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Let’s talk tusks
#7023915
01/04/18 03:31 AM
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 15,739
603Country
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Here on our place in central Tx, i’ve been killing and trapping hogs for years. But never yet have I found a hog with significant tusks. Some of the boars were in the 200 pound range, with one maybe 250ish, but no big cutters. Any thoughts on why that is? Is it an age thing, or genetics, or nutrition?
Last edited by 603Country; 01/04/18 03:32 AM.
Not my monkeys, not my circus...
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7023930
01/04/18 03:38 AM
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Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 4,800
TexasKC
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I'd like to know the answer to that too. I've killed over 100 hogs on our place in Lee county and not one had any real tusks.
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years.
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7023950
01/04/18 03:48 AM
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Joined: Nov 2010
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SapperTitan
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Idk but I’ve killed a few on Ft Hood with good tusks but the biggest I killed there had hardly any they were all broken and busted up.
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7023966
01/04/18 04:01 AM
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Joined: Aug 2013
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cabosandinh
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7023969
01/04/18 04:03 AM
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 29,609
SapperTitan
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Prob too much inbreeding. I’ve heard the really colorful pigs are due to inbreeding as well
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7023976
01/04/18 04:08 AM
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 5,714
TAT
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I know they do break them off a lot but some seem to never grow big cutters. I saw some pigs come off a place in Franklin County that were always around 120-150 lbs. all had massive cutters. Only lasted about 3 years. Then they were and are just decent to hardly any. Has to be genetics. I saw a sow the other day that had been shot and she had really big cutters. So basically I have no idea! Lol
It's not how you fall, It's how you get up.
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: TAT]
#7024012
01/04/18 04:39 AM
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 29,609
SapperTitan
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I know they do break them off a lot but some seem to never grow big cutters. I saw some pigs come off a place in Franklin County that were always around 120-150 lbs. all had massive cutters. Only lasted about 3 years. Then they were and are just decent to hardly any. Has to be genetics. I saw a sow the other day that had been shot and she had really big cutters. So basically I have no idea! Lol
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7024023
01/04/18 04:48 AM
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 8,240
Double Naught Spy
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Back when I was assessing age based on tooth eruption and development, I had several boars ranging from 180-210 lbs that were less than 2.5 years old...with small tusks.
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7024059
01/04/18 07:18 AM
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 17,721
Txduckman
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We get some nice ones up in Montague on the bigger boars. Sometimes they were broken. I got one in Nov that were little over 4 inches. Another bigger boar killed same night were smaller. Big one I got few weeks ago might be closer to 5. Will see when I get the euro. Seems part genetic and how their bite is. In west Texas they are all pretty big. Buddy got one 6 inches and was not a big one.
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7024065
01/04/18 08:35 AM
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Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 1,012
Old Stony
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Looking at mounts can be pretty deceiving as far as tusk size, as the tusks have a couple of inches inside the jaw bones, and once the skull dries out some, you can pull then out further. This is generally done to make them look more dynamic on the wall. I don't know if there is any real definitive answers to locations, food sources, or genetics as far as tusk size....there seems to be a lot of variation all over the place in every category.
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7024090
01/04/18 11:20 AM
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Joined: Dec 2017
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RattlesnakeDan
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I have been hunting and trapping hogs for a while, have killed hundreds and the biggest hog I ever shot was close to 300# boar with very big cutters, other than that I have never really got a good set of them. I am around the San Antonio area.
Just like Jesus, sometimes you gotta kill some hogs. Lone Star Mesquite . com RattleSnake Dan's Shredding Service
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7024109
01/04/18 12:05 PM
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Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 672
Midwaytmm
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With food available pigs can go from 3 lbs babies, to 300 lbs pigs in 6-8 months . Genetic plays a part in this . Where cutters are concerned, genetics does play a role here too, but so does age. Takes a lot longer for them to grow then it does got them to put on weight. Think about it in same terms as antlers on deer. Exact same factors come into play . They also fight and break them, or grind them down a lot just being a holes, when showing they’re dominant . Catch one, cut him, and catch him again 8 months later, he’s gained ton of weight, and cutters significantly bigger. Same in captivity/high fence ect
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7024120
01/04/18 12:17 PM
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Joined: Sep 2016
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Midwaytmm
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These pictures are of pigs we killed that aged between 3-5 years. They really don’t start getting cutters until @2. Nutrition/genetics do play role. But so does age, and that’s a huge factor. Most of the pigs people kill are young pigs, under a year. Just doesn’t seem like it because weight can go on much faster than teeth . It’s identical in farm raised pigs. If they didn’t cut the needle teeth as babies, the breeder boars would have prehistoric look to them . Because they’d be alive and healthy at 8years old
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: Midwaytmm]
#7024274
01/04/18 02:11 PM
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 3,449
aggiehunter03
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These pictures are of pigs we killed that aged between 3-5 years. They really don’t start getting cutters until @2. Nutrition/genetics do play role. But so does age, and that’s a huge factor. Most of the pigs people kill are young pigs, under a year. Just doesn’t seem like it because weight can go on much faster than teeth . It’s identical in farm raised pigs. If they didn’t cut the needle teeth as babies, the breeder boars would have prehistoric look to them . Because they’d be alive and healthy at 8years old How do you age a pig? Cut them in half and count the rings? Seriously though I have no idea.
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7024450
01/04/18 03:52 PM
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 8,240
Double Naught Spy
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Aging hogs can be accomplished through the assessment of tooth eruption and wear. Just like in humans or deer, each tooth (particularly adult teeth) eruption at about a certain age within a few months. Combine that with the amount of wear on the teeth and you can narrow the range. I used to do this for hogs, deer, and once in a while for humans from archaeological assemblages. I have a collection of article on aging animals from tooth wear. Unfortunately with the demise of photobucket, most of the images people had compiled more recently are not available. Here are a couple long-eared articles for which I found pdfs. https://pages.wustl.edu/files/pages/imce/liu/j_archaeol_sci_2014_lemoine.pdfhttp://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC1271522&blobtype=pdfMaybe, Midwaytmm has some better links? As he said, genetics do come into play (by default, they do for every aspect of the hog) which is why you don't see big cutters in young hogs, but tusks are not like antlers where we assume the bigger they are, the better the genetic stock. Age and nutrituion/health are going to be the big determiners. There is no correlation between hog weight and cutter length.
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: Double Naught Spy]
#7024488
01/04/18 04:14 PM
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 3,038
Vern1
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Age and nutrition/health are going to be the big determiners. There is no correlation between hog weight and cutter length.
^^^THIS My best set of cutters came off a fat, healthy 150 pound boar but even those were less than spectacular. Most of the big AND old boars I have shoot have funky teeth!
Cheers, Vern1 Texans since The Old 300 in 1824 NRA Lifetime Member
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: TexasKC]
#7024607
01/04/18 05:09 PM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 2,495
der Teufel
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I'd like to know the answer to that too. I've killed over 100 hogs on our place in Lee county and not one had any real tusks. I also hunt in Lee County just south of Lexington (off of CR405) and while I don't see many hogs with large tusks, I've seen several in the past ten years that I've been hunting them. None were outrageously large, but there have been a few that had decent tusks. I haven't shot 100 yet, more like 70 or so. Obviously I need to get out more!
I have two unwritten rules: 1. 2.
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: Double Naught Spy]
#7024628
01/04/18 05:25 PM
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,267
Sirrah243
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Aging hogs can be accomplished through the assessment of tooth eruption and wear. Just like in humans or deer, each tooth (particularly adult teeth) eruption at about a certain age within a few months. Combine that with the amount of wear on the teeth and you can narrow the range. I used to do this for hogs, deer, and once in a while for humans from archaeological assemblages. I have a collection of article on aging animals from tooth wear. Unfortunately with the demise of photobucket, most of the images people had compiled more recently are not available. Here are a couple long-eared articles for which I found pdfs. https://pages.wustl.edu/files/pages/imce/liu/j_archaeol_sci_2014_lemoine.pdfhttp://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC1271522&blobtype=pdfMaybe, Midwaytmm has some better links? As he said, genetics do come into play (by default, they do for every aspect of the hog) which is why you don't see big cutters in young hogs, but tusks are not like antlers where we assume the bigger they are, the better the genetic stock. Age and nutrituion/health are going to be the big determiners. There is no correlation between hog weight and cutter length. Very interesting
�A hunt based only on the trophies taken falls far short of what the ultimate goal should be.� -Fred Bear
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: 603Country]
#7024674
01/04/18 05:57 PM
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Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 7,789
Mr. T.
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What is the easiest and quickest way to remove the tusks from a hog? I just want to start a collection that I throw in a glass bowl.
Cabin rental in Pagosa Springs, Co. Sleeps 10, If interested please PM me.
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: Mr. T.]
#7024681
01/04/18 05:58 PM
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 29,609
SapperTitan
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What is the easiest and quickest way to remove the tusks from a hog? I just want to start a collection that I throw in a glass bowl. burry the head for a couple weeks and the teeth will just pull right out. You could also boil but it’s more messy.
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: Mr. T.]
#7024757
01/04/18 06:51 PM
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 3,038
Vern1
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What is the easiest and quickest way to remove the tusks from a hog? I just want to start a collection that I throw in a glass bowl. Drop the head on top of a fire ant bed. Those little stinkers will strip one pretty quickly. Kick it out of pile in a week or two and they come out pretty easily. If there are varmints in area, they may pack it off.
Cheers, Vern1 Texans since The Old 300 in 1824 NRA Lifetime Member
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: Vern1]
#7024846
01/04/18 07:53 PM
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 17,721
Txduckman
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What is the easiest and quickest way to remove the tusks from a hog? I just want to start a collection that I throw in a glass bowl. Drop the head on top of a fire ant bed. Those little stinkers will strip one pretty quickly. Kick it out of pile in a week or two and they come out pretty easily. If there are varmints in area, they may pack it off. I should try this in the backyard when they come out in the spring. Have a javi head. I can stake a bucket over it for stench and varmits.
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Re: Let’s talk tusks
[Re: Vern1]
#7025125
01/04/18 11:06 PM
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 5,714
TAT
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What is the easiest and quickest way to remove the tusks from a hog? I just want to start a collection that I throw in a glass bowl. Drop the head on top of a fire ant bed. Those little stinkers will strip one pretty quickly. Kick it out of pile in a week or two and they come out pretty easily. If there are varmints in area, they may pack it off. I put a bobcat head in an ant pile at the lease in camp. Forgot it about when I left. It wasn't there the next week when I went back. Lol. Dang it. Still got the skin for a rug though!
It's not how you fall, It's how you get up.
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