Guns News and Guns Reviews at Guns.com

It's a hog day afternoon for the Texan truck driver in this week's comic who, after firing a warning shot from his .357 Federal Magnum, got to see first hand the problem solving abilities, socialization and raw power of the North American wild hog as well as a reminder to keep one eye on the gas gauge at all times...

CONTEST: Would you like a personal story of your own transformed into a comic by guns.com?  If the answer is yes, submit your own adventure/tale over in our forums section.  Navigate over to the General Discussions Forum and post a discussion detailing your experience.  Your story must involve a gun -- you can recount an epic hunting tale to good to be true, a time when you protected your family from a home intruder, a perfect day out on the range, etc.  The possibilities are endless, the guns.com user with the best tale will be deemed the winner.  It will be drawn into a comic and posted on guns.com.  You will also receive the original copy of the comic by mail.  And don't worry this won't be the last contest, we will be doing this every couple of weeks.  Let's hear your story...

(Click to enlarge)

Gear Breakdown

.357 Magnum— Names like Wesson, Sharpe and Keith crafted this lily white round in reason’s image (the reason being a self-defense round that could stop a Buick) back in 1934.  Though the name would seem to inform that the .38 and .357 are different diameter chamberings, they are in fact identical, with .357 being the correct bullet measurement.  The round actually sprung out of Smith & Wesson’s .38-44 Heavy Duty and Outdoorsman, addressing some safety issues with chamber pressure.  In the Prohibition Era .38s were known as the one handgun that could punch holes through Jalopies (or today the backs of tractor-trailers).

Sounder—Hey, that wasn’t mentioned in the comic?  Well it was, you just didn’t know what it was called.  A sounder is a collection of wild boars and all things considered, it is their main source of their power.  Highly intelligent and social animals, the fact that they live the gang life and live it so hard and well is why they were caught in the first place, why they were being transferred and, most importantly, why they escaped.

Wild boars (also called feral pigs, feral swine, wild hogs, razorbacks and sometimes, though incorrectly, Russian boars which is a purebred variety from Europe and Asia) are bar none the most invasive land mammal in North America save for one other prominent, less than scrupulous omnivore who, like his porcine cousin, has also become a symbol for greed and excess.   Annually wild boars rack up a bill of about 800 million dollars in agricultural damage alone, indiscriminately routing through native our forests, backyards and trash heaps in what seems to be an unnerving march to a pig dominated future.

Currently we find ourselves in the midst of a legitimate phenomenon as boar populations have exploded in both size (in number and in physical stature) and range of territory with hogs migrating to northern states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and even to desert states like Nevada in a move modern science has yet to explain fully (though it may have something to do with the fact they breed like rabbits—sows can breed in 8 months after birth and can pop out 24 piglets a year which are on capable of being on their own in about three weeks).

There’s a show on Discovery Channel about it called Pig Bomb that focuses on epidemic level populations in the American Southeast.  Most states down there have declared these animals persona non grata with no closed season on hunting them.  Most do not even require hunters to obtain a hunting license to stalk pigs.

In the deep south, where wild hogs which have actually been living since a Columbus expedition brought pigs to America in the 1500s, things have gotten so bad there are state and local laws forbidding the transport of any pigs through their jurisdiction.  Some areas allow passage but there is no stopping for gas or bathroom breaks.  Many of these pigs (which are caught live in large standing traps) are shipped off to Texas where they are either released in a controlled manner on preserves or destroyed, usually with the meat going to needy families.

Tusks—For lucky males (and we hear tell some females) the wild boars “everyday carry” is a pair of cut you down where you stand tusks that can reach up to five inches in length.  Besides goring one another, hunting dogs and the occasional flatfooted human, they also use these tusks to essentially bulldoze any and all vegetation in search of food.

For hunters who are realizing more and more that wild boars would very well edge out whitetails as their grandchildren’s main game animal, these tusks serve the same function as antlers on deer and beards on turkeys.  To make other people feel inferior.

(Art by Rafael E. Torres.  Story developed by Daniel Terrill and Aaron Samsel)