I have once been invited on a depredation permit. But all I was able to use was a bow. With a rifle int he moonlight (you are allowed to shoot at night on depredation) I would have really made a difference. With the bow I only got one pig and that just scared everyone off.

G

well, i might not be correct. i do have one friend. the landowner is an animal lover. he hired a ranch foreman that is not. foreman gave my friend permission to shoot the hogs destroying the place. my buddy built up a special black rifle chambered in 6.8 and literally killed hundreds of pigs. but he still has to dive into the bushes and hide if the landowner shows up.

still trespassing if you ask me. i wont participate.

I question that too. I saw more than a few that looked like spine shots. Meaning the animal was paralyzed, and just left there to bleed out. Not very sportsman like....

I know people that trap and hunt them here, the meat is not that clean, and not good. These hogs eat just about anything, and some of it is not so nice stuff.

yes, they are spreading all over

partly b/c unscrupulous people are releasing them

I heard feral pigs were encroaching on our area, although nobody around here has seen any yet. I used it as an excuse to buy an M1A Scout rifle.

Again, these aren't sportsmen - they are exterminators. You worry if your rat dies quickly after your exterminator poisons it?

And I call complete BS on the "feral hogs aren't clean / don't taste good". I have eaten or eaten from more than 20 wild hogs and they all were fantastic, even 300+ pound gnarly old boars. The feral swine are the same everywhere. Pigs are omnivores and I actual believe that's what makes them great. (Just like a crab or a lobster eats crap ...) Is the meat darker and more flavorful? Sure! And imagine the lack of antibiotics, hormones etc. in their upbringing.

If I'd live closer, I'd ask when they are out the next time and if I could go pick up after them. ;)

G

Hey I just know what my grandpa that hunts them has told me, and that the local slaughterhouse won't touch the nasty things.....

Of course you can't sell these to the butcher after you gut shot them. There may be even restrictions on wild hogs that are delivered alive. There are "wild boar" dishes at US restaurants however and I bet these come from TX a lot.

No problem on your pops opinion. There are a lot of hunters out there that claim strange things:

- Mule deer taste like sage
- Spooneys (Northern Shoveler ducks) taste like mud
- Black bears are greasy and their meat stinks and is not edible
- Pronghorn antelope tastes like goat
...

I think this is all from people getting used to store bought meat (mainly chicken, pork and beef) that go out and expect a wild animal to taste like the chicken breast they buy at Costco.

:)

G

I hear the young ones taste better.

BTW - sage grouse doesn't taste all that great -- one guy at OSU spent years developing a lingnonberry sauce and they were better that way.

Pheasant or Quail for upland birds.

With all animals what they taste like depends on what they have been eating. A grain fed deer from the plains tastes a lot better than one from the shield area where all they have pine trees and swamp grass to eat.

Most commercial processors won't touch any wild game for fear of cross contamination with the beef they cut. They either have to have seperate facilities or have the whole plant inspected and cleaned when they switch from commercially raised to wild game.

that is my next rifle.

Bullet design has a lot to do with the performance of any round. The 5.56 NATO can be an efficient killer and with the advent of the heavier 5.56 bullets like the 75 gr Swift Scirroco, folks are finding it works well on white tail. You need a 1 in 7 twist barrel but that's not a big deal.

Just a data point.
Troy