Written by Mandi Williams
Tuesday, 11 March 2008

Every year, the Texas Dog Hunters Association holds a Statewide wild hog hunting contest in which all the hogs brought in are donated to Hunters Harvest, an organization dedicated to feeding the needy. Traditionally, the contest has grown every year. In 2007, the Contest signed up 15 teams and donated over 4,500 lbs of pork to Hunters Harvest. For 2008, TDHA had moved the Contest to be held in conjunction with the annual Wild Boar Hunting Expo in Hallettsville, TX. Given the larger venue, the TDHA was hoping to sign up 20 teams and net 10,000 lbs of pork for the charity.

Beginning in August of 2007, planning began in preparation for the 2008 Contest.  Letters were sent out to many companies and corporations familiarizing them with the TDHA and the good that the Contest provides both to farmers and ranchers who are always in need of hog removal; and to Hunters Harvest - an organization charged with keeping the freezers stocked at several inner city missions. The companies were asked to support the Contest in the form of donations - either prizes or cash donations to add to the final pay out. The TDHA Contest is a 100% pay out contest, meaning that all of the entry fees sent in by the competing teams are paid out to the winners. Through the generous support of sponsors (both corporate and individual), TDHA was able to advertise $2,000 in cash that was to be added to the pot.

As talk of the added cash circulated in hog hunting circles and on related forums and magazines, hunters decided to try their luck at winning the contest. Teams of hunters from all over the State began sending in their entries. With every team that entered, the potential prize money steadily increased. By the evening of Friday, February 29th when the contest began, an unprecedented 42 teams had entered up in what was to become the richest Hog Hunting Contest in the State of Texas. With over $7,000 up for grabs, it was going to be a long couple of days for the contestants and their hunting dogs.

Saturday, March 1 was a great day at the Wild Boar Expo. Volunteers had come from all corners of the State not to hunt the contest, but to help process the hogs brought in. As folks were shopping and milling about at the Expo, cellular phones were buzzing as the contestants were calling to find out if other teams had brought in any hogs to the weigh station. By early Saturday afternoon, the first truck arrived with a large sow weighing close to  175 lbs.  Expo attendees  gathered around as the sow was weighed and taken by the volunteers to the cleaning area to be processed. Just as the weigh in was about to close for the night, a trailer full of hogs arrived. One of the hogs on this trailer was an enormous barr that looked more like a black angus steer than a hog! Once each hog was weighed and documented, the volunteers sprung into action to get the hogs skinned, processed, and into ice for a quick cooling before loading onto the refrigerated box truck provided by Hunters Harvest. Once the work was done and the pork safely stowed away, the impact of the  number of teams entered in the contest really began to sink in. Saturday produced almost 1,500 lbs of pork from only two teams weighing in, and they immediately went back to hunting! Sunday, the final weigh in, was going to be an adventure.

All was quiet on Sunday morning. The weather was nice, and talk of the 397 lb gargantuan brought in the day before was still resonating in the Expo Center. The morning may have started out quietly enough, but at 10:00 am the trucks started rolling in with stacks and piles of ice-packed hogs. Immediately, hogs were unloaded off trucks and flat bed trailers. One team turned the entire bed of their truck into an ice chest, while another team brought in their chilled pork swinging from the ceiling of a livestock trailer! Every hog was weighed and tallied before being stacked outside the cleaning area to be skinned and processed. The amount of pork went far beyond what the original volunteers could handle, and a race against time was on to get the hogs processed and cooled before any went to waste. Seeing a need for help, expo-goers and hunting team members alike rolled up their sleeves to get all 142 hogs cleaned, processed, and on ice. It was remarkable to see so many people helping one another when there was a task to be tackled.

When it was all said and done, 156 hogs had been brought in, making the grand total of meat donated to feed the needy to 20,168 lbs.  $7,070 was divided among nine places with the winning team, "C & M" headed up by Mike Leopold receiving $2,580 plus prizes. Second place went to the "Jeff and Brandon" team captained by Brandon Leftwich. They pocketed $1,144 for their heaviest three hogs. On top of that, they won all three jackpots for Heaviest Boar, Heaviest Sow, and Most in Stringer. Third place went to the team "Walker - Wendland - Tiner" with Curtis Wendland as captain. Third place brought home $520. Rounding out the top nine were the teams of "Rockin P Ramblers" with Greg Parrack, "Dogs Gone Wild" with Jeff Berry, "Filips and Marie" with Richard Filip, "The Pork Chop Cavalry" with Kyle Thames, "Sore Losers" with Charlie Gasch, and "Hog Heaven Kennels" with Eli Smith. New for 2008 were laser engraved wooden plaques for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams, and they were on display at the Expo until they were presented at the award ceremony. Also new this year was our weigh in raffle. Each team that brought in pork for Sunday's weigh in (regardless of amount) was entered in a raffle to win one of two awesome prizes - a Tri Tronics Trashbreaker collar system and a Wildlife Materials Radio Tracking Collar. "Rockin P Ramblers" won the Tri Tronics Trashbreaker, and "Sore Losers" weren't sore at all when they won the Wildlife Materials Collar!

Looking back, the 2008 TDHA/Hunters Harvest Hog Hunting Contest was a huge success on many different levels. It achieved notoriety as being the richest hog hunting contest in the State of Texas, it was responsible for the elimination of over 150 hogs from Texas farm and ranch land, and it managed to donate over 20,000 lbs of pork to feed the needy. There are so many people to thank for the great turnout of this year's event - from the teams who spent two sleepless nights in the field hunting the hogs, to the volunteers who spent their weekend processing them, to the companies, corporations, and individuals who donated generous cash and prizes. Making this year's Contest a success was in fact a group effort, and one for a truly noble cause.

TDHA would like to thank our sponsors:
Wild Boar USA Magazine
Tri Tronics, Inc
Barrier Equipment
Tejas Outdoors
Wildlife Materials, Inc
Ugly Dog Ranch
Ready Dog Supplies
Quick Track
M-G Feed Division
Tracker Radio
Buck Knives
Remington Arms
Lee Precision, Inc
Mary and Duane Harris
Sam and Sons Truck Equipment
Wildlife Research Center
Cabellas
Wal Mart Deer Park
The Get Together
East Texas Hog Doggers
Amy Burden
Jason Smith
Sonic, Inc.


We look forward to setting a new record at the TDHA/Hunters Harvest Contest Feb 27th - Mar 1st, 2009!