Wild and feral hogs (Sus scrofa) have been an issue in the United States for many years. These omnivorous pests devastate crops and pose a danger to other animals and humans. In the 1500s, European settlers brought domesticated swine, descended from the Eurasian boar, to North America. In the 1990s, hunters brought Eurasian and Russian wild boars to the U.S. for sport, leading to a significant increase in feral hog populations. Wild hogs are considered a nuisance species due to the significant environmental and economic damage they cause, which is often associated with their surprisingly large size. Continue reading to discover how large these land mammals can get and to learn about the largest wild hog ever caught in Alabama.
The Largest Wild Hog Ever Caught in Alabama
What was the largest wild hog in Alabama?
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The Largest Alabama Wild Boar, According to the WWT Scoring System
According to the Weiser Weight and Tusk (WWT) record book, the record for a free-range wild hog shot in Alabama was a boar taken down by Rod Hardy in February 2008, with a score of 610.88 W.
The WWT was a record-keeping system for trophy wild boar, notable for being the only one of its kind in the United States. It is now permanently closed. It used a unique scoring system based on a boar’s weight, tusk circumference, and combined tusk length. The score is calculated by adding the weight of the boar, the circumference of the tusks, and the combined tusk length multiplied by 50. The W in the score indicates that most of the score is made up of the hog’s weight.
Not Quite Contenders
Some wild hogs are pigs that come from farms.
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Wild hogs tend to weigh a maximum of about 500 pounds; therefore, reports of larger animals should be viewed with suspicion.
For a brief moment in 2007, 11-year-old Jamison Stone claimed the record for the largest hog killed in Alabama. However, the hog was not feral. The pig, named Fred, had been a family pet and was known to be docile. Fred weighed 1,051 pounds and measured 9 feet 4 inches long.
Wade Seagos of Samson, Alabama, heard his daughter scream, and his dog barking. It was then that he saw the boar. Seagos fired three shots from a .38-caliber pistol, dispatching the hog in his front yard.. The hog weighed 820 pounds. However, the hog had escaped from a neighbor’s farm. Although escaped farm pigs may quickly revert to wild characteristics and more aggressive behavior, they are not considered true wild animals.
World Record Wild Hog
Wild boars are destructive pests in the Southern and Western U.S.
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A onetime world record holder was an internet sensation nicknamed Hogzilla. Chris Griffin shot and killed the wild boar in Alapaha, Georgia. Griffin’s proof was a blurry photograph, which many dismissed as fake. To settle the issue, National Geographic had the hog exhumed. The hog weighed a little over 800 pounds. One of the animal’s tusks set the record for a North American boar at over 18 inches long. The hog’s DNA was partially from wild hogs. Although Hogzilla was notable, larger wild hogs have since been reported.
