Montague Mulefoot Sow

Brian Shaffer

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While the previous night’s hunt had been successful, there were signs of more hog activity was ongoing at TBR and so I returned for another evening of hunting. I was off to a slow start, I had hiked nearly half way in when I realized I had forgotten a piece of gear and had to return for it. Fortunately, that tardiness did not cost me.

I arrived at the stand and was unpacking my gear and getting situated for the evening when movement caught my eye and a stream of tiny hogs poured from the treeline and ran to the feeder. Usually after getting situated in the stand, I verify everything on the rifle including the focus and brightness settings on the scope to be sure that I have a clear view at the distance I will most likely be shooting. In this case, it would be 65 yards to the feeder out in front of me. So the hogs arrived before I was fully ready.

I got everything powered up and by this time all the hogs were under the feeder. All were black and their silhouettes blended together in the scope. I could make out one hog larger than the rest and assumed it was the sow of the sounder. Pretty soon, she moved from underneath the feeder amongst the other hogs and out into open. She turned and faced in my direction and was fairly stationary and I fired.

The sow dropped immediately and the smaller pigs scattered and were gone by the time I had another round chambered. I waited for over an hour to see if any of the pigs would return, but the did not. This, despite repeated attempts at calling them back in with a grunt tube.

Upon inspection of the sow, I discovered she was a mulefoot hog. This is a condition of syndactyly where the cloven hooves are fused into a single hoof much like that on a mule. This condition is fairly rare in feral hogs and usually goes unnoticed by hunters who are not even aware the condition exists. Mulefoot hogs were a popular breed of hog in the late 1800s and early 1900s and were considered amongst some of the top meat quality breeds. The condition can also occur naturally, though rarely, outside of the breed.

The shot entered the right side of the neck just behind and below the ear. The bullet traveled down and across the body, exiting behind the left leg just left of the sternum. The exit wound was gaping and included frothy blood.

Based on hearth-girth measurement, the sow weighed approximately 110 lbs. She was shot at a distance of approximately 65 yards.

Rem 788 .308
150 gr. Nosler Accubond loaded by Silver State Armory
Pulsar N550

This was my 50th hog to date, 29th this year!

While not meaning to imply any sort of special powers or superstitions, this was the 3rd time out while wearing my LSB logo patched cap and this was the 3rd time for me getting a pig while wearing my LSB logo patched cap. Just sayin'! ;)
 
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Brian Shaffer

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Notice that I have one on my cap and TLM has them velcro'd all over his body when he hunts.

I shot one pig and he shot a couple of dozen or some other TEOTWAWKI-sized number. It makes a difference!
 
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FrankT

Destin FL
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a lucky charm the LSB Patch, then of course Angry Bird has his own! Congrats!
 

TEXASLAWMAN

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Very nice I keep forgetting to check the feet! There must have been a mulefoot breeder in your area. No cookies this time????
 

Brian Shaffer

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If I forgot the cookies, I would be with the sow right now. The lady at the register at Walmart at 2:00 am each morning is starting to think I have a cookie problem.

It is quite possible that there was a breeder in the area historically. That would be by guess, too. A single instance might be normal random mutation/variation. Two of something so rare would indicate something less than normal random mutation/variation. At this point, I have shot 2 and that would be a 4% sample size - pretty high. That somebody else has noted shooting them in the area, something is definitely going on. Like you said, probably used to be an operation here. The only other explanation would be what is called an "island population" (from population genetics) where a localized trait occurs at a much higher rate because of the lack of genetic exchange in and out of the group (the group is an "island" unto itself meaning that it is an isolated local population) such that the trait shows up due to related breeding. That isn't a likely scenario given that the region isn't an island or isolated by mountains, oceans, rivers, etc. This isn't an isolated population with limited genetic material.
 

Ratdog68

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I wonder what made their meat "more gooder" than breeds with the cloven hoof?
 

Brian Shaffer

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Of course, reputation isn't always the same as reality, but the meat was supposedly more gooder because of high fat content...
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/programs/ark_product_detail/mulefoot_hog

They are considered to have gourmet quality meat. If I was a gourmet, maybe I would fully understand that.
http://mulefootpigs.tripod.com/gourmetmeat.html

By most accounts I find, the mulefoot was considered particularly hard as compared to most other breeds of pigs, purportedly not suffering from certain maladies that strike pigs. Some of this was bunk and some was true. They were said to be cholera-proof, but that was bunk. With solid instead of cloven hooves, then don't usually get hoof rot like other pigs, which is apparently true.
 

Brian Shaffer

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As a naturally occurring trait, that would be a good guess, but it isn't likely to be a naturally occurring in this sort of situation, assuming there is a concentration of the individuals in the area as per two having been killed by me and at least one other by Glenn Guess way back in the 90s. Montague does not have any physical barriers by which there would be expected to produce an island population with a limited inflow of genetic material and hogs are not known to be very selective breeders such that they would behaviorally isolate themselves. Glenn also informs me that there had been a breeder outside of Bowie (10-15 miles distant) some 80 years ago, so there is the very real possibility of local domestic mulefoots gone feral that are the ancestors to these individuals.
 

histopicker

St. George, Utah
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As a naturally occurring trait, that would be a good guess, but it isn't likely to be a naturally occurring in this sort of situation, assuming there is a concentration of the individuals in the area as per two having been killed by me and at least one other by Glenn Guess way back in the 90s. Montague does not have any physical barriers by which there would be expected to produce an island population with a limited inflow of genetic material and hogs are not known to be very selective breeders such that they would behaviorally isolate themselves. Glenn also informs me that there had been a breeder outside of Bowie (10-15 miles distant) some 80 years ago, so there is the very real possibility of local domestic mulefoots gone feral that are the ancestors to these individuals.
Sorry Brian; I was referring to the trait of being susceptible to lead poisoning.
I didn't express myself clearly as I have been surrounded by women folk to much and have started to think abstractly.
 

FrankT

Destin FL
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The way we "farm" hog now was not done in the old times, they were more turned into a pasture to fend for themselves, that is why we have so many today. I am sure this is why your mulefoot breed has spread far and wide in your area Brian.
 

Brian Shaffer

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Free ranging hog raising started with the earliest settlers to the US. Heck, my pop was still doing it when he was growing up in East Texas and it is still practiced in some rural areas. He would have to go down to the bottoms in the evenings to "whistle up the hogs." He didn't always manage to whistle up all his own hogs. Ever so often he would have to return errant hogs to neighbors and vice versa. Some hogs just disappeared...

Hogan in "The Republic of Texas" (1946, p. 34, UT Press) talks about this same process where hogs were "raised in the woods in great abundance" with no corn except a little to help keep them gentle. In other words, people basically kept free range hogs using corn to keep them from straying too far, not keeping them fenced or penned at all. I certainly don't doubt that the free-range raising of hogs has been commonplace throughout the south with a long standing tradition that undoubtedly would have contributed significantly to likely establishing in many areas, maintaining, and certainly expanding feral hog populations.

I know when I put out corn, however, it does not keep them gentle. My corn must be defective.
 
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Dave Morris

New Member
OH now this is very interesting. A couple of weeks ago when I was looking in the creek for hog sign, I saw a lot of hoof prints that were definitely not deer, but I kept thinking gee this looks like a small horse print or something. But the tracks led to the area where I had poured out 20 pounds of corn and a jug of Pig-Out, and had game cam footage of 11 hogs chowing down for several days in a row. Since then I have seen these tracks again, and again they did not seem to be typical hog tracks with two distinct impressions, but rather a single round horse-like hoof print. Since the ground is so terribly dry in Northeast Texas, I didn't make a big deal out of it, but now I'm going to have to spend a little more effort examining these tracks to see if they are indeed mulefoot. That would be weird.
 

Brian Shaffer

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Hey Dave, I spent time at PJC. The first mulefoot I shot had to be tracked, but we could not find any hog tracks for just, but some weird little tracks as well. It was only AFTER we found the hog that we realized what the weird little tracks were. Sounds much like your deal. Pics of the feet of that hog are found here...
http://lonestarboars.com/threads/hog-track-pics-and-examples.244/

See if you can shoot one, butcher it, and tell us if they really do taste better, LOL.
 

Dave Morris

New Member
I would be very surprised if the creator of these tracks turned out to be such a rare animal. I just brought it up because, at the time, I thought those were some very odd looking tracks, and I wondered out loud if maybe a small horse had ventured onto my property or something. So this struck a chord with me.
 

Brian Shaffer

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Personally, I think they may not be as rare in the feral community as people may think. Most hunters and trappers would not realize that they are even there because they never take notice of the feet. That isn't to say that they are really common, but there were a bunch of mulefoot hog farms in Texas in the early part of the last century that operated for many years.

Check the feet of your hogs and be sure to check the bottoms or physically splay the toes. The tops sometimes show clefts that look like the toes are separated though they are not. You may be surprised.
 
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