the 225 lb. to 275 lb. are not at all uncommon.

The 'potential' for boars to exceed 300 lbs. (here) is certainly there and I have scaled more than a few of them.

Depending upon where you hunt and what YOUR experience is....you might find it hard to accept a 240 lb. sow. I have pictures of one that I killed, weighed and taped.

Like you, I am a stickler for accuracy and honesty, so I actually weigh my hogs, but like TexasLawman...I usually refrain from posting the weight.

It only invites someone challenging the weight, or worse...telling of a 600 lb. boar that charged them and was finally killed with his last shot, hog skidding to a stop at his feet.

In my mind, ANY hog killed is a 'good' hog. As for 'trophy' status, I would much rather hear a story about a hard earned Hog, than to assign the animal some elevated position...owing to its weight.

As an experienced hog hunter, I am sure you would agree.


Flint.

Yes, and that is the nice thing about learning to properly tape a hog. You can get a reasonable weight estimate on the hog without going through the hassle of setting up a scale. You pull the tape snug behind the front legs and get the smallest circumference possible and that is what you use for the weight estimation.



I don't think it is habitat as much as sex and age. Hogs are sexually dimorphic and females tend to be smaller than males. A bunch of my 200+ lb hogs have been less than 2.5 years of age. I worked my place and my neighbor's place and the hogs killed got progressively smaller. Last summer, we hunted a place in Bosque County in an oats field where 6 of the first 7 hogs killed were over 200 lbs as they were the only ones that we could even see above the oats. By the time deer season came around, the oats were gone and we were shooting a lot of yearling sows and piglets under 100 lbs.

Up in north Texas, of the boars that I have aged after they were skeletonized (using bone growth, tooth eruption, and tooth wear), we see a lot of 180-200 lbs boars that are less than 2 years of age and a several over 200 lbs that are about 1.5-2.5 years of age.

I don't know that I have killed a single hog over 5 years of age. The oldest that I have aged from tooth wear was 3.5-4.0 years old.

Not all hogs will get large, of course. I killed 3 year old that was only 180 lbs and fully filled out. That little boar wasn't getting any taller or longer.

I know that when I killed my first hog last year, I was by myself, and had a hard time pulling and keeping the tape snug while also juggling a flashlight and trying to take a picture with bloody gloves. That was my fault, and poor technique. However, the tape gave me at least some idea of weight to go with the size. My subsequent hogs were definitely not as large, and the tape still seemed adequate for an estimate. I just want to know where all of my hogs have gone. I can't shoot them if they don't come around.

Again I agree with the annoying 200pounders claimed to be 300-500 pounds its funny. I find the biggest ones on properties that have not been hunted with night vision, just like anything else the bi ones are the older smart ones that learned to only come out at night. Thermal and night vision fixed that. Other than that like you said close to river bottoms and thickets where they hide during the day is a good spot. Cattle farms that feed protein are very good locations for big ones they get fat fast.

If you want to see some funny stuff about hog weight, go check out a thread I started in the pics section "How big?"

I have a beasty coming in almost nightly to a feeder that I hope to ground check this Friday. I plan to tape him once I get him down so I hope to have a decent answer about his weight, but from what I can tell he is a big one.
I have taken one 300+ lb boar on a dog hunt, his pic is in that thread as well. Doesn't look as big because it is a dead shot laying on the ground, but he was a beast to drag to the truck. That boar ended up laying all the way across the outfitter's pick up and then some.