Some of you may have seen the Discovery Channel program titled “Hogs Gone Wild.” I might not have ever watched it except for a personal interest established when the show agreed to pay me $75 for the use of one of my photos.
The photo in question was taken after a friend of mine bagged a giant boar a few years ago. Some time thereafter, I made a post on this blog entitled, “Largest Boar Ever Killed in the Livermore Hills?”
The original post is still in place, but here’s the photo in case you’re interested.
Photo as pictured on "Hogs Gone Wild."
The pig in question was definitely a very large boar and the program about large pigs in the wild puts the photo into perspective. I taped the hour-long show and watched it last night. Yes, there was my photo. (Where’s my $75.)
The program pursued pigs across the continental US, starting in California and traveling though Oklahoma and into Alabama. Using archery equipment, horses, lassoes, net guns, snares, ATV’s, heliocopters and hounds, the stars of the show harassed, tormented, hog-tied and/or arrowed many pigs, but none were as large as the boar in the photo.
In the end, the promoters of the show concluded what I concluded some time ago. If a pig lives in the wild, it is unlikely that it will grow to a size of over 250 pounds. Occasionally a large boar, that it very smart and has plenty of natural food and good escape opportunity will grow to the very large size of 350 pounds or more. The boar in the photo was estimated (by me) to be 400 pounds, but it was so large that we couldn’t get it to a scale. The weight is only estimated. We did eat a lot of pork.
