Hidden Origin of Hogs
Science uses Latin names to describe animals because titles given to animals varies greatly from region to region including hogs of the world. Take for example Pomoxis nigromaculatus which most fishermen know as “crappie”. In Louisiana the most common name is “sac-a-lait” and in other areas anglers call it “white perch”. They are all the same fish but people tend to name things regionally.
For all practical purposes the hogs we hunt are Sus scrofa but there are a number of regional variations that some people are adamant are a different species entirely.
Take the “pineywood rooter”, which is simply the genetic variation of feral hog most common in East Texas. The snouts are typically long, thin snouts and they are typically black in color.
These as with all hogs in the United States are not native to this country but there are many hunters who say the rooter is the “original wild hog” and they are native to the region. They might have been here for hundreds of years but they are not native as whitetails and even black bears are. They are imports.
“Russian boars” are the original sus scrofa and thus the genetic roadmap for all hogs. There are very few true “Russians” in the United States with the only pedigreed specimens living on small high-fenced ranches.
There are however a good number of hogs particularly in areas of Central and south-Central Texas that have a lot of characteristics of Russians with some looking almost as if they were captured in the Black Forest of Germany.
According to officials with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, “This hog usually has longer legs, a larger head and a longer, flatter snout. Eurasian piglets are reddish brown with black longitudinal stripes. As the animals mature, the stripes disappear and their color changes to gray grizzled or black. Eurasian hogs generally have longer guard hair and a more distinct mane of guard hair running from the neck to the base of the tail than the domestic hog.”
The appearance of hogs in different regions has much to do with the kinds of domestic hogs allowed to roam freely in the region years ago and also the sources still entering the woods.
Near Deweyville about 15 years ago, people were dumping off potbelly pigs along one particular road for a year. For a number of years people thought they were excellent pets but when they realized the animals got much bigger than expected they would release them into the woods.
Well, this particular road which led to a county dump became the place to release potbellies. I had to take this road to one of the hunting clubs I was on and would frequently see a new batch of potbellies. Well, it did not take long for these animals to breed with the ferals there and create some interesting looking pigs with a fat face and the classic pot belly. I will never forget seeing a 200-pound sow that walked in front of my game camera have the snout of a “pineywoods rooter” and the belly and coloration of a potbelly.
Despite all of these potential variations the animals are legally known as “feral hogs” and therefore are considered varmints under law which means hunters in Texas can take them any time of year with no bag limit and by virtually any means whether are red and wattle or black with a low-swinging pot belly.
Chester Moore, Jr.
