Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Georgia Giant/Hogzilla/Bigfoot connection

The truth behind Georgia's legendary half ton of tusked, rampaging pork was answered definitively at 7 last night on the National Geographic Channel's "Explorer: Hogzilla.

Photo taken by Ken Holyoak of "Georgia Giant" fame.



Ken Holyoak, creator of the "Georgia Giant" hybrid and his game farm were featured, specifically to address Holyoak's claim of a gigantic feral hog on his ranch.

In June 2004, Chris Griffin, a plantation hunting guide in Alapaha in south-central Georgia, said he killed a 12-foot-long, 1,000-pound wild hog.
After sending one bullet into the beast's heart, Griffin, 31, posed triumphantly with its massive, upended corpse in a photo that lit worldwide Internet fire.
Could the picture be genuine? While domesticated hogs can grow to a half-ton or more, wild boars have never been known to come close to this size.
As speculation raged about the size of Hogzilla's snout, potential signs of digital photo tampering and the possibility of a scary new breed of rhino-sized boar, Alapaha (population 682) became a destination for the Sasquatch set.
City Clerk Renee Copeland said: "We have a lot of people who come in and want (Hogzilla) T-shirts. I had a gentleman in here just yesterday."
But the shirts have been sold out since Alapaha celebrated Hogzilla in a festival in November.
With the controversy showing no signs of slowing, there was only one thing to do. The National Geographic Society sent a team of pig scientists to Alapaha to exhume Hogzilla.
Down came the cross-shaped grave marker, out came the shovels, and after a few hours of furious dirt removal, the team unearthed the still-fleshy remains of Hogzilla.
The animal measured 71/2 feet long - large, perhaps even record-setting large, but not hide-the-children-and-get-your-guns large.
DNA analysis of flesh obtained during the hazmat-suited pig pull showed it to be a hybrid of a wild boar and a domestic Hampshire pig.
This measurement differs from that taken by Ken Holyoak, who owns the plantation on which Hogzilla was killed and took a tape measure to the hog the day it died.
"He was 4 foot high, 3 foot wide and 12 foot long. His head was as big as a car tire," Holyoak said.
How to explain the discrepancy? "Well," he said, "after five months, something like that dries up."
Darlene Turner, who works at a farm supply store not far from Hogzilla's grave, isn't worried about the animal's exact measurement.
"We've had a lot of fun with it, and I don't think (the size) will disappoint anybody," Turner said.
Besides, Hogzilla's just the tip of the iceberg as far as Alapaha's citizens are concerned.
"We've got plenty of wild hogs around here," Turner said. "Maybe they're not as big as Hogzilla, but we wish somebody would kill them all."

Bruce,

I guess hog hunters have the same fertile minds as found in fishermen, deer hunters, and sailors. It has always facinated me how a dead fish can continue to thrive and grow in a fertile mind. I have actually heard a preacher triple the size of a fish between a Saturday morning pond bank and Sunday dinner. By the way, you can not call B.S. on a preacher without having your own credibility come under attack.

Dennis

Not to be argumentative, Mr. Robinson, :p but, unless that guy is about 4.5 ft. tall, it is much more than 7.5 ft. Assuming he is about 6ft, the snout comes to his groin, about 2.5 ft. Put that distance above his head and you still have 4 ft. or so. 10ft. long I would say.
I'm sure Greg will differ. If I said the sun rose in the west, he would object.

So, Robinson, if you dont think wild hogs can rape and pillage domestic breeds, I guess you also don't believe all these photos of hybrid bream caught, are real. Do you believe, as Deb boasted er..stated, that his testicles drug the ground? Maybe Ken stretched them out to take the measurement. Just like MAYBE he stretched the truth?

Then angus bulls must be a lot smaller than polled herefords - I have never sold one that weighed under 2000 lbs. The biggest went 2600 lbs. That's a lot of bull!

My take on the length of the hog as photo'd is about 10 feet, figuring the man is 6 feet tall. I am NOT an expert on hog weights, but if that was a beef, I'd guess it was pushing close to a half ton.

Whatever the actuals, it's a lot more than I'd want to face down PO'd at me with anything less than a 35 Whelen.

PI, I'd have to be a heifer or a lot friendlier with them to find out. :p

Slow down a moment and review the facts. Ken stated from the beginning that the hog was measured from snout to toes (strung up)not from neck to butt. Now remeasure. Also if you review the National Geographic segment, you will see that the head had been cut off. This was done just prior to burial to insure no one who "accidentally" stumbled across the gravesite would have access to the head (with 18 inch tusks). Also, where would we raise a farm hog and why? Trust me we had a population explosion when a fellow landowner upstream (Alapaha River) brought in some feral hogs from the swamps, and they made their way downstream. Besides, how many farm raised hogs have 18 inch tusks?
Chris was standing right behind the hog with his hand (gloved) resting on the leg.
As I stated in the Hogzilla post I was not there when he was slain, weighed, or measured, but don't call anyone a liar when you do not have all the facts. I saw him alive, and he was huge beyond the imagination.
Research "feral" hogs and you will find a genetic link to a farm hog. Eurasian hogs (European and Asian crossed) hogs were brought over many years ago where they crossed IN THE WILD with AWOL farm hogs. In fact, once a farm hog escapes captivity it only takes 2-3 weeks for him to turn feral.
But I guess your next comment will be that we genetically crossed him with a green sunfish! Give it up love. The hog was real, he was large, and he went down in the record books (Safari Club International).

Deb

With you my dear the possibilities are endless. You did admit how low to the ground you were!!!

Deb

Give it up, P.I. When you have to resort to grammatical corrections, you're whupped. I'd say at least 10 ft. with my slide rule.

Last year, while fishing at Houston county(not Houston) Lake in east Texas, there was a picture in the local(Crockett, Tx.) paper of a Russian boar that was 850 lbs. He tried to knock over this guy's jeep, and he had to take him down.
Deb, is correct. There are no more pure Russian boars. They have all enbred with domestics and become much larger, but retained the dominant features of the Eurasian wild hog.

An official measurement had to be taken of hogzilla in order to make the Safari Club books. Officials of the club do the measuring, not the sportsman. That is to keep the true numbers correct. Species must also be varified. That is to keep some farmer from raising the next world record anything. Regardless of the number of knuckles long it is, it is still a true record in the books. If the hoop-la about this amazing creature was incorrect don't you think it would be brought up by the Safari Club? They were there.

I am an avid hunter and have seen a 600lb boar during a hunt. Trust me they are not even close to the size of this one. Not even when they were strung up...... :rolleyes:

I hope y'all realize that when I made this post that I simply cut and pasted from an article that was on MSN internet home page. I didn't comment on it because I'm extremely ignorant about feral hogs and other such things. I think it's mildly funny though, that when I posted this in March that absolutely noone thought it was worth replying to. :p

I figured that someone finally got tired of my former sister-under-law gave her a good shootin'. The answer to the question about the actual size is pretty easy. This guy is not standing directly behind the pig. It looks more like the pig is halfway between the camera and the guy standing there. Isn't that how they fake those UFO pictures?

http://rowlandweb.com/adventure/images/seanfish.jpg

Looks like nice bluecat bait

BTW...how did the surgery(neutering) go? :p

I spent 10 years working in a hog confinement. One old Landrace boar (11-8 was his name...came from his ear notches) that the owner had kept around for about 7 years weighed just a tad over 1050 lbs when he finally when to his everafter.

Sounds large, but I'm not stretching it. We actually loaded his carcass in the truck and hauled him into the local co-op to weigh him before he ended up in a hole in the ground.

Standing, his shoulder was above my waist, and I'm 5'9", so that's about 45 inches. Not as tall as Hogzilla, but as a Landrace, MAN was he long! His pen in the center of the breeding hall was 8 feet square. He laid catty wampus across it, and his feet and snout still protruded beyond the gates. We didn't measure him, but I'd estimate nearly 10 feet, anyway, if stretched as Hogzilla is in the picture.

He also had tusks about 8 inches, if you measured the curl. His had been cut when he was maybe 4 years old and just grew back that much that quick. So...if this old guy had been in the timbers several years on his own, I can easily believe the tusk length.

As to WHAT he's made up of...I can believe wild boar with any domesticated version. A boar is a boar and he will do what boars do...with whatever old sow will stand still for him. As long as she's able to do so long enough, which only needs to be a few seconds.

We were able to actually breed a few of the largest sows with him, but it was a stretch even for those 500 lb girls. If we hadn't had pseudorabies in the herd, Bob told me I would've been welcome to enter him in the big boar contest at the Iowa State Fair. BTW...the '05 champion was named Tooter, and he weighed 1080 pounds. There have been bigger ones....

This isn't 11-8, (or Tooer) but this is what he looked like...

Burger, who are you? Did I piss you off at some point? Why do you bring me into this with comments you made? 'nuff already you stole two threads where I was trying to get good info and they fell apart b/c of your comments towards me. Sorry you do like me for some reason but is this necessary to throw me under the bus for no reason. Bring some facts and I will discuss until then argue with others and leave me out of it.

Greg, I'm just somebody that doesn't like your holier that thou attitude; my way or no way. Also, it is quite OK for you to plug what you sell at any chance you get just because you're an advertiser.
You put down people who try to do the same. That's who I am.

Luckily I think few others see it that way. I have given free advice on here for years just b/c I want to see it done right. I do not know it all and I do not post on many topics b/c others know more than I. You are the one who pops up with smart ass comments every cahnce you get and that my friend only takes away from the topic. I for one do not appreciate it. With all I have sold from folks on this board from this board it might be about 2 cents per hour. I do know a helluva lot about manging ponds in the SE, and jsut give my opinion. Feel free to give your 2 cents but slamming others is childish.

As Rodney King said "can't we all just get along".

Deb, I have not slammed you once. Since you have been here I have asked questions so others can see your recommendations. You have answered some and others you have not. I have given you a fair chance. Yes in the past I made comments about Ken's this was not a slam it was an attempt to save them time and money based on information I perceived as false. I have not made those comments since just defended your comments toward me and let others figure it out for themselves. I have been more than fair with you I feel although I still hope you can one day answer some unaswered questions. I do want to get some fish for a client if you will sell them to me. I have seen some comments fly off at you I have not made those I have tried to be scientific about this since you joined. I do not want to go back to throwing out comments wihtout merit. I hoped we were past that until Burger started in on me.

"can't we all just get along" I have tried believe me, but just look at burger's comments over the last month and tell me is he trying to get along or derail dicussions.
btw rmedgar are you and Johnny coming to the PB meeting?

Greg,
I'm coming to the meeting. I'll call Johhny - I feel sure he will not want to miss it. He's extremely knowledgeable and would add a lot.
BTW, thanks for all you add to the forum.

Robinson,

Maybe my memory is failing me again, but didn't you recently jump Cecil about posting something that you didn't consider relevant to ponds. :p

So, would Ligers be a subject related to ponds?

ML I apologize in advance for going off subject!

To all on this forum:
What exactly is the PB definiton of "to slam"?
We have all used it, but what do we mean by it?
It seems harsh or snide remarks are made against another (unprofessional), then one comes back and says "I have not or did not slam you? So what would be an accurate slam? Why as professionals do we feel we must discredit another's opinions?

Definition off PB forum:
1. to shut with force and noise: to slam the door.
2. to dash, strike, knock, thrust, throw, slap down, etc., with violent and noisy impact: He slammed his books upon the table.
3. to criticize harshly; attack verbally: He slammed my taste mercilessly

Just wondering what the consensus was on this word!

Deb