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Thread: Wild hog hunting in PA?
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April 27th, 2022, 05:06 AM #291
Re: Wild hog hunting in PA?
Nice hawg, what are you going to do with the tusks?
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April 28th, 2022, 07:51 AM #292Junior Member
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Feasterville,
Pennsylvania
(Bucks County) - Posts
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Re: Wild hog hunting in PA?
It was an incredible experience....my big game hunting has been limited pretty much to deer here in SE PA.
So, when the guide set me up in the tree stand, I was ready for the typical hunting scenario.......sit......wait.......scan.....wait.. ...sit.....scan....spot.......SHOOT......harvest photo!
Boy-Oh-Boy was I wrong......here`s how it went down.....
He told me when he took me to his stand to give him a call if I hadn`t spotted anything within the first hour or two, and he`d come pick me up and try and flush out a hog while cruising the property with his gator.
About an hour in, I heard 2 shots.....so I was pumped to hear the hogs were active, on the property, and on the move. (A little backstory.....these hogs are wild, the property backs up to state game land, owner has a few feeders on his property.....opens up gates night before, closes them in the morning......whatever hogs have come in overnight are the hogs you hunt).
About 5 minutes or so after hearing the shots go off, owner comes tearing up the trail and yells for me to get down in a hurry, that there`s a hog running nearby.
Jump in.....shotgun ready to drop a slug as we`re hauling tail down the sandy trails.
We finally get caught up to it, and I lower the shotgun to squeeze one off, and he stops me........"There`s a hunter in a tree just down the trail where this hog is"...so we wait for said hunter to take his shot.....he misses (crossbow hunter). Off we go......full speed after this hog (had no idea a gator could move so fast, haha!).
So, we`re chasing this hog, and I finally get an opportunity to take a shot as it crosses the trail......click, BOOM.......hog keeps running, didn`t even flinch or hesitate.
I`m disappointed in myself for not dropping this pig, even as difficult as the shot was (never fired a gun from a moving vehicle, let alone on a trail at 30-40 mph).
So after a little more chasing, we lose the hog......
At this point the owner says were going to go back and get the dogs (he`s got about 8-10 kenneled dogs he`s trained).
He suits up 2 dogs in some kind of body / neck armor, turns them loose, and off we go!!
After about 5 minutes, the dogs find the hog and kick it up........we`re on the chase again!!
Now, at this point I`m thoroughly enjoying the experience, I feel as though I`m having an afternoon with the good `ol boys kicking up dirt, tearing through the backwoods, and shooting guns!!
So, after about 10-15 more minutes, we turn a corner in the trail, and the dogs have cut off the hog, and they`re on it.
The dogs are trained to grab the hog by it`s ears......so there`s one dog on either side, jaws locked on each ear.
This hog is spinning in circles, squealing like crazy, and spinning these dogs around like they are paperweights (dogs hind legs weren`t even touching the ground).
So, the owner jumps out of the side-by-side and says "c`mon, let`s go!!!". I have shotgun in hand, and he tells me, no.....leave it....
Now we`re running down this trail towards this hog, and like some kind of Olympic relay, he hands me over this 8" blade and tells me I`m "going to have to stick it".
My adrenaline is through the roof, and I`m probably not even thinking straight.....but without hesitating, I`m finding my spot on the hog`s back and plunging this knife into it!!!
First stick was an eye opener........"bleeding like a stuck pig" is not just some silly expression......when I hit this thing it was like poking a water balloon filled with blood, just and explosion of it!
I got it first on it`s right side.......now it`s really squealing, and owner is yelling for me to stick it again....
I come over it`s left shoulder, down the back slightly and BAM!!!, like trying to stab a helmet!!! I didn`t realize that hogs have this "shield" that covers a good portion of their back.
Next blade entry was under the left "armpit", worked the knife around until the struggle was over.
Stood there for a minute, hand on knife while it`s still in the hog, catching my breath.......trying to process what had just happened.
Hook up the hog to the gator, and drag it back for quartering.
While the young lady was skinning out and cutting it up.......kerplunk......there goes the slug from the shotgun on the ground.
I had nailed this thing right through the mid-back area, and it was lodged somewhere near it`s from shoulder, not a kill shot, but I was happy to see that I had hit it anyways.
I have to say, this girl was impressive to watch......skinned and quartered in about 20 minutes!
Donated a good portion of the meat to family down there because I was flying back and didn`t want to pay the excessive extra baggage fees, but I did get home with roughly 90lbs of it.
Packed it in styrofoam coolers with dry ice, duct taped the piss out of it, and sharpied my name, phone, address, and flight # on it.
In about 6 months, I should have my European mount delivered.....looking forward to that!
I do watch the MeatEater show, and have seen Jesse Griffiths. Never knew he had a book specifically on cooking hogs, so I`m definitely going to look into that, Thanks!!!
And yeah @ DukeConnor.......it took probably a week or so to stop smelling (or remembering how badly it smelled) that hog......I was ready to take a lighter to my nose hairs to drown it out, haha!!!
I feel bad for my mother-in-law (really, no......I don`t), I used her SUV while down there to go on the hunt and transport the meat. It was pretty rank to say the least when I gave it back to her!!
I think my next hunting adventure down there will be gator........and I`m definitely going back to Stone`s Guided Hunts.....that guy was top-notch, and definitely made it an experience I`ll not soon forget!
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April 28th, 2022, 11:57 AM #293
Re: Wild hog hunting in PA?
I chuckled at that story above! LOL
Yeah, them pigs can stink to high heavens - both, inside and out.
Back when I lived in Tampa, the strawberry and tomato farms around Plant City and surrounding areas would place bounties on the pigs. A few times we OVER-filled the bed of a F150 with pigs, enough to be a danger to drive on the roads (dragging the rear bumper).
Some of those pigs weren't even suitable to feed to alligators, some were fine. We noticed after opening up the guts that those that were eating strawberries and other fruit seem to be better tasting/smelling. The ones eating trash, acorns, other dead critters - you didn't want to even touch them because the stink lingered. Boars had extra funk because of the oils/scent glands. Sows were better for eating.
Fortunately most of those farmers had some sort of machinery to dig pits to bury the stank-pigs. Between the farmers and ourselves, we had enough good ones to over-fill freezers several times over.
Now, I never had to stick any of those pigs. I used a .30-30, 12ga slugs/000 Buck, and .357mag for hunting them. The ones that didn't die right away we'd leave to bleed out because were still hot on the trail of the rest of the herd. ...we'd come back and load up the dead. My buddies used various guns as well, most had 20ga shotguns using slugs/buckshot.RIP: SFN, 1861, twoeggsup, Lambo, jamesjo, JayBell, 32 Magnum, Pro2A, mrwildroot, dregan, Frenchy, Fragger, ungawa, Mtn Jack, Grapeshot, R.W.J., PennsyPlinker, Statkowski, Deanimator, roland, aubie515
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