Brucellosis

Anybody seen this in wild hogs in Alabama yet?

Wild pigs in Alabama regularly test positive for brucellosis, and have been for a long time.

Yes.......swine brucellosis has been around for as long as hogs have.

Yes. I actually contracted Brucellosis from skinning a hog in 1998. Pretty rough stuff. I wouldn't touch one without gloves now.

You can contract brucellosis thru a wound, by consuming meat or dairy that has it, and also by breathing in the spores/virus... In Europe, we were cautioned to wear gloves and a mask when dressing a hog. Never did (back then/80's/young and dumb).

Almost lost a hand to an infection from a deer tho, about that time. I know wear gloves ALL the time dressing game, and might wear a simple mask for the short time it took to gut a hog...

I know hoga are tough to drag when you have to so guts out is the preferred method but where I hunt there is little to no dragging involved...so let me encourage everybody to just don't gut the hog if you don't have to drag it far. Let the critters have those 2 little tenderloins!!! This cuts way down on the fluid exposure as best I can tell! Don't remember the last one I gutted...of course if you shoot them in the warm months you need to be quick on the knife but they will keep longer than most dare believe. IMHO