Monster Hog - Rest of the story.

[DJH]

News Showcase
'Monster Pig's' origins revealed
By Bran Strickland
anniston, alabama Star Sports editor
06-01-2007


FRUITHURST — Before he became known as “Monster Pig,” the 1,051-pound hog shot in Delta was known by another name.

Fred.

Rhonda and Phil Blissitt told The Star on Thursday evening that, on April 29, four days before the hog was killed, Fred was one of many livestock on their farm.

Late Thursday evening, their claims were confirmed by Andy Howell, Game Warden for the Alabama Department of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries.

“I didn't want to stir up anything,” Rhonda Blissitt said. “I just wanted the truth to be told. That wasn't a wild pig.”

Added Phil Blissitt: “If it went down in the record book, it would be deceiving, and we'd know that for the rest of our lives.”

The monster hog gained worldwide acclaim after he was harvested by 11-year-old Jamison Stone, a Pickensville native, with a .50-caliber pistol on May 3 at the Lost Creek Plantation, LLC, a hunting preserve in Delta. The big boar was hunted inside a large, low-fence enclosure and fired upon 16 times by Stone, who struck the animal nearly a half-dozen times during the three-hour hunt.

The Blissitts said they were unaware that the hog generating all the media attention was once theirs. It wasn't until Howell spoke with Phil Blissitt that the pieces of the puzzle came together.

Phil Blissitt recalled Howell asking him about the now-famous hog.

“Did you see that pig on TV?” Phil Blissitt recalled Howell asking him. “I said, 'Yeah, I had one about that size. He said, 'No, that one is yours.'

“That's when I knew.”

Phil Blissitt purchased the pig for his wife as a Christmas gift in December of 2004. From 6 weeks old, they raised the pig as it grew to its enormous size.

Not long ago, they decided to sell off all of their pigs. Eddy Borden, owner of Lost Creek Plantation, purchased Fred.

Attempts by The Star to reach Borden were unsuccessful.

While Rhonda Blissitt was somewhat in the dark about the potential demise of her pet, Phil Blissitt said he was under the understanding that it would breed other female pigs and then “probably be hunted.” Many other of their former pigs — like their other farm animals — had been raised for the purpose of agricultural harvest.

As the Blissitts recounted the events of the last two days, they told stories and made many references to the gentleness of their former “pet.”

From his treats of canned sweet potatoes to the how grandchildren would play with him, their stories painted the picture of a gentle giant. The even talked about how their small chihuahua would get in the pen with him and could come out unscathed.

“But if they hadn't fed him in a while,” Rhonda Blissitt said, “he could have gotten irate.”

Phil Blissitt said he became irritated when they learned about all the doubters who said photos of Fred were doctored.

“That was a big hog,” he said.

The information of the pig's previous owner came out on the same day that officials from the Fish and Wildlife concluded their investigation of the hunt. They concluded that nothing illegal happened under the guidelines of Alabama law.

Allan Andress, enforcement chief for the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, said they derived the hog's origin as the investigation unfolded.

“We were able to determine that he came from a domesticated environment,” he said. “So, he was not feral to start with. Therefore, he would not violate our feral swine trapping and relocating rule.”

Mike Stone, Jamison's father, contends that he was unaware of the origin of the pig. Before, during and after the hunt — and up until late Thursday night, when contacted by The Star — Mike Stone was under the impression that the hog was feral.

“We were told that it was a feral hog,” Mike Stone said, “and we hunted it on the pretense that it was a feral hog.”

[groundpounder]

Really knew that it had to be something like this. They just don't get that big unless penned and fed.

[DrDan]

Wow!!! 16 shots with a 50 inside a fenced enclosure - a pet pig. Man am I impressed... Maybe I can keep one out in my shed and take a world record.

[flbuckmaster]

One shot in the ear would have done the trick. Its a shame the beast had to suffer for 3 hours taking 9 shots to bring it down. This type of story feeds the anti's cause to stop all hunting. If this hog had a 2 or 3 inch "chest shield", which i'm sure it did, a handgun would have a hard time penetrating into the vitals. In my opinion, all large hogs should be shot in the head to avoid suffering and a long dangerous tracking job.

jay

[DrDan]

Jay
That's exactly what I am thinking. Crap like this just fuels the fires of the "anti's". I am totally against fenced in hunting preserves and think they should be stopped. Yes it's convenient for the busy executive to go pop a critter in a pen, but if you don't have the time and stamina to "fair chase" hunt then don't hunt at all. The worst I have seen is the elk in a pen in Texas where you can connect on the internet to a gun that can be remote controlled with your mouse. You blast the captive critter and then they send you the meat all frozen and packaged and have the trophy mounted. This bullchit is the reason for the Chronic Wasting Disease in whitetails. It all started in one of these damn preserves! Wildlife are meant to live in the wild. I vote for immediate closing of all fenced hunting preserves.

[raydaughety]

I was going to leave this thread alone but there is one factor that really concerns me. If Mr. Stone has done any hog hunting at all, he should have known that a hog of this size couldn't have possibley been wild and should have questioned the outfitter before a single shot was fired.

IMHO, Mr. Stone had to know that this hog was tame. The real tragedy here is that young Jamison has been exposed to unfair chase hunting, which I would never allow my son to participate in.

[R.J.]

Sad !

[awshucks]

From what I've read, it doesn't look like the kid or his dad knew the hog was pen raised and recently released. That many shots and that much time chasing is bad for all. I am not one to condemn anothers method of hunting. They run dogs here for deer in firearms season, and that's about the end of seeing the deer. It's their tradition. I was on a preserve in Tx in Feb of this year that was fenced, all 25 square miles. I never saw a fence on 9 hunts, and since I wouldn't use the rifle I brought w/ me, I didn't score any game, couldn't get anything in xbow range. I'm not sure but believe the "internet hunting" never really got off the ground, so to speak, and is not happening anywhere now.

[flbuckmaster]

high fence hunting preserves have been around for a long time and will probably be around after I am long gone. Although I personally do not agree with the method, it is a legal manner of takng a "wild" or "tame" animal in most states. Mr stone did know that the hog existed in this "pen" as indicated in his interview. My problem is with taking an inexperienced kid into the enclosure with a very large handgun and expecting him to make a quick humane kill at an animal that would scare the pants off most grown men. My experience with my 357 magnum handgun is that it is not very accurate with open sights at ranges over most archery distances. I have shot large hogs in the chest shield plate with my 357 and the slug either glanced off or barely penetrated the shield into the vitals. whereas shooting the same hog into the head produced a near instant death. No one really knows what distance this kid was shooting at this hog, but I have heard he took 16 shots at him and he only connected on 9 of them. Now this is an animal the size of a saburban suv and if the kid could not put a bullet into that on every shot he shouldnt have been using that weapon. Why did he not after shooting a half of a box of shells borrow one of the high powered rifles the guides were carring while following him around and put the beast out of his misery? I guess we will never know, but as RJ said....SAD

jay

[John Wade]

I wish the dad if he didn't have the experience himself had got someone that new hunting and pigs to teach the kid not the legal ethics but the moral ethics. The rest of the story is here from his website. From what I've read, written by the fellow he doesn't seem a bad sort. Just needs a good hunter to take him under his wing. Somebody from Alabama should track him down and invite him to the list.



BIGGER than Hogzilla!
The news media used it for headlines for a week claiming it's size was a hoax. On the evening of May 31, I was contacted by Bran Strickland of the Anniston Star and he told me that he had good news and bad news. He said that the good news is your claims about the pig's massive size have been verified. The bad news is that he came from a hog breeder and that the pig had been sold from the breeder to the preserve for the purpose of hunting. Early on the morning of June 1, I went to the computer and read Bran's article which portrayed the pig as a family pet. The pig that Jamison killed did not act like a family pet. It was a very aggressive animal. I was upset at first to read this report but after going through a week of being told what we killed did not exist by the network media, I decided to get to the bottom of this myself. I got my whole family up at 6:00 a.m. and traveled to Heflin, AL to meet with the Blissitts to give Phil Blissitt, whom I have never met or talked to before, the opportunity to explain to Jamison why he had sold a pig that was described as being so gentle and sweet to a hunting preserve in order for someone to come and kill it.

I was able to arrange a meeting with Mr. Blissitt who was happy to oblige as he is a father of a young boy similar to Jamison's age. Mr. Blissitt explained to me that he was an avid hunter and fisherman and that he did not see anything wrong with the hunting of the animal and if he did, he would not have sold it to the preserve. I asked him to tell me a little bit about the animal and asked was Mr. Strickland of the Anniston Star accurate in his docile description of the pig. Mr. Blissitt said he had bought all the pigs for his wife. The hogs were her deal, he and his son just took care of them for her. He said all of their pigs had just recently been sold for slaughter and the big boar was too big to be a breeder because of his massive weight and stature and would certainly be unsuitable for slaughter, referring to him being an uncut boar hog. He said the pig had gotten out several times by simply walking through the fence. He also said that the pig was very scary to people who would come in the yard because of his jaw popping, which is usually seen as a sign of aggression in hogs. He said that on several occasions, he had seen this massive pig throw other pigs around, once even over the fence. Mr. Blissitt also told of building the pig a large shelter that was big enough to cover him and keep him out of the weather but he said the pig tore it to bits in less than 40 minutes. Mrs. Blissitt herself even said in Mr. Strickland's article that at times the pig would even become irate. Mr. Blissitt said he could see how anyone looking at the hog with his jaw popping and aggressive behavior in the 200 acre hog preserve, that is part of the 2,500 acre hunting plantation, would certainly believe this pig to be very scary. He congratulated Jamison on his hunt and said that somebody had to kill the pig.

Mr. Blissitt then said that they never would have brought this issue up if we were not trying to claim it to be a record wild hog. I explained that we had never declared it to be any kind of record and until recently, I was not very well educated on the terminology of hogs and their classifications. As the Alabama Game and Fish Commission investigated the story and the parties involved for wrong doing with the exception of Jamison and I, we sat patiently trying to understand what was going on. When the investigation was complete, I spoke with officials from the Alabama Game and Fish Commission who insured me that nothing illegal or unethical had occurred by any of the parties investigated. They did not tell me this pig had been purchased for stock on the plantation, which does have many species of pigs, including Russian black boar, that do raise there in a feral environment. He did state that the pig was of a domestic origin which was the ONLY legal way for owner's of pig hunting preserves to stock or restock besides pigs being born on the property. I did not really think a lot about what he said nor did I care at the time because I was still fighting the battle proving the pig was real or at least to get the news media to quit saying it wasn't.

Now from the first time this story was told to the interviews Jamison and I have done on radio and television, we have never failed to say that the pig was hunted on a hunting ranch or farm. I know many of you real hunters and animal rights activist have chastised Jamison and I for this hunting trip from the very beginning trying to make it sound like it was something short of a true hunting experience and your opinion is well received and understood. However, I own no hunting land and have very little time so this opportunity to hunt what we thought and technically still is, according to the definition I have, a feral pig, was something I do not regret doing for my son. Had I known that in a short time, someone would call this pig their "pet", we would have simply hunted another hog. I would like to thank Mr. Blissitt for his honest and forthcoming description of the pig and his understanding and taking time to explain to my son that he did NOT shoot the family pet!

I have no hard feelings at anyone involved nor do I feel like I have been misled in any way now that I have a total understanding of this event.

Mike Stone

[crazyfarmer]

i heard the story but this is the first ive read about it.. I knew there was no way a wild hog was gonna grow that big, espically in a area that people hunt all the time. We utcher and process hogs here and the biggest we have handled was about 860 and that was one hellova hog. Only bad thing about that size is that about 50% or more of the hong is waste since its mostly FAT! We always use a 22 rifle and one shot slightly above the eyes(dead center) does the trick, same for beef cattle. But its some hogs that have super skulls and the 22 wont even go through the skull!!

anyway, im sure the people hunting it didnt know it was a pet... but still its sad to see the story end up like this.

I need to feed some of ours and go for the Va state record LMAO

[saxman]

Must have sounded like a war zone in the Alabama woods that day.
But I guess if your going to make that first shot you have to see it through.

[terry-1]

First I could tell you that hog was Not a true Wild hog from the getgo. I have hunted wild hogs my Wholelife and they also run wild on my ranch and have for years. The average mature boar is only 150-300lbs. Sure there is sometimes one that hints near 500lbs from liveing near a corn or soybean field that some farmer has planted but it does not happen very often. I went to the state fair and paid a 1$ to see the so called worlds largest hog several years back it was very big around 1000lbs. It was so fat it couldn't even walk normall or stand for just a few mintues at a time. How would a wild hog make a liveing if it couldn't even walk 100 yards without it's body needing rest. This is not the first time someone has killed a huge pet pig near 1000lbs and claimed it to be a wild hog,but this time they got caught. I don't blam the Kid or His Dad even though the should have known better to beleive such a beast was running wild the hunting lodge should have never sold such a hunt to start with. No matter if you like high fenced hunts or not most of them trap live real wild hogs and release them to hunt withing the fence area.I know alot of guys who trap wild hogs to sell them for this reason. Some Crooked hunting lodge's go to the 4-H sale and buy them and say the are wild. main reason is you can buy a domistic hog for around 30 cents a lbs at a sale right now. Wild hogs have been bring up to 50 cents to over a 1$ depending on the hog size the last few months here.

[Dert]

The part I'm still having trouble with is a eleven year old hunting with a 50 cal pistol , I don't think I would let my 5'4'' tall 125lbs eleven year old ( his my football player in the family ) even target practice with it much less hunt with it , but that's just my opnion.

[LeGrand]

http://www.annistonstar.com/showcase/20 ... 1i1244.htm