Trophy feral hog “Mr. T” meets his demise in Marion

The escalating feral hog problem in Louisiana is out of control. In northeast Louisiana, deer hunting is suffering from wild hogs in areas where sounders of 20-30 hogs can tear up an acre of woods or more overnight.

But one big feral hog, named Mr. T because of the prominent mane on his back resembling the haircut of Mr. T from the old “A Team” television show, will cause no more problems. A local hunter shot the nearly 300 pounder recently while deer hunting near Marion.

Matt Talbert, a City Councilman in Sterlington, was hunting on the Struttin’ Buck Hunting Club when the big hog made a rare daytime appearance – barely.

“I had been deer hunting all week and hadn’t shot anything,” Talbert said. “I have an app that tells me when it’s about to get too dark to shoot and it said 5:32. It was almost 5:30 and I was gathering up my stuff when a big doe walked out. I picked up my binoculars and looked at her, hoping a big buck would be behind her. I was looking when the top part of my lens just went black. I adjusted them and thought at first it was a bear, but it was a huge hog. I stuck my Winchester Model 70 out of the window and by now it was 5:32. I could still see it good and I shot. It dropped right where it stood.”

Hauling the big hog

After he broke the winch on his 800 Sportsman trying to lift the hog, he finally pulled it out of the woods with a chain. He had to get help to load it on the tailgate and it broke, too.

Matt Talbert with Mr. T on the tailgate of his truck. Talbert broke the winch on his four-wheeler and the tailgate of his truck trying to load the huge hog.

Matt Talbert with Mr. T on the tailgate of his truck. Talbert broke the winch on his four-wheeler and the tailgate of his truck trying to load the huge hog.

“A hog like that sure makes you think twice about sticking your head up in one of those thickets late in the afternoon, doesn’t it?” he asked.

Peyton McKinnie, one of the growing numbers of deer hunters who are fed up with the uncontrolled nuisance, had been trying to trap the big boar for over a year. He picked up the hog from Talbert and took him to the Dubach Deer Factory and had it caped out to be mounted. The famous hog will be on display at the BBQ Pit restaurant in Sterlington when the mount is complete.

With the advent of advanced hog catching systems like the Hogg Boss, pens with video and cell cameras and social media, some of the big hogs like Mr. T have become famous. In fact, the big ones with special features are getting named just like big trophy bucks are by deer hunters.