One of the guys in my hunting club places an ear tag for livestock on all the hogs he turns back loose after a catch. He carries a book in his truck. I have been with him when we caught boars, cut them, marked them, took weights and markings, and turned them back loose. He said he has received word on several occations that barrs he cut himself were caught 12 miles in a straight line through the woods in other clubs. I was with him this year when we caught a nice big barr that went around 235#. He said that it was one of only a handful of hogs that he has ever recaught himself. He never did tell me what he found in his book as far as what he weighed when he was originally caught. I can assure you the meanest rankest hogs that I have had the pleasure of catching with my dogs, were barrs. None of them were barred by me. People who think barrs are wimps, have not caught a bunch. That I am sure of. I've barred plenty myself, and I will continue to do so.
As for the tail cutting, generally a lot of hunters around here will do it so that their club members will notice that it is a barr from the treestand. They like to shoot them with bow and arrows. That way you don't have dead boar hogs that no one wants to eat. They would rather shoot a barr, than a sow feeding pigs (future barrs
) If you keep killing the sows, you will have nothing to hunt.
