EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

 Meat buyers are not suppose to buy Barr hogs. So I see why some live contests don't allow them.

Some people cut boars for contests and some cut them to eat.

Wouldn't it be better to cut the boar and pen up ? If you are cutting it for the purpose of eating .

 
   I don't hunt contests for the most part. I don't have the spots that produce big hogs. So this is an unbiased opinion.
 I agree with limiting Barr hogs in a stringer. I think it goes back to a rule in the contest of no previous caught hogs. Hard to argue that.

The way I look at it, cause I don't barr hogs, but if I did I wouldn't want to feed them out because that chit ain't cheap. So why not let them go back into the woods and eat for free and then go take back what you made happen... There is no way I would want to feed a boar/barr hog for 2-5 years until it came to the size that some of these guys bring in. That's insaine! I wouldn't doubt that some people probably cut for comps, but from what I've read and heard it started as tradition and is continuing to be that way today with people who still practice it. I support the barr guys because it's there way of life and who am I to tell them other wise.

When I was being "learnt"...lol....my mentors would release all sows and small boars that we caught (but didn't Barr) They only kept boars around the 150 + mark and those were taken to the bay pen for competition purposes.

The land we predominantly hunted was a lease...so now catch and release issues. All those hogs would be "previously caught". I don't see an issue with previously caught hogs or Barrs myself. If I choose to hunt a tournament...it's gonna be just for the fun...camaraderie....winning is nice but it ain't everything. If I'm out to prove something about my dogs...that "Best of the Best" tournament would be where I would try and do it I guess, Barr or not.

If you cut the boar and pen it, then you have to pay for feed.

If you cut the boar and release it, the barr gains from the land, then catch it again and process it.

What kills me about this whole debate is someone could catch and release sows and boars on a place just the same as letting a cut hog loose. At the lease i am on i will get blackballed if i take or kill every hog i catch. They all catch and release unless it is a trophy hog. If i hunted that lease for a tournament and i had to take a polygraph i guess i would fail. I have no earthly idea if i have caught that hog before. It seems there needs to be a time constraint to the previously caught hog rule as well.

We Barr to eat them at a later date. I will also Barr them bring them home and feed them corn for a few weeks fatten them up and then butcher them also flushes testosterone out.  They grow bigger in size and teeth faster. So why not Barr them and release them. They can no longer hurt the population. Maybe I am just old fashion but that's how most of us East Texas boys were brought up. We were also taught not to waste. I don't know about y'all but I ain't eating some of these boars we catch. I can see not releasing hogs in farm country where it could damage farmers crops.

   But some people who talk about Barr hogs say they rarely catch them again.
    Is the sport of it bigger then some suspect ? Catching big hogs with bigger then average teeth part of it ?

This is how i was brought up and still practice it today. The old timers i watched from day one supplied most of this east Texas area from the early 70's till now.  Thats the main reason we even have the sport we have today!

That being said after seeing Chance and Tonys weight they brought in and the pictures as well as hurt if not killed dogs i'm leaning more towards barr hogs being fine in any tournament i compete in which i never said i didn't think it was fair to anyone i just thought it in the back of my mind.  If we had them in my area which soon enough we will cause ive started my own little hurd :) i will sure look forward to catching them again but that being said I'm doing it for the sport not for the food.    

I'm sure there is the sport aspect for some. The food aspect for others.

My experience with barrs....  I have cut countless boars. I have caught ONE barr.  He was so far back in the woods that I only took out the head. Would have liked to make sausage, but this one was quite large (est. 275-300#), and too deep in the woods for buggies.  He whipped a couple of dogs too.  Having only caught that one barr, I can't really make any bold statements about how barr hogs act regarding running, baying, fighting...

I will say this though.  As a person who has competed in plenty of contests.  I want to compete against the best dogs, best hogs, and best hog hunters.  Barrs, feedlots, etc.  It doesn't matter, because there will never be a level playing field, this isn't barrel racing.... It's hog dogging.

Who really wants to win a contest when the best aren't even competing?

Chris... if I remember correctly, that one barr put up a helluva race, then a helluva a$$ whippin' when we got there.

He wasn't no farm pig. ;)

Mike,

   You remember correctly. ;D

I'm PRO-BARR through and through  ;)

Anytime I can cut a hog and catch him later on and he's put on weight without me having to feed him, I'm money ahead. I don't hunt contests so that doesn't affect me. I Barr for the meat, for the trophy effect it will produce, and most importantly because it's a way of life that is becoming extinct, and I would like for my kids to grow up doing what I'm doing now. Hardly anybody looks at hogs as livestock, but I sure work em like they are.

I like!

You asked WHO wants to win contests when it's not between the best.  It's People who are entering these contests for the wrong reasons, and will do whatever it takes to bend the rules to make sure they win, so they can brag about having the best when it's really mediocre  :laugh: