Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Giant Hog or a Whole Lotta Bull?

Rumors have been flying around the Lone Star State regarding the shooting of a giant hog near Conroe, Texas. According to the email that has been making the rounds, an 1,800-pound wild boar was shot on the eastern outskirts of Conroe near the Lone Star Executive Airport. Many reports of property destruction due to wild hogs have come in from this area and pigs have been seen crossing high traffic areas for years in this vicinity. I had my doubts about this story from the start. I keep up with the goings on in East Texas pretty well and felt I would have heard something about this giant. It turns out I was right. According to The Courier of Montgomery County the boar was shot and killed in Turkey in 2005. The enormous hog was taken down by a .300-caliber rifle and weighed in at 781 pounds. This made it the largest hog ever taken in Turkey.

Tales of giant feral hogs have become quite common in the South. Many are familiar with the story of “Hogzilla”, the hog killed in Georgia in 2004. Originally thought to be 12 feet long and over 1,000 pounds, “Hogzilla”, according to National Geographic experts, who unearthed the carcass, was only 8 feet long and weighed a mere 800 pounds. This would make it at least the
equal of the hog taken in Turkey in 2005. Just last year, according to stories and photos circulating on the internet, an 11 year old boy killed a 1,051 pound hog that measured 9 feet 4 inches long. This claim, to my knowledge, has yet to be verified by Texas Parks & Wildlife officials. Even if the size of that hog turns out to be exaggerated as well, there is little doubt it was one huge pig. Wild hogs in the South continue to flourish and get bigger. It is true that most hogs in Texas top out at around 300-350 pounds, however, reports continue to come in from hunters and others of hogs that are much bigger.

As you can see, I am interested in more than just bigfoot reports. I am intrigued by all the mystery animals that may inhabit Texas. The list of these animals would include the ivory-billed woodpecker, black panthers, jaguars, the chupacabra, giant freshwater catfish, giant alligator gar, and giant hogs. I intend to discuss any and all of these cryptids at one time or another on this blog. Feel free to email me with any photos or stories regarding these, or any other, unusual animals.

12 comments:

  1. Even 600 pounds of nasty hog is pretty darn serious...S&W 500 serious.

    I'm really interested in your future catfish and gar write ups Mike, I'm big into fishing and was looking forward to that end of things in Tx when the relo looked as though it was taking place.

    I do a lot of surf fishing here so I'm geared up for the big stuff. If we end up making the move out there in a couple years as my wife's company continues to tighten up we'll have to set up some big rods (thumbs up).

    Keep up the good work here, your blog is great and covering the other cryptids is dead on.

    -Dennis

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  2. Thanks, Dennis. I appreciate the kind words. If, and when, you do finally make the move down here be sure and let me know. I'm a big fisherman as well and am always looking for a partner to go out on the boat with me.

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  3. THIS IS THE WEBSITE SHOWING WHERE THAT HOG WAS SHOT. IN TURKEY ON NATURE TOURS. IF YOU LOOK DOWN ABOUT HALF WAY TO ALL THE PHOTO'S YOU WILL SEE THE SAM MAN WITH THE HOG FROM THE FRONT AND YOU WILL SEE THIS HOG IS NOT NEEEAAR AS BIG AS YOU WOULD THINK IN THE ONE WHERE THE HOG LOOKS SO BIG. THE HOG IS NEAR THE CAMERA AND HE IS FURTHER BACK TO MAKE HIMSELF LOOK SMAL.

    http://www.naturetours.com.tr/approches/approches.htm

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    1. THANK YOU. I've been trying to explain that camera trick to all the "giant hog" believers here in Texas. Hogs in Texas are about 200 lbs at their largest. I swear ..people will believe anything and not even check it out!

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  4. Thanks for the link. Looks like they are using a variation of an old fisherman's trick. Whenever I see a picture of a guy holding up a big fish I look and see how big his thumb looks. If his thumb looks really big he is holding his arm out placing the fish closer to the camera making it appear bigger.

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  5. ugly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  6. very ugly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  7. i've hunted central ,south louisiana and east texas my entire life and have seen some enormous hogs by enormous i mean from 300 pound to 450 pound i my self 5 years ago killed a 450 pound boar hog,it was the biggest i have ever seem with my own eyes,,so there are big hogs to be found wild mixed with domestic and bred through the years to get the hogs we have now which is mainly the black hog every now and they you will get a multi colored one or a red or solid white one ,,no greater pleasure than dropping a large hog with one shot except maybe killing the biggest buck of your lifetime

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  8. Thanks for the comment Edward. I would love to see any pictures you may have of that big 450 pound boar.

    I've never seen one that big. I did see a very interesting looking multi-colored piglet cross a forest service road a couple of years back. He was colored just like a calico cat. Very unique.

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  9. i've been hunting all my life and i have never seen a hog that huge man. The biggest hog i have ever killed was like 350lbs.

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  10. WOW this same hog was just killed again in Potosie Missouri Sept. 2011, by the same people. must have come bake to life........ Definetly fake.

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  11. So I live in oklahoma and today on my way into work just outside of Elreno, Ok there were two huge hogs dead on the side of the road. I have a friend that works for the wildlife dept who is gonna check them out.Looking at them from the car just driving by they seemed to be as big as a buffalo hopefully I will have more info later today just wanted you to know they really do exist.

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