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Old April 9, 2010, 08:23 AM   #1
jdscholer
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Hog Tunnels???

OK, so this new guy at work starts telling me about getting hogs out of tunnels that the hogs have made in the ground. Sounds kinda interesting, but pretty soon he's talking about tunnels hundreds of feet long, and killing a hog 200+ pounds way in there.

Now I'm trying to think of what kind of tunnel a hog is going to dig that I'm going to crawl a couple of hundred feet into and kill him, tie a rope on him, and drag him out and ---- well is this guy full of ----courage---BS--- Should his story be a part of the Cheesy Hunting Joke thread?

How about it? Any of you hog hunters ever hear of such a thing? jd

PS: go easy on me Brent. This isn't exactly hog country and I"m pretty dumb about them.
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Old April 9, 2010, 08:28 AM   #2
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lol.

while hogs are hell of diggers i have never heard of them tunneling.

digging under fences and walls yes, but not hundreds of feet tunnels. how would they carry the dirt back to the surface?


lol
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Old April 9, 2010, 08:36 AM   #3
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digging under fences and walls yes, but not hundreds of feet tunnels. how would they carry the dirt back to the surface?
That's kinda what I'm thinking. Hate to call BS on the guy before I know just how pathological he is though. jd
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Old April 9, 2010, 08:41 AM   #4
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They will utilize any sort of hole to escape and this includes holes partially submerged on creek banks. They do this VERY often when being run by dogs.

They run in and spin around to face the predator and guard their flanks... I am always amazed at how they find these under pressure and can determine it's usefulness for such a task. I have never heard of one getting in and being stuck with it's butt unprotected and exposed to the dog's teeth.

As for tunneling, they just are not physically designed for such an undertaking. As previously stated, they cannot move the amount of dirt fast enuff to productively make a deep tunnel. Every thing a hog does is determined by the hog to be efficient or they won't waste the energy.

They get under fence and brush with alot of lifting of the head to FORCE stuff out of their way and this won't work digging a real tunnel.

But natural tunnels or the dens dug by other animals will be utilized by a hog for whatever reason they deem needed.

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Old April 9, 2010, 09:13 AM   #5
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How's a hog gonna get the dirt out of any tunnel more than a very few feet long? Ain't seen many hog-barrows, with or without wheels. I guess you could figure a hog's got picks, but he's short on shovels.

Nuthin' like a little Jose Cuervo, to come up with some wondrous wildlife stories...
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Old April 9, 2010, 09:19 AM   #6
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I'd really hate to be 200 feet into a hog tunnel and have my gun jam. Better carry a .45 as backup.
Now we have "hog tunnel rats?"
As to the unsuitability of hog anatomy to digging like a prairie dog, all they have to do is bribe a badger or a burrowing owl to dig the hole for them.
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Old April 9, 2010, 10:18 AM   #7
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I can’t believe that you all haven’t heard of the rare and elusive Southern Spotted Tunneling Hog. They bore deep tunnels into the ground and lie in wait for unsuspecting squirrel hunters to pass. Then with a quick snap of their jaws the hunter is gone, never to be seen again. Because most people will believe anything disappearances are blamed on UFOs and not hogs. There’s even a study that says the tunnels lead to a parallel dimension in which hogs and man switch roles. Man becomes sausage and hogs become politicians.
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Old April 9, 2010, 11:03 AM   #8
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There’s even a study that says the tunnels lead to a parallel dimension in which hogs and man switch roles. Man becomes sausage and hogs become politicians.
Well now, that explains Washington DC, doesn't it? People that look like sausages and political pigs. Maybe George Orwell had it right after all.
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Old April 9, 2010, 04:46 PM   #9
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Shifting emphasis and getting to reality: I was a high school junior in Manila in 1949/1950. A couple of friends of my mother's went on a boar hunt down on Palawan Island. At that time, it was pure jungle and extremely thick with vines and thorns. The hogs had tunnels through the very dense vegetation.

The hunt style was two-person. One with a Garand, the other with a spear. The spearman was the backup. The spear had a cross-piece so the hog couldn't thrust himself down the shaft.

So, squat-walk through the tunnels. If a boar charged, the spearman would plant the butt of the spear in the ground, the point out in front of the shooter.

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Old April 9, 2010, 07:14 PM   #10
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I wonder what he hunts eagle sized flying squirrels with. Shotgun or centerfire rifle. They are soft skinned animals so maybe just a sling shot.
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Old April 9, 2010, 08:34 PM   #11
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If they could dig tunnels, you would never catch me crawling in a tunnel to go nose to nose with 200 lbs of teeth and bad temper.
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Old April 9, 2010, 10:21 PM   #12
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Art Eatman

Lots of interesting stories in the Army-Navy Club....... You bet!

Getting reality there............. Not much!
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Old April 9, 2010, 11:09 PM   #13
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I'd really hate to be 200 feet into a hog tunnel and have my gun jam. Better carry a .45 as backup.
It's funny that you should mention that, because he also did; said ya had to be careful that a hog didn't come at you from a side tunnel.

I think it's time that I tell him about the place where I go deer hunting that is so thick with brush and timber that you often spot deer bedded down fifteen or twenty feet up in the trees. jd
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Old April 10, 2010, 06:50 AM   #14
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Quote:
how would they carry the dirt back to the surface?
^ Thats an easy question to answer... He would piggy-back it out.
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Old April 10, 2010, 07:58 AM   #15
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Fossorial hogs? They must be the distant cousins to satlatorial, arboreal, and aerial hogs. Let's not forget African Killer Hogs and Fire Hogs either.

On a more serious note, I have spent considerable time hunting stealth hogs. They are quite elusive and reported to have near invisibility camouflage abilities.
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Old April 10, 2010, 08:30 AM   #16
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Quote:
How about it? Any of you hog hunters ever hear of such a thing?
Yes.

See, over in Vietnam there were tunnel rats. Generally the tunnel rats were smaller in stature to be able to fit in the tunnels.
After the Vietnam War, the tunnel rat came back to the US. It ate to much and got fat. Hence the 'fat, but dangerous' tunnel hog.

FWIW, the Obama administration is currently working on exterminating obesity. In a few years, we won't be able to afford to buy food.

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Old April 10, 2010, 12:07 PM   #17
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Ya'll don't s'pose VC hogs made it to the states along with those asiatic carp, do ya? Or maybe they're NVA Regular Razorbacks?
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Old April 10, 2010, 05:05 PM   #18
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If big hogs start taking up residence in tunnels this old fat hog hunter's just gonna have to wait outside.
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Old April 11, 2010, 12:26 AM   #19
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Hmm... Could just be a misunderstanding of terminology. I have heard people call the trails that hogs make through stands of high grass or thick underbrush "tunnels". I have had some adventures following those! Maybe that is what the guy meant. As for hogs digging actual tunnels... no way
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Old April 11, 2010, 01:08 AM   #20
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Read the OP again. "in the ground" seems to suggest something other than a game path thru weeds, maybe not. Agreed about hogs digging tunnels, occupying them is another matter. As for previous posters wondering about getting the dirt out, haven't we all heard of wheelbarrows? Sorry, couldn't help myself.
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Old April 11, 2010, 12:57 PM   #21
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Now, that was a plumb gilt-edged comment...
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Old April 11, 2010, 01:11 PM   #22
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cane breaks

i always felt the cane breaks where animals had cut trials were like a tunnel. you had to crawl through them. if you scared a hog in the cane it sounded like fireworks when the cane was being snapped.
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Old April 11, 2010, 02:04 PM   #23
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Back in the 70's,myself,my brother,and a friend were on some uninhabited(at the time) island in the Savannah,Ga shipping channel.It had some hogs.The cenral part of the island was tall grass and wild tomatoes,but the edges were thick bush.The hogs had tunnels through the bushes.So I am crawling through this bush tunnel with my AR-180 thinking this must be the way you do this when it occurred to me the hog might be there,but he might be behind me.Vulnerable might be the word I'm looking for.I reconsidered my tactics.Never got a hog.Made a spam and pineapple kebab over driftwood coals on the beach,found petrified sharks teeth.Grret time.
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Old April 12, 2010, 12:07 AM   #24
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Well, thanks guys for all the expert opinions and hokey puns

I can't wait to see if this guy is gonna go HOG wild with more BS, or CAVE in and tell the truth. I'll keep ya posted. jd
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Old April 12, 2010, 08:11 AM   #25
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^ ^ ^ ^ I'm surprised I didn't see a "hogwash" comment anywhere.
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