HayesGreener
Expert
I hope I am not opening Pandora's Box here.
I own a farm in Santa Rosa County where we are battling feral hogs that are terribly destructive to the land and crops. Between a few trusted hunters and having corral traps out we have killed about 250 hogs in the past 6-7 years. They just keep coming. To begin with, I am sorry but please don't ask if you can hunt our land. Due to liability concerns we can only allow a few trusted neighbors and family to hunt our land. Secondly, shooting them one at a time is fun sport, but is not an effective means to control the population. We need to eradicate 70% of the population every year just to break even. So we use corral traps to trap entire sounders. The take in a trap can range from 5-15 hogs at once. We have killed 14 in the past week. When we get a bunch in a trap, we dispatch them within 24 hours. We do not have a way to safely extract live hogs from the traps. We butcher some for our own use but can use only so much. Often there is no one to take them so we end up dumping the hogs in a ditch for the buzzards and coyotes. It is a waste of good meat but we can only use so much and butchering is a chore. Through experience I have learned that mature male hogs are not good table fare, but the meat from males under 100 pounds or so and the sows is excellent. And a piglet will fit whole into a smoker. So here's the deal. If you will butcher it yourself and would like some free pork, and you are willing to come get the whole hog when we dispatch them, send me a message with a name and phone number and I will put you on the list to call the next time we have hogs in the trap.
I own a farm in Santa Rosa County where we are battling feral hogs that are terribly destructive to the land and crops. Between a few trusted hunters and having corral traps out we have killed about 250 hogs in the past 6-7 years. They just keep coming. To begin with, I am sorry but please don't ask if you can hunt our land. Due to liability concerns we can only allow a few trusted neighbors and family to hunt our land. Secondly, shooting them one at a time is fun sport, but is not an effective means to control the population. We need to eradicate 70% of the population every year just to break even. So we use corral traps to trap entire sounders. The take in a trap can range from 5-15 hogs at once. We have killed 14 in the past week. When we get a bunch in a trap, we dispatch them within 24 hours. We do not have a way to safely extract live hogs from the traps. We butcher some for our own use but can use only so much. Often there is no one to take them so we end up dumping the hogs in a ditch for the buzzards and coyotes. It is a waste of good meat but we can only use so much and butchering is a chore. Through experience I have learned that mature male hogs are not good table fare, but the meat from males under 100 pounds or so and the sows is excellent. And a piglet will fit whole into a smoker. So here's the deal. If you will butcher it yourself and would like some free pork, and you are willing to come get the whole hog when we dispatch them, send me a message with a name and phone number and I will put you on the list to call the next time we have hogs in the trap.
