Texas boar

[Ian]

Finally uploaded the only picture I took of the last boar I got, it's the one I described in Rick's Oregon Pig thread. I was too tired and dirty to get any pics of the whole thing, and I'm not accustomed to photographing my groceries This one came in at 310 lbs despite the smallish tusks, and surprisingly didn't have that awful rancid odor that so many of the Russian hogs do. That's a bunch of steaks, roasts, and believe it or not, BACON. Got two nice bacon slabs right at 2" thick, a real treat as most of the wild pigs don't have ribs or bacon worth keeping.

Rifle used was my Springfield M1A, bullet was the 311679 cast of three parts clip-on, two parts stick-on wheel weights, water quenched from the mould. Shot was high, broadside right behind the shoulders, through a rib on each side and on into the sunset with an impressive exit hole. The alloy did the job nicely at over 2100 fps muzzle velocity.

I skinned and fleshed the skull and jaw and buried them in a fertile spot about 18" deep, will dig it up later on this year and clean it up for a mount. I've done the boil-and-pick routine on deer and am not going through that again just for a pig skull. I've read about the bury method and it seems to work, we'll see. If I can remember or find this thread again I'll update it when the time comes.

 

[Brad]

Only hogs I shot were one that was colored like a golden retriever and the little one I didn't see behind it. Shot went thru the bigger one and brained the little 50 pounder.

45 Colt in a Marlin works well on pigs in close.

 

[Ian]

Wow, what was your load? While piggies aren't armor-plated by any means, it sure is easy to screw up a shot or use a totally ineffective bullet type. I'd feel under-gunned with a standard .45 Colt load in the field.

 

[Brad]

Not standard by any means. It was a 265 wfngc over 25 or 26 gr of H110. In that rifle it goes better than 1400 fps. We were told to "put an earring" on the pig to anchor it. My shot was a bit far back. The larger hog got up and ran. Swung the rifle like a shotgun and fired two more quickly. One was far back and just nicked a rear leg. Second one was a solid chest shot and pig went right down. Got back to camp and a guy asked if we knew who was using an auto loader. That was me working the lever. I was flattered. I must have 4 or 5 K rounds thru that rifle.

 

[Ian]

Oh, you mean you don't dismount the rifle, brace the buttstock on your hip, lean hard to one side, crane your neck to watch the action cycle as you jack a fresh shell home, look up and try to remember what planet you're on, squint after the smoke trail, and scratch your chin trying to figure out what do do next like a lot of levergun hunters do? They call them "repeaters" for a reason! Quick follow up shots, just exactly what you did. That's a healthy load you have there for sure.

 

[Brad]

That rilfe is soooooo smoth to cycle. Lots of shooting makes em that way. Lots of shooting makes me that way too. That is one rilfe I just couldn't imagine getting rid of.

The load isn't bad in the rifle but is a major handful in the 4 5/8 Blackhawk.

My standard load any more is a 300 gr flat nose from a Lee GB years ago. Over 10.5 gr of surplus 105 it goes 900 in the revolver and 1100 in the rifle. Shot a deer with that load last fall.

 

[Ian]

Freebullet reminded me to update this. I actually dug up the skull sometime last year, not sure at all how long it was in the ground but I'm guessing less than six months. When I dug it up, all traces of the meat and tissue were gone (including eyeballs which I left in and all the meat left after I cut the hide off) and just a little bit of grave wax was stuck here and there. The skull was a dark toffee color after rinsing off the dirt, and I soaked it in bleach water for a few days after rinsing off the mud. What I should have done, but didn't do, was let it dry out and then soak it in acetone or paint thinner for about a week to soak the old nasty grease out of the bone, especially the jawbone. You can see in the picture the dark, wet patch on the jaw, actually the whole bottom is covered in a wet, oily film from the grease leaching out.

Anyway, this burying thing is for certain the way to go if you don't want to pay someone to put it in their beetle colony and you don't want to do the boil and pick method (BTDT with a deer skull, never again!!). A degrease soak and peroxide paste bleach treatment followed by a nice semi-gloss clear coat is probably the thing to do to make it look good and last.

 

[Ian]

In case anyone was curious, the nose bones are 100% intact, those ground critters/bacteria/whatever did a fantastic job of cleaning everything and all I had to do was spray the dirt off with a water hose.

 

[freebullet]

Thanks for the update. It turned out really nice as it is. An impressive looking skull.

Since you mention doing more to it, I'd try soaking it in dish soap water then use a nylon scrub brush on the greasy spots & rinse. If there's any caked on a bronze brush will open the surface a bit. Then it won't need much whitening. Usually just a clear coat.

I have some doe skulls burried I forgot to dig up myself.

 

[Ian]

Thanks for reminding me! I didn't forget to dig it up but totally forgot about starting this thread.

I may try the dish detergent soak thing, maybe some hot water and a good scrub like you say. The jaw is literally soaking wet on the bottom with greasy funk that apparently settled out due to gravity. Gotta take care of that at the least before I screw it to a board and hang it on the wall.

The tusks are totally loose as are most of the teeth, I think I'll hot-glue them in unless you have a better idea like maybe clay, epoxy putty, or clear 100% silicone sealant?

 

[Rick]

Try Gorilla Glue BUT use a very, very, very tiny amount because it expands as it dries.

 

[35 shooter]

Wow, that's going to be a nice skull mount. When you get them cleaned up like that you can really see the damage those tusks are capable of.

 

[Ian]

He was one big, ugly beast. I'm glad I was in a tower blind with an M1A and a full magazine when he and his buddy showed up!

 

[freebullet]

Yeah they could certainly tear you up if given a chance.

The dish soap cuts grease really well ime. Super, any, or hot glue should work fine on loose teeth. I used super on a couple loose ones and they've stayed put.

I did this one for the wife using maceration.

It hasn't had any whitening yet.

 

[35 shooter]

There is supposed to be good hog hunting within an hrs. drive of me. Some of it is even on public hunting ground. I need to get that on the agenda for next year.

It's legal hunting for them year round here except for the state land i mentioned.
On that it's only legal in the general hunting seasons.
However, the way these things breed, that may have changed. I'll check in to it more for sure.

 

[Ian]

That looks really good, Freebullet. Still has good color on the antlers, too.

 

[freebullet]

Thank you. The process is not for the easily disgusted.

I used a tote the whole thing would fit in. Filled with water just over the skull top. Used an aquarium heater to keep the water temp correct. Had to prop it just right to keep the antlers out of the water. It takes much time and smells like death, I wore a respirator to deal with it during the process. Wash it several times through the process. Changed out 60% of the water every 4 days until clean. It was actually quite a bit more white when done but, has been sitting waiting for finishing for a couple years

On the next one I'm gunna bury it, then do the maceration process, clean, whiten, & seal.
Maybe I should just get some beetles.

Either way thanks for sharing it. Tough lookin critter.

 

[Ian]

Any kind of warm water bath process is absolutely disgusting, both in smell and in all the picking, scraping, and peeling. Way too much work and the stink travels for miles. Just bury the thing in some soft ground (like a flower bed, seriously), cover the exposed antlers with a couple of buckets or box with some lead bricks on top to keep critters from digging them up (there are probably some other tricks for preserving the antler color, too), and it smells just like rich dirt when you dig it up again. I looked into the beetles but they take a lot of space, care, and feeding so are only for those who have enough "work" to keep them occupied on a steady basis.

Internet wisdom says leave it buried for a year, this boar took just a few months and I only dug it up that soon to see how it was doing in the wet, black clay soil. Apparently there's quite a lot of animal and microbe life down there. The first photos were taken in March 2015 and when I dug it up there were a lot of June bug grubs around it (mid summer?? I really can't remember!), and some earthworms, maybe they were having a feast along with the critters that are too tiny to see and probably did most of the work.

 

[GaryN]

I've never heard of the bury method. I'm going to try it next time. Most of my horns are full head mounts or just the horns but I like the European mount look. I think I'll start doing that more. Thanks for posting.

 

[freebullet]

I didn't do any scraping at all. Just check/change the water and wash off a few times.