Monster Pig was a lie.

[johnastovall]

And worse it was just Canned Killing of a hand raised farm animal.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,277097,00.html


As a life long hunter who has followed the dictum of Ortega y Gasset, "One does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted." in all his hunts, that so called hunt sickens my soul.

[CanonShooter]

I wa kinda sceptic about the story. I have hunted hogs since i was about ten and in their story it took to many rounds to bring that one down. I know hogs are tough but I also own a S&W 500 and know the knock down power this gun has. I always used a Rugar Red Hawk 44mag with a 10" barrel and scope and maybe only three or four times did it take more than one round to drop a large hog. The S&W 500 has a lot more hitting power than the 44mag and if I remember correctly in the story they also shot the hog with a rifle? Plus a hog that size would have been on the front cover of just about every hunting mag and I didn't see it in the two I recieve.

Good detective work John ! Or should I say Sherlock ???

[PhotoByLeal]

U shot TINY!!!

Mom, dad brother just shot TINY!!

To the BAT-ATV!

That was cool!

[markfh]

This isn't Hogzilla. That was another pig. He sure was big though and if I saw it in the wild I would assume it was feral as did the folks that hunted it.

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by markfh

This isn't Hogzilla. That was another pig. He sure was big though and if I saw it in the wild I would assume it was feral as did the folks that hunted it.

Did you read the article? It was a canned hunt pure and simple using an animal use to humans and farm raised in an enclosed area. To let the boy just keep shooting it like a target when it should have been put down by on of the adults present violates everything a clean hunt is about.

[JPalmer]

This one was dubbed "Monster Pig"....technically speaking, Hogzilla was the one from Georgia a few years back that National Geographic debunked size-wise.

And I totally agree about the canned hunt thing.... That is sad and disrespectful.

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by JPalmer

This one was dubbed "Monster Pig"....technically speaking, Hogzilla was the one from Georgia a few years back that National Geographic debunked size-wise.

And I totally agree about the canned hunt thing.... That is sad and disrespectful.

Thanks Jason, I've corrected the title. Four of my shooting buddies and I had been looking into that story since it came out because it just didn't pass the smell test. Then Fox broke it.

I really worry about the future of hunting here in Texas with all "Game Ranches" springing up all over the place. Already exotics are exempted from State Hunting regs and two years ago the "Game Ranch" lobby tried to get Whitetails on certain size game ranches exempted from state hunting seasons as long a they filed a 'mangement plan' with TSPW. That would have effectively end a deer hunting season for people with enough money. IMHO, most Game ranches don't provide hunting but rather trophies for cash.

[crazeazn]

poor pig,

im just saddened by the fact that a 11 year old is shooting a .50AE, when i shot a DE at the range the recoil nearly blew my shoulders out.

[David_3]

Originally Posted by johnastovall

IMHO, most Game ranches don't provide hunting but rather trophies for cash.

And a lot of the animals aren't even trophys. Just something (anything) for their clients to shoot. I've been to a couple of game ranches to shoot their sporting clays courses. The deer were so use to humans, that they would stand along the roadside, not more than 15 yards away. They looked more like a pack of stray dogs than a herd of wild deer. I don't have anything against hunting, but some of these game ranches are a joke. They are relatively small, and completely fenced in. Yep, may as well go down to the zoo and shoot something.

[Murph]

The bad thing is a good rack from a deer with go for $10,000 to $20,000 in Houston or the Orient for corporate board rooms. Poaching is a severe issue, and the Hogzilla thing is just too over the top. When I hunt, its for the meat, not just to slaughter animals.

[markfh]

Originally Posted by johnastovall

Did you read the article? It was a canned hunt pure and simple using an animal use to humans and farm raised in an enclosed area. To let the boy just keep shooting it like a target when it should have been put down by on of the adults present violates everything a clean hunt is about.

Yes John I read the article. So what it was a canned hunt. You are right though that the pig should have been killed as quickly as possible.

My father taught me to track and hunt. He also taught me if I couldn't kill with one shot than I shouldn't take the shot. When I got down here 30 years ago and found out y'all hunt from stands I didn't consider that hunting.

I've know some guys that place a salt lick close to their stands or spread corn before season to get the deer to frequent the area. I don't consider that hunting either.

[Arnor]

Hey, it's pork. Just send some of it to me, I'll take care of it<g> Darn good eating off the smoker<g> Just put the dryrub on some baby back and spare ribs for tomorrow.

Best regards,

[Jim Victory]

I never would hunt from a stand or use bait. In fact in my later years of hunting I only used a bow and only a long bow or recurve not compound. I only shoot game with a camera now.

BTW the pig's name was Fred. Thats right the pig had a name. He was sold to the rancher, Plantation Ranch, by someone who raised him and gave him the name Fred.

[iCe]

I was just going to post that article (which would have broken the rules). If they lied about the hog then they probably lied about the kid shooting a .50 cal revolver. I would be less skeptical if it was alleged to be a desert eagle...

I had a fairly long paragraph typed here and all of the sudden I thought about the problems that occur in the PJ section...

I have nothing against hunting or hunters. Technically I guess I still am one though it's been a little over a year and a half since I hunted with anything more than a camera and I don't see that changing.

Maybe I am naive but I just recently found out that there are "deer farms" where they raise bucks for sale to game ranches. That's not what I was naive about though. I have known about "breeder bucks" for quite a while... What I didn't know was that when the "farmer" acquires more property he has to do something about the deer that occupy the "farm". A guide and someone that is friends with the a farm owner both told me that they shoot every buck on the place before admitting the "trophy" stock to the new piece of land. In some cases they used a helicopter to round them up. The guide also told me that he sold a buck to a hunter for $25,000.00. What that means is that he took him to the area that he knew the buck existed in and let the guy shoot him from a stand. I was raised differently than that...

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by markfh

Yes John I read the article. So what it was a canned hunt. You are right though that the pig should have been killed as quickly as possible.

My father taught me to track and hunt. He also taught me if I couldn't kill with one shot than I shouldn't take the shot. When I got down here 30 years ago and found out y'all hunt from stands I didn't consider that hunting.

I've know some guys that place a salt lick close to their stands or spread corn before season to get the deer to frequent the area. I don't consider that hunting either.

It's not "y'all', this native Texan has never hunted from a stand or on a place where feed is put out and never will. Learn the land, learn the game, then hunt in a fair chase. Sound's like your father and mine taught us to hunted the same way....