Florida wild boar

newnan man

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Aug 8, 2005
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Beautiful Florida
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
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Driving home down a rural highway I spotted this massive boar that had been hit by a car. These boars are considered invasive and there are maybe millions in the state. Notice the large upper & lower tusks, very dangerous if you get attacked.
 

IL doesnā€™t have a breeding population yet. Weā€™re told if we see any weā€™re not supposed to shoot them but report them instead. The general consensus with hunters around here is: Shoot, shovel, and shut up. I heard of one near here a few yrs ago. Probably an escaped domestic hog. It didnā€™t last a week and probably ended up in someoneā€™s freezer.
 

IL doesnā€™t have a breeding population yet. Weā€™re told if we see any weā€™re not supposed to shoot them but report them instead. The general consensus with hunters around here is: Shoot, shovel, and shut up. I heard of one near here a few yrs ago. Probably an escaped domestic hog. It didnā€™t last a week and probably ended up in someoneā€™s freezer.
Their on the way. We have open season on them down here. Day, night, 1 or 100... doesn't matter. Fun to hunt but very destructive
 

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Driving home down a rural highway I spotted this massive boar that had been hit by a car. These boars are considered invasive and there are maybe millions in the state. Notice the large upper & lower tusks, very dangerous if you get attacked.
Holy bacon that is bad boy
 

We have had several encounters with hogs exploring Fl. They are everywhere. One was a close call on Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge that could have gone very bad. After that experience we carry bear spray and pack.
Itā€™s amazing how destructive they are.
Ran into a Hunter near Lake George in Ocala NF and warned us a pack was down about a mile on the trail we were on. He said he shot one with a 45-70 and it just stood there and didnā€™t even flinch. 2nd shot to the head to take it down. These things are huge, well over a hundred #.
Lots in the Smoky Mtn. National Park also.
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Rumors about Groendyke stocking wild Russian boars on the north side of the South Canadian River on their big ranch in the 60's in Oklahoma, for corporate bigshots to come and hunt, and stories how they would get loose and overrun the area. Don't know about that story, but they did start overrunning that part of SWOK. My son and them were allowed access to all the places along the river and they would take their AK's out and just shoot and shoot them, let them lay. I expressed some concern to those boys as that was not our way to hunt. But my son told me they were correcting a problem we didn't create, and that was the choice they had. People I knew that butchered them out trapped them, penned them, and fed them out for a while before butchering.
 

Rumors about Groendyke stocking wild Russian boars on the north side of the South Canadian River on their big ranch in the 60's in Oklahoma, for corporate bigshots to come and hunt, and stories how they would get loose and overrun the area. Don't know about that story, but they did start overrunning that part of SWOK. My son and them were allowed access to all the places along the river and they would take their AK's out and just shoot and shoot them, let them lay. I expressed some concern to those boys as that was not our way to hunt. But my son told me they were correcting a problem we didn't create, and that was the choice they had. People I knew that butchered them out trapped them, penned them, and fed them out for a while before butchering.
They do the same here in Florida. Ranchers & the giant farms will let people shoot all they want. It doesn't seem to affect the population much. Coyotes, Bobcats, & Panthers will prey on the little piglets if they get a chance but the wild pigs roam in large packs & are smart, mean, & not afraid of much.
 

They are also hard to kill too, I use to hunt them with a 12 ga shotgun firing slugs and they sometimes would still run over hundred yards after a chest shot
 

I killed one with a S&W Model 19 .357 back in the 70s. We were young and dumb pistoleros that didnā€™t realize how undergunned we were. I killed this one with one shot to his ear at about 10 yds. It was quite a thrill. My partner killed his with a 44 mag. We had them processed and ate them.
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I killed one with a S&W Model 19 .357 back in the 70s. We were young and dumb pistoleros that didnā€™t realize how undergunned we were. I killed this one with one shot to his ear at about 10 yds. It was quite a thrill. My partner killed his with a 44 mag. We had them processed and ate them.View attachment 2121575
No way I'd get that close to one of those things. That was a good shot.
 

No way I'd get that close to one of those things. That was a good shot.
They fight back, and they are fast and vicious. When we are young we think we are invincible. I call them my young and stupid years.
 

Just shooting them and letting them lay is a complete waste of of a life, and protean, and in Alaska that's among the worst crimes a hunter can commit.

Next time, have them plan ahead and bring a pick-up along to haul them off to a local food bank. Let the food bank know ahead of time, and they can get them butchered and passed out to people who could use the meat.

Just leaving them in the field feeds the birds, coyotes and (now) wolves.
 

Just shooting them and letting them lay is a complete waste of of a life, and protean, and in Alaska that's among the worst crimes a hunter can commit.

Next time, have them plan ahead and bring a pick-up along to haul them off to a local food bank. Let the food bank know ahead of time, and they can get them butchered and passed out to people who could use the meat.

Just leaving them in the field feeds the birds, coyotes and (now) wolves.
But, gifting a butt of a porker to the local food bank would just be the makings of a whole lot of problems.

Muslims don't eat pork.

The line ups at the city run FBs have a high representation of immigrants from that culture.
Wild game isn't good enough for the hungry folks.
Silly as it sounds they'd (food banks) rather have a box of Kraft Dinner. šŸ˜’
 

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