# Ossabaw vs other feral hogs



## Va wingbone (Nov 9, 2015)

How do the pigs on ossabaw differ from the ones on the mainland? Size, cutters, etc...


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## Danny Leigh (Nov 9, 2015)

Really not much of a difference. Boars over #100 have the potential to have 2"+ tusks.


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## Southernhoundhunter (Nov 11, 2015)

They smell like a marsh hog....they're pre salted


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## fishtail (Nov 11, 2015)

Years ago, there was a National Geographic article where they were petitioning to have the Ossabaw hogs declared as their own individual species. 
I never did find out how that panned out.


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## mcarge (Nov 11, 2015)

Just my opinion, small and over hunted since the state started harvesting over a decade ago...before that it was pretty good.


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## Southernhoundhunter (Nov 12, 2015)

The best thing would be the complete eradication of them on all barrier islands. They root up turtle nest, have been known to root up the marsh, etc. The DNR on the island kills way more on Ossabaw than are killed in the hunts. Make no mistake, DNR has no interest in preserving hog populations anywhere.


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## riverbank (Nov 12, 2015)

fishtail said:


> Years ago, there was a National Geographic article where they were petitioning to have the Ossabaw hogs declared as their own individual species.
> I never did find out how that panned out.


 I think they did become a species of there own.


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## fishtail (Nov 12, 2015)

The main argument was they had no other bloodline influence since the Spanish introduced them.


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## fishtail (Nov 12, 2015)

Southernhoundhunter said:


> The best thing would be the complete eradication of them on all barrier islands.


I completely agree with this.

In some instances it also had gotten so bad with the coons robbing the turtle nests they were staked out and sniped.


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## robert carter (Nov 13, 2015)

I`ve killed several of them and can say they seem to have bigger tusk pound for pound than mainland pigs. The first year I went on an archery hunt there many years back it was nothing to see 60 per sit. RC


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## bfriendly (Nov 13, 2015)

robert carter said:


> I`ve killed several of them and can say they seem to have bigger tusk pound for pound than mainland pigs. The first year I went on an archery hunt there many years back it was nothing to see 60 per sit. RC



How did they taste? Personally, I dont know i'd want to eat them as much as the ones eating akerns and such...........

But then again, I have seen  some photos of southern (GA)swamps pigs that didn't look nearly as plump as the fat pigs up here in the Mtns....I like the look of plump fat farm raised lookin pigs. Pertty much most of the ones I have killed have been winners


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## fishtail (Nov 13, 2015)

I do know the ones that have been on a steady snail diet are nasty and you can tell it when you got to clean it. 
And size don't matter either, my neighbor brought back a couple of 60lb'ers that were awful.


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## Designasaurus (Nov 13, 2015)

Just speaking for myself, my son & daughter and me have killed over 100 there and have yet to get a bad one.  We try for head or neck shots and dress them out asap.  I think most there eat lots of acorns, fiddler crabs, assorted roots and grubs etc..  Many will have lots of fat.


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## bvi (Nov 16, 2015)

fishtail said:


> I completely agree with this.
> 
> In some instances it also had gotten so bad with the coons robbing the turtle nests they were staked out and sniped.



Disagree on that one. Hogs been living on those islands 300+ years, and it always been no issue with number of sea turtles until now. 





Banning commercial fishing trawlers gonna save more turtles. Many folks come to those barrier islands just to hunt hogs. Good thing DNR considers hogs as a part of the history of the island, and they are not looking to remove all the hogs.


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## fishtail (Nov 16, 2015)

bvi said:


> Disagree on that one. Hogs been living on those islands 300+ years, and it always been no issue with number of sea turtles until now.


One could use your graph to reinforce the argument that hogs are indeed the problem raiding the turtle nests and causing the massive decline since records were being kept.

Yes there are other man made problems associated with the turtle decline no different than the feral hog introduction. The focus is to minimize the problems without creating others in the process.

Complete irradiation of the hogs is a financial impossibility, we know this as does the DNR. And there is no historical heritage considered of the hogs on Ossabaw in the eyes of the DNR. Their goal is to keep them at an appreciable level to minimize the devastation of the existing native animals and habitat.


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## Southernhoundhunter (Nov 16, 2015)

bvi said:


> Disagree on that one. Hogs been living on those islands 300+ years, and it always been no issue with number of sea turtles until now.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 That is an untrue statement. I personally know a DNR officers brother who has been on several trips out there with him where they spent the weekend and was instructed to kill every hog they saw. Said they killed more than he could remember. Biologists want them out of the ecosystem on Ossabaw, just as they do on St. Catherine's and every barrier island. There are groups that promote the history of the pigs on Ossabaw but behind the scenes, DNR is doing its best to rid the island of them.


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## bvi (Nov 17, 2015)

fishtail, Southernhoundhunter

Look up that plan 
http://wildpiginfo.msstate.edu/The Pigs of Ossabaw Island-Case_Study.pdf

This is why the hogs haven't been or won't be eradicated.



> The Pigs of Ossabaw Island:
> A  Case Study of the Application of Long -
> term Data in Management Plan Development
> 
> ...


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## Southernhoundhunter (Nov 17, 2015)

You're right. You know everything.


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## tlee22 (Nov 17, 2015)

BVI That is just a case study from a college.  I did 100 of them back in my day.  The DNR is trying to wipe Ossabaw clean of pigs.  They trap them, use dogs and spot light them.  They will never totally clean them out but they are going to give it their best shot to put a dent in them and control the island eco system per what the Biologist wants them to do.


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## fishtail (Nov 17, 2015)

http://wildpiginfo.msstate.edu/The Pigs of Ossabaw Island-Case_Study.pdf
Thank you bvi for bringing that case study to light, it does help to reinforce and clarify some of the history of Ossabaws hogs but it does nothing for your argument.

This case study is simply the opinions of I. Lehr Brisbin, Jr., and Michael S. Sturek
Department of Cellular & Integrative Physiology, Indiana University School of Medicine about the accomplishments or short comings of the Georgia DNR at Ossabaw in relation to their hog management on the island.

If factual, their conclusions and historical data does provide valuable insight but now also deems the hogs as useless vermin.

I was disappointed and now understand why the hogs were not considered their own species. Basically their genetics were and are too easily influenced and have been repeatedly since being introduced on the island.


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## robert carter (Nov 26, 2015)

I ve killed a lot of them and they were good tablefare except for a rank boar. They do eat acorns as the island is full of water oaks and live oaks. But like any pig in a southern swamp they make a living nose deep as well. RC


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