When Hogs Get Your Deer…

There are an estimated 2-3 million feral hogs in Texas, and those numbers might triple in the next five years. The hogs are causing all sorts of damage. As we have documented here, they get some fawns every year. I had not heard that pigs can find and destroy a deer you shot, like a coyote might, until now. Blogger Wren sent this:

“We have hog problems on both ranches I hunt, in the Edwards Plateau area and in Webb County down in South Texas. I have not personally seen hogs feasting on fawns, but I can attest to what hogs can do to downed deer. Very much like the damage coyotes can inflict.

My oldest son Todd shot a doe during an afternoon hunt last season. Imagine our surprise two hours later as we started into the brush on the blood trail and heard the loudest commotion one could imagine. As we slowly advanced up the trail, we came upon what remained of the doe. Head, neck and then nothing but exposed ribs and parts of the hindquarters.

During the 2011 – 2012 season, I took an 8-point management buck on the property in Webb County. I had filmed the shot and was certain I had made an excellent shot, but could find no blood, hair or bone at the place the buck had been standing. I drove back to the ranch house to get my shotgun chaps (made of thick English ox hide because of the cactus, mesquite and rattlesnakes), better lights and a guest hunter to assist me. We began following the tracks of the running buck and soon walked up on his remains. In the space of less than one hour nothing remained of the buck other than the head and rack, neck and front shoulders. The rest of the carcass was gone, picked clean to the bones. Hog tracks and droppings were everywhere.”

Interesting, has anyone else seen this? In hog country, will we have to start tracking our deer faster after the shot, like I advise you to do in coyote country where it’s well-documented that those predators will often eat your buck if you don’t find him quickly?