The swine got a bad name in most languages and cultures. Some simply associate pigs with messiness, dirt, and metaphorically greed and egoism, in others even touching the animals is taboo. As far as wild pigs are concerned, this is truly unjust. Pigs are amazing and intelligent creatures, and wild boar hunters all over the world have a great respect for them. And when we say “all over the world”, we mean literally every continent except the Antarctic.

Here are ten varieties of wild pigs, found all over the world, that make the World Pig Slam. We doubt that there are many hunters in the world who can boast of having harvested all ten. 

Wild Boar (Sus scrofa)

The forefather of the domestic pig, the Sus scrofa has originally inhabited Eurasia and North Africa. It has worked its way in Greek myths and legends of many other people, and in the domesticated form became invaluable for Europeans. Those took it anywhere they went, and so the wild boar colonized literally the whole world. 

Several subspecies of the wild boar are recognized in addition to the “default” one, Eurasian Wild Boar (Sus scrofa scrofa). The Indian Wild Boar (Sus scrofa cristatus) and the Japanese wile boar (Sus scrofa leucomystax) are native to the Indian subcontinent and the Japanese archipelago, respectively. The giant boar found in north-eastern Asia, including parts of Siberia and the Korean Peninsula, is singled out in a separate subspecies called Siberian Wild Boar (Sus scrofa sibiricus). Last but not the least, there’s the razorback, the descendants of the Siberian wild boar released in North America, as well as the American feral hog.

Although the wild boars in general are the species of least concern (try getting rid of them!), several species are endangered. They include the Wisayan Warty Pig (Sus cebifrons), a small, endangered species with distinctive warts on its face, found on the Visayan Islands in the Philippines, the Sulawesi Warty Pig (Sus celebensis), notable for its bristly hair and facial warts, that inhabit the Sulawesi and neighboring islands in Indonesia, and the Bearded Pig (Sus barbatus), distributed along Southeast Asia, including Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula, and characterized by a beard of coarse hair around the face.

The European Wild Boar. 

You can hunt wild boar in literally any country of the Old World, excluding Ireland and Great Britain, where the species has been hunted to extinction in the Middle Ages. If you want to kill a big boar with long tusks, however, you should take the choice of your hunt very seriously. Traditional driven hunts are not ideal; hunting from a high seat is the most reliable, while stalking at night with night vision or thermal sights is arguably the most exciting way of securing the trophy. Your outfitter would have to be very professional in any case, and know the herds in their territory well. Eastern Europe, like Poland or Bosnia, might offer the better chances at the most affordable price. Click here to learn more about wild boar hunting in Europe.

The Asian Wild Boar 

Believe it or not, you can have excellent hunting out there. The predominantly Muslim population of many Asian countries don’t hunt wild pigs, except as pest control, and the animals grow bigger than big. Right over the Bosphorus in Asia, in Turkey, there are excellent hunting opportunities. Another good option is mountain wild boar hunts in countries like Tajikistan. In addition to big tusks and large numbers, the extra advantage of this region is that the boars are often active at day and can be hunted by the spot-and-stalk method, ideal for the selective hunter.

The African Wild Boar

No, it’s not about warthogs and giant forest hogs and other exciting species of the Sub-Saharan region – of those below. But the Sus scrofa is also found in Northern Africa. That classic story of Dido and Aeneas, when the two went wild boar hunting and had to spend the night in a cave, happened precisely in Carthage, modern Tunisia, which Dido was the queen of. So you see girls hunting boars is not such a modern thing after all, but I digress. Some of the best opportunities of hunting the North African wild boar are found in Morocco.    

The American Razorback

You wouldn’t believe it, but some guys way back in the late XIX to early XX century were not happy with the fauna of North America, so they introduced several European species there – including the wild boar. They specifically bought wild animals from areas known to produce the biggest trophies. Another source of porcine settlement were domestic animals that escaped from farms. Feral hogs have become a big problem in many areas of the USA, and provide many interesting opportunities to hunt them, including with the use of technologies such as night vision and even helicopters. Feral animals that look like domestic pigs may not be anyone’s idea of a hunting trophy, but the razorback definitely belongs on the World Wild Pig Slam list. 

Swine of the Southern Hemisphere 

The same story as in the United States repeated itself all over the world. Between freedom-loving escapees from pig farms and humans disappointed by scarcity of local huntable mammals, introduced populations of the wild boar exist on every continent except Antarctica. Argentina, New Zealand, Australia and other parts of South America and Oceania offer an opportunity to add to the World Wild Pig Slam. And in some places hunters developed unique methods of hunting them, such as chasing pigs on motorcycles, with packs of hounds.

Warthog and Other Pigs of Trans-Saharan Africa 

As already mentioned, the common wild pig (Sus scrofa) inhabits, among other regions, the northern parts of Africa. However, incredibly diverse ecosystems of the continent to the south of the Sahara Desert are also home to a stunning diversity of various pig species that do not belong to the Sus family, and are even more exciting from a hunter’s perspective. Those species include:

Bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus)

Somewhat hairier and a bit more colorful than European wild boar, the bushpig is found along the West Coast of Africa, Congo Basin and southwards from the swamplands of Somalia down the East Coast of Africa as far as the Western Cape. They do not inhabit the dry south western desert, arid and semi-arid areas of Southern Africa. Bushpigs are stocky build with a coarse, reddish to dark fur and distinctive facial markings. Farmers in South Africa hate bushpigs, and so do game ranchers: bushpigs will break through or dig under any fence, and then other animals use the opening to escape. 

The bushpig is a nocturnal animal, who normally sleeps during the day, so most bushpig hunting is done at night, over waterholes, the fields they rampage, or bait sites. Driven hunts in Africa are problematic as you never know when the beaters can bump into a leopard or buffalo, but hunting bushpig with packs of hounds or by means of a controlled burn is practiced in some parts of Africa. The best time to hunt bushpig is the dry season.  Click here to read more about bushpig and bushpig hunting.

Red River Hog (Potamochoerus porcus)

With its bright reddish fur, white facial mask and tufted ears, the red river hog is one of the most striking members of the extended family of wild pigs. Its name, by the way, has nothing to do with the Red River, but is a combination of the animal’s fur color and habitat preference – they are mostly found in river valleys and rainforests of the Congo Basin, including Congo, Uganda, and several other countries. BookYourHunt.com has listed hunting options in Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

Few hunters who visit these parts of Africa can resist the temptation to harvest a red river hog,  but the animal is mostly hunted as a trophy of opportunity. A sounder may get into the clearing where a hunter is waiting for a sitatunga, or you can bump into them as you go through the jungle after other species. Unlike closely related bushpigs, red river hogs often feed through the day, and as they are noisy feeders, you can hears them from afar and then stalk them carefully, approaching from downwind. 

Giant Forest Hog (Hylochoerus meinertzhageni)

True to its name, the giant forest hog is the largest of the wild pigs. It has a robust body and dark, coarse hair, and inhabits the forests of Central Africa. Basically, it is found in the same regions and hunted by the same methods as the red river hog (see above). 

Warthog (Phacochoerus africanus)

Literally everybody these days knows the warthog from the Pumba character of Disney’s “Lion King” franchise, so there’s no need to describe its appearance. However, the hunters knew about this species long before the general population even knew it existed, and the warthog has long been a must-have trophy on any safari in Eastern and Southern Africa. Two subspecies are recognized: the common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus africanus), widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa, and the desert warthog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus), found in arid regions of Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia. 

If you want to learn more about warthog hunting, check out our blog here. Now let’s just say a warthog is often hunted as a trophy opportunity, that is, if the PH and the hunter see a trophy warthog during a walk-and-stalk hunt, they may decide to go for it. Targeted warthog hunts are usually done from blinds or tree stands over waterholes, as warthog and mud go together like Amsterdam and… er, Matjes herring.  

Peccaries (Family Tayassuidae)

When it comes to wild pigs, the Americas have more to offer than just feral or introduced animals. Several endemic species, known as javelina or peccary, have been thriving in Central and South America for many million years. Peccaries are closely related to the common pigs, but differ from them in many aspects, from the anatomy to life history. 

Three extant species of peccary are recognized. The white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) has a distinctive white area around the mouth. It inhabits mostly tropical rainforests in Central and South America. The Chacoan Peccary (Catagonus wagneri) is named after the Gran Chaco region in Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina, where it is found. Interestingly enough, it was originally described from fossils and thought to be extinct, until 1971, when the Chacoans managed to convince the scientists that the biggest extant species of peccary was pretty much alive and kicking. 

The white-lipped peccary is listed as threatened, and the Chacoan peccary as endangered. The third species, however, is widely distributed and often hunted. 

Javelina (Pecari tajacu)

Javelina, or the white-collared peccary, is found from the Southwest of the USA through Mexico and on to South America. These small (circa 40-60 lb.) animals with a distinct collar of lighter fur around the nec kare usually found in large groups that are quite noisy when they feed. So, it is not usually very difficult to stalk them within the shooting range of a modern rifle. Many outfitters offer javelinas as a combo species that are thrown in among mule deer, desert aoudad, or predator hunts in Texas, Arizona, or New Mexico.

The World Wild Pig Slam

… would be an exciting adventure, don’t you agree? Getting a representative trophy of each of the ten members of the slam might require more effort than collecting the Big Five. Have you already got several species under your virtual belt? Are you ready to go after the missing ones? 

The Macnab Challenge: From Postwar Scotland to Modern Times

Hunting in the world takes many forms. One of these forms is known as the Macnab Challenge. Originating from Great Britain and practiced in many other parts of the world, it involves harvesting a big game animal, a specified number of small game (usually birds), and catching a fish (usually on the fly) – all in one day. Where does this come from, what forms of the Macnab exist in the world, and why exactly it’s so challenging – that’s what this blog will tell you. CONTINUE READING