Wild Hogs

There are a lot of wild pigs in Texas. Javelinas, Feral hogs, and assorted other varieties. They were originally introduced to the area by Coronado and their spread and population has grown over the years. While there are normally a fair number of them about, there seems to be an unusually high number within about 50 miles of where we live. The story is that in the 1960s there was a hog farmer who had about 3000 pigs in San Saba, TX - about 50 miles from here. Apparently he got in to some sort of trouble with the IRS and was going to lose his farm and animals. Rather than lose all of his livestock to the IRS, he let them all loose. Yup... Better to let them live free then give them to the government. He cut some fence, opened some gates, and let 3000 of these critters loose. They bred like rabbits with the wild hogs that were already here. There are hogs everywhere now. Ranchers will often let you come out for free and shoot them just to get rid of them. They tear up pastures and make a mess and car/boar accidents are almost as common as car/deer wrecks.

Why am I telling you all of this? We had a guest minister in town at church this week, so we had some extra services. Well, on Friday night one family was on their way home and low and behold, 9 wild hogs ran across the road in front of them. They were able to brake and swerve out of the way.

On Saturday night they were on their way home and at the same spot, they saw a single hog by the side of the road. Someone had just hit it. It was still alive and was flopping around on the shoulder. It was just about dead and would have been dangerous for them to approach in it's frenzy. It looked to be a good sized young hog. He thought about taking it home, but he was driving his Mom's van and he thought if he loaded a dead pig in it that she was just as likely to roast him as she would be to roast the pig. He gave up on the idea.

He called another guy who had to drive home on the same road and told him about it and reminded him to be careful. About 30 minutes later the second guy called back the first guy and says, "Hey, I got that boar all gutted and cleaned. I'll bring it over in just a little bit."

We were over at their house on Sunday afternoon and he told us this story and then he brought out this pork roast for us to try. We thought it was a big joke - you know... Texas humor is a little different. Turns out he wasn't kidding. That was some mighty tasty boar. Weighed in at 125 pounds and had about 2 inch tusks so he was pretty young and tender.

Ever eat Road Kill Boar anyone? Check!