An example of a wild boar of great size

According to a member of the Hunting Club, wild boars weighing over 100 kilograms are rarely caught.

Recent cases of oversized wild boars

Shirosato, a town in the northwestern part of Ibaraki Prefecture. Although it is a town with a population of about 20,000, it was plagued by crop damage caused by wild boars. Watermelons, pumpkins, corn, and other crops were overturned before the harvest season.

In order to prevent the damage from spreading, the Shirosato Harmful Birds and Beasts Damage Control Team, which consists of 31 townspeople with hunting licenses, struggles every day, using not only hunting guns and traps, but also 20 box traps owned by the town. was doing.

Around noon on December 4th this year, a local resident who noticed something wrong with the box trap contacted the task force. Takaki Kono (52), a town official in charge of harmful wildlife, commented on the captured wild boar, "I thought it was a bear."

The wild boar is a plump male, about 140 cm long (excluding tail) and weighing 150 kg, estimated to be 4-5 years old ( click here for photo ).

In early November, it was confirmed to have entered a box trap once, but it seems that it forced the door open (the door of the box trap must have a locking mechanism), leaving footprints and escaping. The box trap, which weighs about 180 kilograms, was said to have moved about 3 meters from its original position.

Norimichi Sasajima, 68, who has over 40 years of hunting experience and is the deputy leader of the Noxious Wildlife Damage Countermeasures Team, said, "I've never seen a bird of this size in the prefecture. It must have destroyed the fields."

In addition, in Otawara City, Tochigi Prefecture, a male wild boar with a length of about 170 centimeters and an estimated weight of 150 kilograms was caught in December this year. Even experienced hunters were surprised by the size of the fish . We have customers using Inohoi box traps who have captured 150kg of wild boar ( click here for details ).

how big do boars grow

In the case of Japanese wild boar

The body size of Japanese wild boars is larger than that of females, with adult males weighing 50-150 kg and having a head-body length of 110-160 cm. Wild boars eat from autumn to early winter, so if they are well nourished, they will grow larger.

I have an acquaintance who had a wild boar. I ate and ate and got fat and weighed over 100kg, but in the end I died of diabetes. I think I was about a year and a half old.

On the other hand, in the case of wild boars, since they exercise moderately, it is thought that there are many individuals that are quite healthy despite their large bodies. By the way, the largest wild boar ever confirmed in Japan was captured in 2009 in the mountains of Natsumi, Konan City, Shiga Prefecture, by Nakao Hirota (59) of Mikumo, Shiga Prefecture. It is an individual (the size is difficult to understand, but click here for the photo ). It is a male about 7 or 8 years old, and it is two to three times the size of a normal wild boar.

Going back a little, there is also a report that a large male boar weighing 220 kg was caught in a trap in the mountains of Nakanatsuya, Sanwa-cho, Minokamo City, Gifu Prefecture in 2003 ( click here for a photo ). Japanese wild boars are said to reach a maximum weight of 200 kg, and wild boars weighing over 200 kg are so rare that they can only be caught once or twice every 10 years.

Larger European Boar

By the way, the European boar is larger than the Japanese boar, and there is a report that in 2015, a wild boar with a shoulder height of 1.7m and a weight of 535kg was killed in Russia (see the photo at the beginning of this article).

Be careful when targeting large individuals

Wild boars are strong, and large individuals are strong enough to move heavy box traps even when caught. Since oversized individuals can damage fields on a large scale, countermeasures should be taken as soon as possible, but it is necessary to hunt with an assumption of their power.

In the case of box traps, for example, using fragile or weak traps can lead to serious accidents. If you are targeting extra-large individuals, make sure that the box trap you are using has a structure that can withstand the force of the prey and that it is in perfect condition.