A 725.8-pound hog taken in Southeast Texas has become one of the most talked-about wildlife stories I’ve covered recently.
Its incredible size immediately attracted attention, but then people began looking closely at something else. The huge animal was black and white, and viewers started asking whether a hog that looked like this and weighed more than 700 pounds was really feral.
The debate made me connect some dots I hadn’t connected before. For years, I’ve known about giant domestic hogs being released at different locations in this region.
My new video reveals that history and looks at how those releases could help us understand some of the enormous feral hogs roaming Southeast Texas—including why a 725.8-pound free-ranging hog can look very different from what people expect a feral hog to look like.
WATCH THE NEW VIDEO: Was That 725-Pound Texas Hog Really Feral?
There are some important distinctions to make. This hog was free-ranging when it was killed, and its weight wasn’t someone’s field estimate. The animal was photographed on a scale registering 725.8 pounds.
What we don’t know is the complete ancestry of this individual hog, and that’s an important difference.
Domestic swine can escape or be released and become feral. Over time, those animals and their descendants can reproduce with other free-ranging hogs, contributing to the tremendous variation in size, coloration and physical characteristics we see in feral hog populations.
So unusual domestic characteristics don’t automatically make a free-ranging animal somebody’s pet or a barnyard hog.
That’s where the history I’ve known about for years becomes especially interesting. Giant domestic hogs were released at different locations in this region over a long period of time. I can’t connect this particular animal to any specific release, and I’m not claiming I can.
But I can connect the dots enough to ask a bigger question: Could that history help explain some of the enormous and unusual-looking feral hogs roaming this part of Texas today?
That’s part of what I explore in the new video. The 725.8-pound hog is real. The documented weight is real. The animal was free-ranging, and the history of giant domestic hog releases in the region is real.
What we don’t know is exactly how all those pieces fit together.
And that’s what makes this story worth digging into.
Chester Moore
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