Yeah, you're totally right... Definitely silly of me to think it was a Sow that was with piglets.

I forgot about all the big boars in north Texas that are always running around with those Mongolian Midget Hogs.

That's what I'm saying... The hog in this pic is 160lbs (biggest ive ever shot) I couldn't even imagine one 3x this size!!

good rule

You have a pic of a hog in your sigline that is a blatant case of forced perspective and you want me to believe that you saw a hog the size of a VW?

Anyone claiming to have killed or even seen a truly wild hog much over 400lbs has not seen nor killed many hogs, but would like the rest of the world to think they have. I've killed many a hog weighing 400+lbs until we found a scale, many times they barely weighed 300lbs.

True wild hogs just don't get that big, sorry to poop on your cornflakes, but they don't.

Those 10 foot internet western diamondbacks are horse hooey as well by the way.


Chupa

I personally have killed and weighed a 414 pound boar in 1999 and a 358 pounder last September.
They were both weighed on a pair of old cotton scales that are close.

When I first saw the 414 pounder, I thought the neighbors black angus bull had got into my pasture - he was that big.

I shot the 358 pounder at night with a 6.8x43 with a Pulsar N750 on top.

You can believe what ever you want to believe, I was there and have witnesses.
I've also seen some of Guess's pigs and he ain't lieing either.

Re-read what I wrote. I didn't say 400 lb'rs don't exist. I said vw proportioned "Wild" hogs don't exist, nor does 600-700lb'rs. That is not to say that 500-600 lb hogs haven't been killed in the "Wild", but those were NOT "Wild/Feral" hogs, but loosed domesticated breeds. Genetically very different. Ask Glenn Guess that, even he will tell you that. 300 lbs for a true Wild hog is ENORMOUS!

What everyone here on crack is proposing is if I killed a world record Gorilla and then somebody else saying "I killed/saw King Kong."

Btw, I think shooting gorillas is illegal, so if you see one, don't shoot it.


Chupa

In 20+ years of pig hunting myself and guiding tons of pig hunters and doing pig control all over Texas I have weighed 3 pigs over 400 pounds that were 100% wild. A 200 pound pig is a really big pig. I think pigs are like bears being the most over exaggerated, guessed, or estimated weights. Put them on a good scale and I think a lot of times you will be surprised. The 400 pounders we shot I took and weighed 2 at a local feed store with certified scales and the other on a fertilizer scale.
I have seen several pigs killed over 400 and the largest being 994 pounds dressed that I did not guide or shoot. They were all raised in a pen, or they were a mixed bred hog (domestic x wild cross done on purpose) , or were a domestic hog turned loose.
I get aggravated with TV they make it seem like there are hogs everywhere in Texas and 500 pounders running everywhere. TV makes it sound like you can come to Texas and shoot them by the truck loads all the time, or that you can just walk right up on them It can make my job tough.

They get pretty darn big.... on a farm and they kill um with a 22...

Feral is a domestic hog that has gone wild.

WRONG, feral is the descendant of a domestic hog gone wild. It takes several generations of breeding in the wild to take on feral characteristics or 2 generations of out-crossing to exhibit 100% feral Characteristics even then there will be some domestic colored or have abnormally large ears.

And while we are at it FORGET "russians" they don't exist in the wild in the states unless they have been released from captivity recently.There are just too many ferals of domestic descent for there to be much European influence. In reality there are many strains of European hogs, So called Russians are nothing more than a European hog that was brought in from Russia, they are really just Europeans nothing more nothing less.

The only Rushin' hog I've ever seen was rushin' down the same dang trail I was on! It died!

I've shot a bunch of pigs in the last 20 years. Maybe a couple were approaching 300, I doubt I've gotten any that are bigger.



The biggest pig I recall recently was the one killed outside of Brownwood in 2011

http://www.brownwoodtx.com/news/local/ar...er-comment-area

I remember the story, but I also remember there being something in there about him weighing it in front of witnesses, but no mention in this article.

We have won the Los Cazadores hog contest 3 times and have yet to have one that weighed much over 300 with the guts out. We won it this year with one that weighed 275. I would hate to see a 500 pound wild hog
http://loscazadores.net/main/high-fence/high-hog/index.1.html

From the Wiki...and we all KNOW the interwebs is always korrekt...
According to dictionary definitions[1] a feral animal is one that has itself escaped from a domestic or captive status and is living more or less as a wild animal, or one that is descended from such animals.

So, if a domestic pig escapes, it's feral.
If it was released, it's just a pig.
But if it's been wild for a couple of generations, it's wild boar?

They are all still just pigs.

Luckily today we can depend on DNA to give us the exact pedigree

There are 3 different major strains of wild pigs in Texas.
Feral which I think Vern1 hit the nail on the head According to dictionary definitions[1] a feral animal is one that has itself escaped from a domestic or captive status and is living more or less as a wild animal, or one that is descended from such animals.
Then there is more of a eurasian strain which a lot of people call Russians same thing to me.
Then there is the cross of the 2 strains above.
The feral strain from my experience get larger, weigh more, and are more colorful etc… they show more of the domestic traits.
The eurasian strain (most people call russian)
from wiki
Common wild boar Sus scrofa scrofa: The most common and most widespread subspecies, its original distribution ranges from France to European Russia. It has been introduced in Sweden, Norway, the US and Canada.
I also own a taxidermy shop and the sculls of these animals are much different they are different species of pigs. The Eurasian strain is more of a solid color black, grey, reddish tinge to the tips of their hair, split ends, whitish or grayish tinge to them. Their babies are striped until about 6 months of age. I have caught and raised them and watched the stripes disappear. These pigs do not have spots or multiple colors on them as adults.

In the same way that a Chihuahua and a Wolf are still just dogs. Both dogs, both very different.

Did you know that snakes and fish theoretically have no size limits? Literally they can grow forever as long as they have the food and space to grow. Why are there no 60 foot anacondas? No 40 foot Great Whites? Because their environments WON'T sustain specimens of that size. Same with feral/wild hogs. Domestic hogs don't have to compete for resources to the extent that wild/feral hogs do and thusly can get much much bigger than their feral kin.

Once again, there are no VW proportioned feral/hogs out there.


Chupa

I wonder if anyone has had a hogzilla mounted and where did the mold come from? I love to see a full or half-body mount of one of these giants.

BassPro in Grapevine, in the men's bathroom hangs a big picture of a
1194 lb (IIRC) pig/hog/hawg/russssssian boar harvested in the swamp of Mongolia

they do get bigger than 500 lbs in the wild

It's common in Romania to have wild boar that get to 600 lbs. or more, but I think that's a characteristic of the subspecies there and wild pigs, where they are native, seem to generally follow Bergmann's rule.

I don't think that means that a feral pig in Texas has the capacity to get as big as a Manchurian boar any more than a little Shiraz moose has the capcity to reach the size of those giants in Alaska and Western Canada.

Dunno Chupa this one was close to a VW LOL!

Nice Hog guess!!!

those naysayers obviously hadn't hunted hogs in west , north west of Texas

I've seen some very big hogs in Haskell ... they get fat on wheat fields then bath in that cool stream or river

Try quoting wiki in court when by their definition when someone shoots a "feral" cow, horse or for that matter registered duroc.

I'm simply saying there is a BIG difference in a released or escaped domestic and a hog of domestic/feral descent. Big difference and you and most other logical thinking people know exactly what I mean.

If someone wants to kill a release or escapee domestic and claim it's a wild boar, I don't give a rats behind. However in my opinion it's only a feral hog if it is born wild, regardless of it's heritage otherwise.

We've killed a few hogs in Central Texas. I bought my first night vision scope in 1984, when the hogs first appeared in our part of the world. After many years of trying to keep the hogs off of our country, we started the guide service in 2009...and that's when we started counting how many hogs we killed.

Since 2009, we've taken pictures of about 1000 dead hogs per year. (I'm sure that a lot more met their demise) In that time, I've only seen 3 hogs that cleared 400 lbs. I'm not saying that they're not out there...but I will go on record saying that I think there are a lot more hogs in Texas that are below 150 lbs. than there are above 150!

Just my 2 cents.....flame away.

that is a fact. WE hunt 300+ days a year and have killed a few thousand hogs, The really big hogs are getting far a few between. In the beginning{21 years ago} we killed many really big hogs. In the last 2 years I have seen a decline in mature hogs for sure. Technology is helping guys that can't find a hog in a hog pen find hogs that would normally go undetected.
Another thing I've noticed just this year, is how many hogs will lay still and let you walk right on by. I have seen this in heavily pressured areas in the past and suspected that many more than what we knew about did this. Since I started using THERMAL in the day time. I've seen many hogs including the young stick tight to brush and let us walk by. They are changing with the tactics! So am I!

It takes mature hogs with good genetics and ample food sources to get big. Helps if they are smart! Shore do love the dumb ones though!

LMAO! Yep! But everybody shoots the BIG ones! I always tell my clients..."Shoot the little ones first...the big ones are easier to hit when they start running!".....But NO!!! Everybody aims at the big one first...the little ones get a kitchen pass!