The Europeans admired their courage and loved to hunt
them. The Romans feasted on wild boar at their banquets and the meat was the preferred
prey of French kings. Wild boar meat is excellent when prepared properly and is still
considered a delicacy in many parts of the world.
In more recent times, wild boar hunts have become a popular sport
for the common man. Today, they are hunted using various methods influenced primarily by
the local terrain. For example, horse and hound hunting is a popular method used in many
areas ranging from France to Texas. Another exciting way to capture a wild hog is with the
use of hounds and catch dogs.
The wild boar is considered to be the most intelligent of game
animals. And is the unrivaled champion of self-defense. Nonetheless, their numbers are
steadily rising, and they are a leading source of problems for farmers and ranchers -
which makes them a target for boar hunting aficionados.
They multiply rapidly and are masters of survival. In the United
States during the turn of the 20th Century the wild hog population was virtually
non-existent. They now live throughout the Southern parts of the states in great numbers.
By 1990, their population exceeded the one million mark in Texas alone. In France, 37,000
were killed in 1973. More than 150,000 were harvested in 1992 and the wild hog population
is as healthy there as ever.
Although wild hogs are essentially the same species as their
domesticated brothers, the hogs in the wild behave much differently. In the wild, members
of a group stay closely together. They communicate by squealing, squeaking and grunting.
They have distinctive calls for maintaining contact, calling their young for alarm or
attack, for mating and distress.
A group of wild hogs will maintain a temporary bedding grounds,
usually an isolated location in a dense forest or thicket. This provides a safe place to
rest, shade from the heat, shelter from storms and a retreat for defense.
They spend most of their waking hours searching for food. Wild hogs
will eat almost anything. Typically, hogs feed on various vegetation, grain, berries,
small insects and even carrion. They are also fierce predators and have been known to
attack animals larger than themselves.
Young hogs spend much of their time play fighting up until about
nine months old, when sexual maturity is reached. This rough form of exercise prepares
them for the more violent battles to come. Usually the males are not able to compete
successfully for mating privileges until they reach full size at about three to five years
old.
The wild boar earns its reputation as ferocious fighter when it is
attacked or cornered by animals or people and when it fights to defend its young - or to
win a mate. With increasing age, the male’s K-9 teeth develop into long ivory tusks
which curve outward and can grow to more than eight inches in length. The boars use these tusks
as weapons.
In preparation for the seasonal mating disputes, a shield of extra
tissue, present under the hides of all males, will thicken, covering the front half of
their bodies. Their natural shields can grow to more than two inches thick and have been
known to stop a hunter’s bullet. During the rutting season, the larger boars square
off and battle one another, slicing and goring at each other with their tusks. Their
shields provide protection to the shoulders and ribs from the razor sharp edges of their
dagger-like ivories.
The females will usually raise eight to ten young, and sometimes as
many as fourteen piglets per litter. Depending on the climate and other environmental issues,
hogs will have from one to three litters per year. A sow moves away from the group before
the arrival of a new litter. She will find a suitable location to build a nest to bear her
young. They will remain alone until the piglets reach about two weeks old. Then they will
rejoin the group, raise their offspring together, and the cycle begins again.
