Hog Blog: As verified as we're going to get tonight

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

As verified as we're going to get tonight

Another phone call, and this was the best one I had all day.

Jerry Cunningham, of Jerry's Taxidermy, called to say he does in fact have the hog and it's really, really big.

He was there to see it soon after it's kill. He also "caped out" the hog, removing the hide for the process of mounting it, in which is planned to be a shoulder mount.

To help make the form on which the animal will be mounted, Cunningham had to take accurate measurements of the beast. Here they are:

Around the head (across the ears): 54 inches.
Around the shoulders: 74 inches.
Length of snout (from eyes to nose): 11 inches.

Just for a gauge, a basketball is 30.7 inches around.

As it's currently 8:11 and I just got off the phone with Cunningham, I'll planning to go see it for myself on Wednesday afternoon. I would do it sooner, but Wednesday morning I'll be at the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament in Hoover to watch Alabama play (drumroll, please) the Arkansas Razorbacks.

By Thursday I'm sure I'll be pigged out.

# posted by Bran D. Strickland @ 6:02 PM

Comments:

This is an impressive hog -but does it really "count" as a feral hog -- because it was taken on a paid plantation. I mean, come on now -it was harvested from a hunting farm. I am suspicious that this animal was "stocked" on the property by the proprietor of the guided hunts. This animal, while huge, was nothing more that a fish shot in a barrel.

# posted by

1coolguitarslinger : May 26, 2007 at 12:54 AM

do you have some kind of idea of how old it was?

# posted by

Unknown : May 26, 2007 at 2:33 AM

Do you have an idea of how old it was?

# posted by

Unknown : May 26, 2007 at 2:33 AM

15 shots and 3 hours to kill it, yay what a great hunter, yup the old man is teaching him well.
If he couldnt take it out with the first couple the old man should have dispatched it cleanly with the rifle. Big Pig or not deserves more respect than was given!

# posted by

Unknown : May 26, 2007 at 5:30 PM

I don't really know about the age of the hog. Biologists I spoke with from Auburn University all said they'd like to have a look at the skull. I'm sure you can tell that kind of stuff from the teeth.

As for the manner it was hunted, I'd rather not express my feelings. For this story, I was just reporting the facts.

# posted by

Bran D. Strickland : May 27, 2007 at 2:32 AM

too bad it wasnt caught alive i mean the picture of its carcass means nothing compared to seeing it run around in some zoo somewhere.. now that hogzilla's family is extinct maybe we can share this incredible animal with our grand children through 5 photos and a mounted head as opposed to video documentation and other countless tests like tagging and tracking to see how it eluded us for so long if in fact it wasn't just a fish in a barrel like 1coolguitarslinger said...
could have opened secrets as too if it is possible for something the size of a volkswagon to stay hidden for years if not generations.. kind of like ohhhh. i dont know big foot or something along them lines..!!

# posted by

juelz_1983 : May 27, 2007 at 11:06 AM

How long was the tail?

# posted by

Eric : May 31, 2007 at 11:55 AM

# posted by

Anonymous : November 18, 2007 at 10:00 PM

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

# posted by

Anonymous : November 18, 2007 at 10:00 PM

Hog Blog

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

As verified as we're going to get tonight

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