Canadian Wild Pig Invasion

[sethkuhl]

The other side is not everyone down south wants these elks gone. There is too much money being made from ELKs hunts, selling tags, hunting rights, food, lodging, etc.
I laugh, I hear farmers crying " these ELKs are eating me out of house and home." Call them up to ask to hunt. Ya, I charge " blank" per day. You can't get it both ways.

The funny thing is when I read this I substituted elk and it still applied. The war on our elk sounds like they could be pigs to some farmers/ fish and game in the western part of our state.

 

[Greybeard]

Here's what's coming yalls way. This big ole boar was 400 lbs.

Massive 400-pound feral hog captured in Bexar County

Trappers captured a massive 400-pound feral hog on a golf course in Bexar County, highlighting the serious problems caused by feral hogs in the area. Wyatt Walton, of Lone Star Trapping, which provides trapping services in San Antonio, says the massive animal was captured by dogs. “We moved shop...

news4sanantonio.com

 

[corndog1]

Why don't we just build a wall?

 

[RockinU]

Here's what's coming yalls way. This big ole boar was 400 lbs.

Massive 400-pound feral hog captured in Bexar County

Trappers captured a massive 400-pound feral hog on a golf course in Bexar County, highlighting the serious problems caused by feral hogs in the area. Wyatt Walton, of Lone Star Trapping, which provides trapping services in San Antonio, says the massive animal was captured by dogs. “We moved shop...

news4sanantonio.com

That damn hog is hobbled! They caught him! ...wonder how many staples the dogs took?

There's paperwork on those boys being badasses. I'm thinking their huevos are so big they have to leave them in the truck when they run...

 

[SaskHunter]

Americans should be very scared of Canadian hogs adapted to the cold. I see them walk around downtown Saskatoon and Regina pretty often, scary sight indeed.

Some seem to like them though, to each their own. Oink!!!

 

[2rocky]

Here is a Southern hog hunter, complete with hunter orange about to deliver the fatal blow to a nuisance feral hog.....

 

[Keeptrying]

Americans should be very scared of Canadian hogs adapted to the cold. I see them walk around downtown Saskatoon and Regina pretty often, scary sight indeed.

Some seem to like them though, to each their own. Oink!!!

LOL. So we should be scared of pigs because Canada refuses to deal with their problem? I really don't think it is going that way here.

 

[hank4elk]

How many places have open season on them?

NM does and they are scarce.
When I was young a local rancher/barley farmer would pay me $20 a pig and I could just call ahead & let him know I would be out next day. Guys place was on Monterey/San Luis Obispo border. Tags were unlimited & $2 if I recall. t
Then I had a buddy who was the USFW trapper there & he would call me if he had trapped some & I would get free pigs for butchering. Not hunting but useful.
10 yrs ago ranchers would get $500 to hunt and the hogs had turned nocturnal on public lands in SLO county. Still a big problem with AG. I do not know what a CA pig tag costs now.

 

[SaskHunter]

LOL. So we should be scared of pigs because Canada refuses to deal with their problem? I really don't think it is going that way here.

Canadian hog = fat chicks...

 

[MTGunner]

Hank, have been scouting for feral hogs in SW NM for some time. Have hunted the Boot Heel and around Virden but as yet no hogs. Large ranches have most of the Boot Heel wrapped up and charge to hunt feral hogs. There are vineyards in and around SW NM that complain about damage but getting permission to hunt is near impossible. So, my thoughts are if the land owners complain, then allow hunters that ask for permission to hunt them. Yes, there needs to be ground rules regarding property owners wishes. But, beyond that, no permission, quit complaining.
I feel this should apply to northern MT as well. I have taken feral hogs in TX. With land owner permission. Great table fare. But, I will not pay to eradicate a land owners vermin. Land owners pay the taxes, work the land and have their lively hoods invested. But, vermin should not equate to another income resource to complain about. MTG

 

[Keeptrying]

Yup. If landowners whine about pigs but allow their property to be a safe haven for them they reap what they sow.

Honestly, sounds like Canada and New Mexico have people releasing hogs to provide a huntable resource. Those area happen to have situations which allow for them to thrive. I do not think the northern US would be the same. For sure not SD.

 

[hank4elk]

Hank, have been scouting for feral hogs in SW NM for some time. Have hunted the Boot Heel and around Virden but as yet no hogs. Large ranches have most of the Boot Heel wrapped up and charge to hunt feral hogs. There are vineyards in and around SW NM that complain about damage but getting permission to hunt is near impossible. So, my thoughts are if the land owners complain, then allow hunters that ask for permission to hunt them. Yes, there needs to be ground rules regarding property owners wishes. But, beyond that, no permission, quit complaining.
I feel this should apply to northern MT as well. I have taken feral hogs in TX. With land owner permission. Great table fare. But, I will not pay to eradicate a land owners vermin. Land owners pay the taxes, work the land and have their lively hoods invested. But, vermin should not equate to another income resource to complain about. MTG

Never thought about bootheel country.Did not seem like enough water.
I have tried along Pecos R. where you can access it,nothing. I have seen sign in Sacramentos,but never a hog. Seen them near Lemitar on Rio Grande once,but that was 15 yrs ago

 

[RockinU]

Never thought about bootheel country.Did not seem like enough water.
I have tried along Pecos R. where you can access it,nothing. I have seen sign in Sacramentos,but never a hog. Seen them near Lemitar on Rio Grande once,but that was 15 yrs ago

Hogs are documented in all 254 counties in Texas, and we have some that are pretty dry too. That's part of what makes them so insidious is their adapatability.

 

[hank4elk]

Yeah they were pretty common in SLO & Monterey counties way away from water. But finding them along the Salinas River near home was best.
Asked a rancher along the Rio if I could hunt pigs there & he said there were none....I had seen them just minutes before too. LOL
I am tempted to head down near El Paso and see if I can find some. Made the best venison sausage using wild pig and want to try elk.I have to use store pork belly if I want good fatty meat. I miss mixing several meats in recipes. Stuck with mostly elk, Poor me

 

[RockinU]

Yeah they were pretty common in SLO & Monterey counties way away from water. But finding them along the Salinas River near home was best.
Asked a rancher along the Rio if I could hunt pigs there & he said there were none....I had seen them just minutes before too. LOL
I am tempted to head down near El Paso and see if I can find some. Made the best venison sausage using wild pig and want to try elk.I have to use store pork belly if I want good fatty meat. I miss mixing several meats in recipes. Stuck with mostly elk, Poor me

I always try a loin or something before I'll add them to sausage. Every now and then you can get a pig that's "off", I'm assuming from their diet. I ruined a batch of sausage using a rank pig one time, made the whole house smell every time you cooked it. Wife was not amused.

 

[hank4elk]

I made the mistake of taking the big boar, once. 350lbs gutted @ G&F weigh station @ FHL. Nothing would rid the amonia smell from any of the meat. Ruined some good deer meat on that experiment.

 

[SaskHunter]

Yup. If landowners whine about pigs but allow their property to be a safe haven for them they reap what they sow.

Honestly, sounds like Canada and New Mexico have people releasing hogs to provide a huntable resource. Those area happen to have situations which allow for them to thrive. I do not think the northern US would be the same. For sure not SD.

This is a big problem around here. A few people know where the hogs are and keep it to themselves as their own personal resource. Another problem in Saskatchewan are trespassers, poachers and asshole hunters who have ruined it for most. A lot of landowners will not let you access their property and 99% of those landowners will say that they used to allow people to hunt until a bunch of idiots showed up and tore up their fields.

 

[BrentD]

A lot of landowners will not let you access their property and 99% of those landowners will say that they used to allow people to hunt until a bunch of idiots showed up and tore up their fields.

Do you think it is true, or they just say that to make it easier to say no to you?

 

[SaskHunter]

Do you think it is true, or they just say that to make it easier to say no to you?

I have a lot of friends who farm and know several landowners pretty well in my area. Most who don't allow hunting will say similar stories which lead to them shutting it down. I'm very fortunate to have access to a lot of private land and it came down to knowing the owner or having a close friend in common who vouched for me. These same owners who let me hunt always complain about broken fences, tore up fields, posted signs being ripped off, gates left open where there's cattle, etc... There are a lot of disrespectful hunters and trespassers who simply don't give a damn, I see them every season. On this same topic, I work on a military base with a large training area, every year trespassers cut down fences and break through gates to go "hunting".

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure several landowners probably use that as an excuse but the facts are there.

 

[RockinU]

I have a lot of friends who farm and know several landowners pretty well in my area. Most who don't allow hunting will say similar stories which lead to them shutting it down. I'm very fortunate to have access to a lot of private land and it came down to knowing the owner or having a close friend in common who vouched for me. These same owners who let me hunt always complain about broken fences, tore up fields, posted signs being ripped off, gates left open where there's cattle, etc... There are a lot of disrespectful hunters and trespassers who simply don't give a damn, I see them every season. On this same topic, I work on a military base with a large training area, every year trespassers cut down fences and break through gates to go "hunting".

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure several landowners probably use that as an excuse but the facts are there.

It's the same in Texas. I always see threads with people ranting "If pigs are such a problem, why do landowners charge for access?!?!?" Well I don't know of a single big ranch that doesn't have people who have open permission, the thing is the guys with that permission are known and trusted. Landowners charge people they don't know because people they don't know cost them time, they have to show them around, watch out for them, worrying about what they are messing up, or going around behind them either making sure they didn't mess anything up, or cleaning up what they did. Everyone thinks/says they won't mess anything up or be a burden of any sort, but it's a real thing and most ranchers who've been doing it long know it.