Now the story of the Brooks Beast, Son of Hogzilla, and how I came about shooting him, with some stories from a few neighbors: On January 3, 2007 I was sitting in my living room while my wife and son were out running errands. Upon returning home, they spotted this huge hog in a neighbors yard, about a mile from my house, feeding on water oak acorns. They stopped to take a look at this monstrous pig. The gentleman who owned the property asked my wife and son if they knew anyone that would shoot this thing. My son (being a Marine and a hunter) said that he would go get his dad. When they got home around 3 pm, my son started telling me about this large hog that a neighbor wanted shot, and asked me if I would get my gun and go with him to shoot it. I answered that Id get my 22 rim fire. He stopped me real quick and stated that I might want to get my deer rifle (Ruger m77 bolt action in a 7mmm-08 round) that this thing was huge. So not knowing what to expect, I grabbed my Ruger and followed my son out the door. On the way over, my son said that he wanted to do the shooting, which I had no problem with; but when we reached the property where the hog was, and pulled up the drive, the hog was on my side of the truck. With the gun lying on the seat beside me, and not thinking about much of anything but this thing looks like a cow with tusks, I grabbed the gun and got out. Now I had a broken leg at the time and was using one crutch to get around. I wasnt sure if the beast would run away or charge me, but figuring that I was in no shape to run, I got in a position to shoot where I could hit him right behind the ear, hoping he would drop in his tracks. It happened so quickly that my son and neighbor had no idea that I was about to shoot. Needless to say it scared the (!!!!) out of my son! But the shot with the 7mm-08 sat him down in his tracks. Afterward, we got a good look at him and all I could think was we have more pork than we could ever eat! We guessed his weight to be around 600 to 700 lbs. We knew were going to need a lot of help to get him moved off my neighbors lawn. Fortunately, another neighbor close by owned a tractor with a bucket on the front, and we borrowed it to try to move the beast. It took all four grown men (myself, my son, and my two neighbors) to roll him onto the bucket of the tractor, and when we tried to lift him up, the back wheels would barely stay on the ground. Once we got back to the house, we loaded him into my sons truck so that he could be hauled off to the meat processor. It wasnt long after arriving there and speaking with the owner that we realized what we had: a whole lot of pork that was not edible because of his size and the fact that he had not been castrated. The owner said he had recently processed one that was close to 600 lbs., and that ours looked to be closer to 1000 lbs. Since I couldnt count on him to feed my family, I figured the next step was to get him weighed; so then we headed to a local transfer station that had the equipment to weigh commercial trucks. The girl working that day was Ashley, who could not believe what we had in the truck, but she was glad to help. We first weighed the truck with the hog in it, then had to borrow front end loader to remove the hog and reweigh the empty truck. The digital printouts showed the official before-and-after weights, but not what was weighed. SO back to the transfer station to get Ashley to agree to let me film her, in front of the transfer station building, stating that in fact there was indeed a hog in the truck when it was weighed. Ashley good naturedly agreed and officially stated that a hog, weighing 1100 lbs., had been recorded in the transfer station that day. Well, thats when the media circus began. Folks from all over the country descended upon little Brooks, Georgia, to hear the story about the monster beast. Gary Dowdy did extensive research but could find no references to any other wild boars that were documented as weighing over 1100 lbs. Soon stories started pouring in from neighbors who had been terrorized by this beast in the past going all the way back ten years. Stories of the beast pulling up a neighbors fake plants just two days before I shot him; rutting up new sod, falling through a wooden deck, running through a barbed-wire fence as if it werent even there; a man in the next county who tried to trap him; a friend almost hitting him at night while riding a motorcycle, and that the hog may have belonged to a man down the road from where I live. I have tried to locate this man but with no success. Not doubting any stories, I have been told that he wants to stay anonymous. Since this event, (and thanks to Jack Mayer and Gary Dowdy), I have learned a lot about wild hogs: the difference between a wild hog and a domestic hog, is that a domestic hog will turn back to its wild nature quicker than any other domesticated animal. It takes approximately 6-8 weeks for a domestic pig to adjust back to its wild nature. So at the least Brooks Beast is a free ranging wild boar. We are waiting on the DNA test to come in to see what his genetic makeup will show. Gary Dowdy determined that the weight was a world record, and I have been given a plaque that states this. From my understanding, Chris Griffin holds the world record for tusks. With Chris having the record in tusk and me having the record in weight, thats where the publicity came in. When I went to Tifton, Georgia for the casting call for the Legend of Hogzilla movie, it was Hogzilla meets Son of Hogzilla. Stay tuned for updates on the movie and other events on my website!