Feral Pigs

Cook really REALLY well. They can get internal parasites, and they don't get regular doses of drench.

Find em? Go look. Look where the food and the shelter is. Crop stubble, old potato fields, places where ewes are lambing (pigs are ferociously effective carnovores), rich deep damp soil full of roots and earthworms, cow or horse manure with undigested seeds, any organic material.

They like brush, cane brakes, tall grass, thickets - anything where they could back up and face a pursuer with their tusks. The REAL sport (I am told) is to hunt them with dogs and a dagger. The dogs chase and hold (by the ears) then the ex-Army Rangers (or the ordinary pig-doggers) go in to support their canine friends, ignoring the four-inch-daggers called tusks and the neck muscles that can toss a man treetop-high, wielding a four-inch or six-inch pig-stabber themselves, and see the little darlings off to a better place (AKA serving dish).

Not actually my sport. I prefer to keep them at the far end of a fired cartridge. Far FAR end.

My husband told me about talking to a old lady here over 30 years ago. She remembered when the locals would let their pigs free range, just feeding them enough to keep them coming around. They would have to shoot them when they wanted one to butcher, because they were half wild. This lady also told about when she was a little girl and would walk to school, several miles away and how the pigs would ambush the kids and take their lunchs. The kids worked out a system where they formed groups, with the youngest children in the center, carrying all the lunchs, and the older kids armed with big sticks on the outside to fight off the pigs. For many years there were ferral pigs roaming these hills, but now they are all gone. When my husband first came out here, he was able to let his pigs free range, but fed them and penned them up at night to keep them tame, more or less. He says that free range pigs taste better, usually, than penned and fed ones, but they have far less fat, because they burn it off roaming around. YES. the ferral pigs should be cooked well. If cornered a ferral pig can be dangerous. If you want to hunt them putting out some corn will get them coming to that place and make it easier to find them. Dogs work well for hunting ferral pigs, but you may have to pack the meat a good distance. Good luck on the hunt.

The ferral pigs here are actually domesticated pigs that have gone wild. Probably from the time period when farmers built fences around there house to keep animals out of the yard. Now days fences are built to keep animals in a certain area. Very little free roaming now days. I've never hunted them as most ferrals around my neighborhood seem to be mostly on game reserves and not private lands. When I had my little processing shop I had the privelege of butchering 3 or 4 of them. They averaged around 100 pounds but I have heard of them getting 200 pounds or more. Very lean. The few I processed were not quit big enough to make pork chops with, but made some good sirloin roast. As for parasites, all wild game whether it be ferral pigs or whitetail deer, the meat needs to be frozen at least 10 days to kill the parasites. The trichnia worm is what invades wild animals.

Good luck on your hunt here in Oklahoma. I hope you like our state. Watch out for us wild ****** and cowboys. We're a little more dangerous then any ferral pig you might encounter.

We used to hog hunt all the time back home. We used between 3-5 pitbulls and knives. Sometimes we would just tie the hog up or use "hog cuffs" on them and bring them back alive. Tipping a hog is never an easy task and two people are normally required so pig sticking is the prefered method in my area. We use those cheap ($20) hollow handled knives with the 10 inch blades that you can pick up in a pawn shop. Most can be sharpened fairly well with a file. When the dogs have a good hold on the hog you must move quickly because the dogs will get tired in a hurry holding onto a big hog. Walk up from behind the hog and put the tip of the knife on the hog's chest angling up into the rib cage just behind the shoulder. Then push the blade in quickly. You don't want to "jab" with the knife, too much chance of hitting a dog.

Then the hard work begins. I've known nothing harder to skin than a wild hog. The hide just dulls a knife like sandpaper. Knives with "rough" edges (serrated or file sharpened) seem to work best.