A sow and 8 pigs. There were 11 pigs but 3 pigs were small enough to squeeze through the mesh in the trap. The bastards have been tearing up my newly planted pine trees. On the positive side this is the best tasting pork I have ever eaten. No meat shortage here. This makes 50 the number we have trapped, and 140 total we have killed in the past 5 years.

Agreed. I trap and bar small male hogs, and kill everything else. When I recapture the barred hogs, they are fantastic to eat. I just sent a 265lb bar to the processor. Can't wait for that one!

And I thought our javelina problem was bad. What is “trap and bar”? What round are you using to take them out?

He's snipping their huevos and releasing them. No more testosterone and all they do then is get big and fat for a later date.

Once trapped we cannot release feral hogs in Florida.

Those youngsters will make good table fare

Nice work. We haven't seen them over here in awhile since the fence-line was repaired but we offer then no quarter when we see them.

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:
Once trapped we cannot release feral hogs in Florida.

Yeah, pretty much the only thing we can't do in FL is release them or transport them alive.

Everything else is allow and encouraged. Hunt, bait, trap, kill.

Nice.
Just out of curiosity - how much does it cost to "process" a hog and what comes back?

Geez, because of this thread I spent an hour looking at trapping videos on youtube. There's an hour I'll never get back.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Nice.
Just out of curiosity - how much does it cost to "process" a hog and what comes back?

We did not send any of these out for processing but in the past the processor charged us so much per pound to process and package. Up front they will charge $1.10 per pound as a processing fee. That would included hams and roast cuts. If you want sausage that is smoked, seasoned and cased it is another $2.00-$2.50 per pound, just ground fresh sausage is .79 per pound, and added seasonings and vacuum packaging would be add-ons. We typically take out the backstraps and hams and shoulders and dump the rest in warm weather, without opening up the cavity. If the hog is the right size I will chop out the ribs. If cold weather we will skin and gut and take the whole hog to the processor after taking out the backstraps and tenderloins. I really like jalapeno sausage. On smaller pigs like these 20-30 pounders we would skin and gut them and cook them whole or halved on the smoker.

FYI it usually takes less time to smoke a wild hog because the have less fat on them than commercially raised hogs.

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:
This makes 50 the number we have trapped, and 140 total we have killed in the past 5 years.

And about the best you can hope for is that you've convinced the rest to move elsewhere. These things breed so fast there's no way to get rid of them. I used to think if we killed enough of them we could at least control the spread, but from time and experience I've learned the opposite is true. Glad they're going to a good cause though.

How fast do those things breed?

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
How fast do those things breed?

Just as bad as rats....

good job!

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
How fast do those things breed?

A sow can have up to 3 litters per year. Most of the litters we see are 10-12 piglets. Most sows we kill are either pregnant or have a bunch of piglets with them. By the time the sow's 3rd litter is weaned, females from the first litter are already pregnant. The biologists tell us you have to take 75% out in order to break even. Shooting the boars has little effect. We need to kill the sows as much as possible. The only thing that really works to reduce the population is to use corral traps and trap the entire sounder at once. Shooting them one at a time might be fun sport but has no impact on the numbers. They will avoid the spot where you shoot them for a while then come back. We keep the traps set and baited year round. Success at trapping runs in cycles.

Ohhhh my favorite type of pork. I wish I had your problem in California.

I live in Wisc. but have a place in Fort Myers , Fl. Hog hunting is on my bucket list but gotta get to know someone that can get me in some where to hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by SIP2000GLO:
Ohhhh my favorite type of pork. I wish I had your problem in California.

not sure what that is on that plate- pork, peanuts culandro and onions, but it looks great. What is that?

Stir fried wild boar with curry. A Vietnamese dish.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
How fast do those things breed?

To the tune of 'Saber Dance'. They're fast.