The Largest Wild Hog Ever Caught in Georgia

Did you know that Georgia is home to wild boars? The Peach State has wild hogs living in many areas and they quickly make a name for themselves among the residents. While they aren’t native to the Southern United States, these hogs have been around for hundreds of years. Pigs were brought to the area by Spanish settlers, including explorer Fernando De Soto who is credited with first introducing them to Georgia in 1539. The first hogs were domestic animals but over time, those who got loose reverted to their wild ways. Today, around 60,000 wild boars live in Georgia.

One impressive animal stood out from the rest. A 2007 report of a wild pig weighing 1,100 pounds detailed how the amazing animal was caught. The hog was 9.5 feet long and killed in Fayette County, Georgia. It is likely the largest wild hog ever, not just in the state of Georgia. It beat the previous record by 300 pounds!

Hunting for Hog

You can hunt for wild boar with a valid hunting license. Wild boar hunting season on public land is limited to just two weeks in May. There are specific designated locations called Wildlife Management Areas where you can hunt for wild boar. When hunting for wild boar, you have to follow strict regulations regarding what you can use to hunt. Before hunting for wild boar, it’s best to check the Georgia hunting regulations for your area as well as the time of year to make sure that you are following the law.

Hunting on private land is different. You can hunt wild boar at any time on private land, which is what happened in 2007. The massive boar was eating acorns off the ground on private property when a young man and his mother saw it when returning home to the house next door. After getting permission from the neighbor whose property the boar was on, the boy went to get his father, a hunter.

Face to Face with a Wild Hog

“When we came around the corner, it just about blew me away when I saw the hog,” Bill Coursey told local media. “It was huge.” After he took down the hog, he strung it up and the media frenzy began. Local and national news came to take pictures and see the record-breaking hog. Other residents reported seeing hogs of similar size over the years and they speculated that Bill had finally taken down the giant. Wild hogs can be dangerous and can cause property damage as they root around looking for food.

They had to load the hog onto a backhoe to transfer it to a truck. Eventually, they took the hog to a weigh station to get a final weight. After plenty of documentation, Bill preserved the head and buried the rest of the carcass. “I am not really a hog hunter,” he said. “This is the only one I have ever killed. The interest in the hog has amazed me.”

What Is a Wild Boar?

Wild boars are different from their domesticated relatives in a few key ways. They tend to have larger teeth that resemble tusks, which they use to root around for food. When needed, they can also use them for self-defense. Wild boars have thick, coarse hair on their bodies, another feature that protects them from the elements and helps them survive in the wild.

Like domestic pigs, wild boars are omnivores. They eat both plants and animals. In fact, pigs and hogs are known for eating just about anything that they can get ahold of. This is one reason why they have been able to thrive for so long in the wild. They tend to forage and many hunters looking for wild boar do so in open fields where they are easy to spot.

Wild boars get up to 200 pounds normally. A boar the size of this one is so massive that it gets a lot of attention from residents and the media. Before this boar, the largest wild boar in the world also lived in Georgia. Another large hog was killed in 2005. This pig, nicknamed “Hogzilla,” weighed around 800 pounds and was 7.5 to 8 feet long. Reports of a super large wild pig circulated well before the animal was found, with estimates of weight up to 1,000 pounds and length up to 12 feet. In the case of Hogzilla, the reality was a bit smaller. But the massive animal killed just two years later in Fayette County lived up to the hype.