Huge Wild Hog

3/19/09 - The Lord's Day - After Breakfast. It was some time after eleven at night when my wife told me she had heard some scary sounds out in our pasture, in the direction of the pigs. We had just recently received over an inch of rain, so the last thing I wanted to do was slog through the mud down to the pigs with a shotgun when it was likely just a raccoon getting into the pig feeder. Danielle told me that it sounded like something big and Sugar, our Yellow Blackmouth Cur, was really agitated about whatever was going on. So I grabbed my shotgun and stuck a 9mm pistol into my pocket, grabbed a flashlight and headed out. Danielle joined me because she was certain whatever was down there had to be big. Well... it was. As we walked down there I heard a blood-curdling snarl that sounded like it came from a Hollywood horror film.

In our big hog trap was a big hog. I mean a BIG WILD HOG. We had butchered well over 20 wild hogs this past winter here in the community, and the biggest we had seen was maybe 115 pounds, and this one was wayyyy bigger than that. Our big Duroc boar who was in the pig pen next to the trap was snarling and snapping trying to get at the wild hog. I guarantee you he wouldn't have been happy if he could have gotten to him. I also guarantee you I'd never like to run into a beast this size walking down to my office...


As you can see from his over three inch tusks that this guy would be more than willing to eviscerate you if he could get to you. We really didn't realize how big he was until we had killed him and then had to figure out how to get him out of the trap. Several of us men were able to swivel the trap around and then dump him towards the back of the trap. Then Brother Chris volunteered to climb into the trap and drag him out. Believe me, it was a chore. We ended up backing the pickup truck through the brush and Mesquite trees so we could get him out of there. Then it took four of us to lift him into the back of the pickup truck. We drove him over to our butcher area, wondering if he was going to be too long for our engine hoist pig-lift system. He almost was.


Just so you can get some perspective in that last picture - I am 6'3" tall and about 235 lbs., and this pig was bigger than me! Everyone in the community came together to butcher this monster. This next picture is of one of his hams. We weighed each ham at about 20lbs. Altogether, after weighing part of him and judging his "hanging weight", we estimate this pig was around 300 lbs. Which is very, very large for a wild pig. Sure, there are some monsters out there that go 500-1000 lbs. or more, but they are very, very rare - and many of those you have seen (like Hogzilla) were actually corn fed at a farm to get to that size. To actually trap a 300 lb. truly wild boar is really something.


Tracy took this next picture from on top of the Peck's camper. You can see Brother Larry trying to cut through the backbone to halve the carcasse. I have to mention that the skin on this pig was like armor. In many cases it was impossible to fold the skin over to pull it down during the skinning. A poorly aimed gunshot would likely NOT kill this beast. If this thing was rushing you, and you didn't hit it perfectly in the brain, or somehow have a shot cut the spinal cord, you would likely have to get up a tree or you would be toast.


Well, we all here praise God for the increase and for His gift in food provisions. So far this butchering season God has freely given us this huge hog and a couple of deer (in addition of our normal butchering from animals we have raised) and we praise Him for His over-abundant gifts. The only thing that would have made this more perfect is if we had finished the smokehouse already! I would love to be smoking ham and bacon this coming week. As it is, we will be curing a 20 lb. ham, and carving up and preserving a whole lot more meat than we had expected at this time of year. All praise is due to Jehovah!

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker