The Hog Blog

This came in yesterday, but it got bumped by the Peregrine Fund’s lead ammo report.  Oh well…

A few days back, I posted up a news story from Michigan about a couple who’d killed a whole herd of feral hogs in their backyard, including a real monster of a sow.  Well… as Paul Harvey (RIP) put it, here’s the rest of the story…

Turns out, the hogs were actually regular escapees from a neighboring farm that had been “terrorizing” the neighborhood for quite a while. 

From the story:

Neighbors of a Muskegon County couple who shot and killed four large feral pigs say the animals are the same ones that have been terrorizing their home. The neighbors believe the pigs escaped from a local farm.

“Those pigs have gotten out several times and they tried to attack me and my mother’s dog”, says Kelly Knife. She couldn’t believe it when she saw the WZZM story about a local couple who shot four pigs. She says they are the same pigs that have been escaping from the farm next door, for years. “It’s so hard to go outside during the summer because you don’t feel safe if they get out.”

Sounds like no one except the farmer is going to be sorry to see the animals go.  Even so, this may dash the hopes of prospective hog hunters in that part of Michigan.  Sorry, Arthur.

The folks at the Peregrine Fund have been busy, working on research to support the argument that lead bullet fragments present a health risk to humans.  The research is now complete, and the results are available for review at the Peregrine Fund website.

While I strongly recommend reading the entire thing and making your own conclusions, here’s a synopsis of what I took away after my first review.

The experiement consisted of two groups of pigs, a control group and a test group.  The test group would be fed venison that had been shot under normal hunting conditions.  The specific details are listed in the document, but from what I read the samples were fairly realistic for comparison.  The pigs were tested six times over the course of nine days. 

The results were that the test group of pigs showed a higher blood-lead level than the control group over the first three days, but over the final three tests, the test group and control group showed about the same results.  The researchers explain this as the lead dispersing through the body to be stored in soft tissues and bone. 

What does it mean?  Here’s what the study author said:

 “We interpret the absorption of lead into the bloodstream of our test animals as clear evidence that humans can absorb lead from ingested bullet fragments,” said Grainger Hunt, lead author of the study.

So, the truth is that the test really only demonstrates that humans can be exposed to lead by eating animals harvested with fragmenting lead bullets.  I don’t think anyone really disputes that.  The discussion does go on about potential toxicity, but falls significantly short of proving a connection between lead-killed venison and lead poisoning. 

In other words, as far as I can see, this research really doesn’t do anything that the North Dakota and CDC research didn’t already prove… that we can, and probably do, ingest lead fragments when we eat game that was shot with fragmenting lead bullets.  There is still no medical record or evidence to suggest that this presents more than a nominative health risk.  I’m still watching as this all unwinds, because I do think it’s prudent to do so, but the case has yet to be made. 

So read it, and make up your own minds.    Do you think I’m letting my own biased opinion overrule science here, or are these guys still belaboring the obvious without shedding new light on the risks lead bullets may pose to human health?

You can’t turn on the news right now without hearing about this flu outbreak that’s killed over 60 people in Mexico City.  There have also been eight cases in the US, although all of these individuals recovered.  The virus is being referred to by the press as a Swine flu, but studies so far have shown that it’s most likely a combination of four influenza strains, including two types of Swine Influenza, Avian (Bird) Influenza, and a strain of human influenza. 

So some folks may be thinking, “Swine… as in pigs?” 

Well, yes, there is a porcine link here, as pigs are known to be carriers of this particular virus.  They’re also known carriers of several other viruses, including the so-called “bird flu”.  But what does this have to do with wild hogs, or hog hunting? 

Short answer… at this point, nothing. 

As of right now, there’s only a nominative link between swine flu and either wild or domestic hogs.  Besides the fact that the swine flu virus may have originated in pigs, nothing that is currently being reported indicates that pig hunters or farmers are at any kind of increased risk of infection. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning that this new virus has significant pandemic potential (which means the virus may have spread from animals to humans), although research is still in progress.  Here is the most current press release from WHO regarding what they’re still calling an “influenza-like illness” (ILI). 

Influenza-like illness in the United States and Mexico

24 April 2009 — The United States Government has reported seven confirmed human cases of Swine Influenza A/H1N1 in the USA (five in California and two in Texas) and nine suspect cases. All seven confirmed cases had mild Influenza-Like Illness (ILI), with only one requiring brief hospitalization. No deaths have been reported.

The Government of Mexico has reported three separate events. In the Federal District of Mexico, surveillance began picking up cases of ILI starting 18 March. The number of cases has risen steadily through April and as of 23 April there are now more than 854 cases of pneumonia from the capital. Of those, 59 have died. In San Luis Potosi, in central Mexico, 24 cases of ILI, with three deaths, have been reported. And from Mexicali, near the border with the United States, four cases of ILI, with no deaths, have been reported.

Of the Mexican cases, 18 have been laboratory confirmed in Canada as Swine Influenza A/H1N1, while 12 of those are genetically identical to the Swine Influenza A/H1N1 viruses from California.

The majority of these cases have occurred in otherwise healthy young adults. Influenza normally affects the very young and the very old, but these age groups have not been heavily affected in Mexico.

Because there are human cases associated with an animal influenza virus, and because of the geographical spread of multiple community outbreaks, plus the somewhat unusual age groups affected, these events are of high concern.

The Swine Influenza A/H1N1 viruses characterized in this outbreak have not been previously detected in pigs or humans. The viruses so far characterized have been sensitive to oseltamivir, but resistant to both amantadine and rimantadine.

The World Health Organization has been in constant contact with the health authorities in the United States, Mexico and Canada in order to better understand the risk which these ILI events pose. WHO (and PAHO) is sending missions of experts to Mexico to work with health authorities there. It is helping its Member States to increase field epidemiology activities, laboratory diagnosis and clinical management. Moreover, WHO’s partners in the Global Alert and Response Network have been alerted and are ready to assist as requested by the Member States.

WHO acknowledges the United States and Mexico for their proactive reporting and their collaboration with WHO and will continue to work with Member States to further characterize the outbreak.

To bring this back to hogs and hog hunting… while it’s always important to be careful and health-conscious when working with hogs and their carcasses, this new flu outbreak really doesn’t seem to have any significant relationship to hog hunters. 

However, remember the big “Bird Flu” hysteria, and the fear that migrating waterfowl might be spreading the disease across the world.  This one has the potential to turn into the same kind of thing.  Here at the Hog Blog, I’ll be keeping one eye on this one as it develops, and hopefully we can avoid getting wrapped up in an unnecessary panic by arming ourselves with the facts and a little common sense.

I’ve been quietly monitoring this for a while, hoping it would turn out differently, but it looks like the research is coming out against Tungsten as a replacement for lead bullets. This is certainly the case in military applications, but I haven’t heard much yet about hunting ammo.

Anyway, here’s a bit from the Wired news blog:

In the 1990’s the U.S. Army introduced a new set of “green” training ammunition designed to be less toxic and more environmentally friendly than the lead-filled rounds used before. But these new bullets may have left firing ranges contaminated and exposed soldiers to a new health hazard. Soon-to-be-released research suggests that a key element in the new ammo, once thought to be safe, may in fact be carcinogenic. The Army has stopped production of the bullets.

All of this is still a little preliminary, and research is still underway, but it’s not looking good.  According to the reports, the Army has used more than 90 million rounds of Tungsten ammo since they started using it in the mid-1990s.  

The irony is that the switch from traditional lead was motivated by environmental concerns about lead leaching into groundwater.  Use of lead bullets in training applications was completely halted at training ranges when it was found that the tungsten bullets actually broke down and showed up in the groundwater even faster than lead.  The new concerns are reflected in this paper from the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials Federal Facilities Research Center Policy & Technology Focus Group which says, in part: 

Over the past years, soil and groundwater samples collected at certain small arms ranges have demonstrated that tungsten is very mobile and soluble once it is released into the environment. In addition, limited yet important health studies have also revealed that tungsten may pose risks to humans and ecological receptors, as noted in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) 2008 Agenda: Literature Searches and Request Information.  This information is the EPA’s first documented step in its evaluation of this constituent (US EPA 2008a).

This information, coupled with knowledge of numerous shipments delivered at approximately 40 installations nationwide, has compelled the military to abandon the production of tungsten/nylon bullets and look to other “green ammunition” alternatives, including resuming lead bullet firing.  …

This definitely bears watching.  As far as I can tell, there hasn’t been any mention of tungsten hunting ammo (it’s commonly used in non-toxic waterfowl loads), but you can bet that it will be coming down the pike if this military ammo thing continues to get traction.  From what I’ve read so far, the risks from tungsten are a heck of a lot more serious and immediate than those of lead. 

More to come…

Speaking of “Hogzilla”, I want one of these for next Halloween! 

Or I could put one on a public land hog hunting site…

Big thanks to my friend and President of Coon Camp Springs, Inc., Dave Allen, for sending me the following news clipping from his old home-state, Michigan.  Looks like the swine invasion is going full bore up there…

Here’s a little taste of the article… you can read the rest on the mLive.com website.

Jim and Tina Boes were settling in to watch the Detroit Tigers game on television Sunday afternoon when they spotted a massive feral hog in the brush behind their home in northern Muskegon County.

Tina said she recognized the beast from an encounter two years ago, when the wild animal chased her and the couple’s dog into their Dalton Township house.

This time, the Boeses prevailed.

They shot and killed not one, but four feral hogs. The largest, a huge female dubbed “Hogzilla,” measured 6 feet, 3 inches from snout to rump, and weighed 514 pounds.

Definitely go check out the picture that goes with this!  That’s one big sow!  It doesn’t look like these guys have been feral all that long, but I’d say the Boeses are pretty well set for pork for the rest of this year (and most of next). 

A couple of notes, in case you don’t read the whole article…

First of all, the hogs are spreading rapidly across Michigan.  According to the writer, feral hogs have been spotted in 64 of MI’s 83 counties, with a population estimated in the range of 3000-5000 animals (and growing quickly).  Michiganders are encouraged to shoot feral hogs, and to report any animals spotted or killed (to report feral hogs in MI, email: brownkr@michigan.gov ). 

Thanks again for sending that along, Dave!

I know, I’ve said before you really don’t need a howitzer to kill a hog.  A well-placed bullet from a reasonable caliber (preferably quarter-bore if not bigger) will do the trick on anything from a roaster to hogzilla.  I’m really partial to my .30 calibers, and as much as I love my .325wsm (8mm), it’s a bit more than necessary most of the time.

Of course, you don’t want to go under-gunned either.  Not only is there a potential risk of getting hurt by an angry, wounded boar, there’s also the ethical consideration of making as quick a kill as possible.  You want a big enough gun to allow reasonable margin of error, in case your placement isn’t as precise as you’d like.

Well, poking around on YouTube this afternoon, I think I found something that offers as much “reasonable margin of error” as you can ask for.

Oh, you have to love the name of this monstrosity… the 600 Overkill!  It’s the “Rogue” from Bijou Creek gunsmithing, a real company making real firearms.  No idea what something like this would cost, much less what it would cost to feed… but oh, buddy!  What fun it would be to roll out onto Tejon with something like this in my hands!

For a few years now, I’ve been a regular reader of Dave Hurteau’s “Field Notes” blog, over at the Field and Stream website.  Hurteau has a great “voice” when he’s on, and his columns used to be a joy to read.  When he put up a news article, it was usually relevant and he generally had some great commentary to go along with it as well. 

Sadly, however, things seem to have changed over at Field and Stream.  I don’t know if it’s Hurteau’s own doing, or some orders from “higher up”, but I’ve noticed a significant lack of original content.  Instead, the site’s focus seems to be posting up “controversial” outdoors-related news articles (often it’s only the most tenuous connection) simply for the sake of getting comments from the readership.  For example, a recent post is a cut-and-paste from an article that quotes the Governor of PA making a strong speech against semi-automatic rifles.  The clipped article content sets the stage, and then asks the readership, “what do you think?” 

My question followed, what the heck do the bloggers at Field and Stream EXPECT their readership to think about a governor proposing a ban on semi-autos? 

It no longer has anything to do with the personality or wisdom, wit, or insight of the blogger… and those are the things that bring me to a blog.   In most cases, Hurteau (and his co-blogger, Chad Love), seldom even offer a personal opinion in their own blog posts, nor do they generally deign to reply to the comments.  It looks to me like mass production with no other purpose than to keep the rabble roused and the page hits high. 

It was one of my favorite blogs, but unless things change, I’ll be dropping it from my blog roll. I’m a little sick of it, especially when all it seems to do is enhance the polarization of opinion that has become so endemic in our society over the past several years. 

But I wonder if it’s just me, or do other folks feel the same about this kind of blogging.   Who else reads Field Notes, and what do you think of the current trend over there? 

On the bright side, Dave Petzal’s Gun Nut blog is still offering all the great content, wit, and information that I’ve enjoyed… so all of the Field and Stream blogs haven’t gone bad.  The addition of shotgun editor, Phil Bourjailly as a co-blogger has made it even better, although I think Petzal carried it well on his own.  Bourjailly brings a different sensibility, almost but not quite a foil for Petzal… and I’m looking forward to seeing where this partnership goes.

Thanks to Holly for forwarding this, since I’ve just returned from out of town…

The Monterey Herald just ran an article which quotes the results of a local hunting survey.  Here’s the (pretty eye-catching) lead.

 A recent survey of Monterey County big game and varmint hunters showed only one in seven is satisfied with the nonlead bullets required for hunting in the state-designated condor range.

And close to 30 percent of hunters who took the field during the past year said they ignored the law.

The article does go on to quote DFG chief of law enforcement, Nancy Foley, who points out that the DFG field reports showed about a 99 percent compliance rate during the first year since the ban was implemented (I commented on that myself a few weeks ago). 

I added my own comment to the article on the Herald’s web page.  It’s pretty long, so I don’t know if they’ll leave it or not… so for posterity (and for those of you who don’t like to click links), here’s what I had to say:

Interesting story, and it’s not a complete surprise… although a survey of 76 individuals in a localized area is hardly representative of the hunting community.

I really wish more hunters would get the real facts before they spout off about the issue, particularly those who complain, as one did in the survey, that other carrion eaters aren’t dying from lead… they are, but they are not endangered, and hence, not studied or monitored as closely as the condor.

Accuracy is another issue. It’s true that every rifle is unique, and performs differently with different ammo (lead or otherwise). It is very likely that some hunters’ rifles will not perform well with non-lead ammo, which is one of the reasons that I think the ban is a bad call. Poor accuracy results in wounded and crippled animals, which is a terrible experience for any hunter (not to mention the animal).

Effectiveness is another hot issue. Personally, I’ve witnessed nearly 100 percent quick kills with non-lead, but I do see where less-than-ideal hits would result in a lost animal. The complaint is that copper bullets do not expand sufficiently to create a large wound channel, and they pass completely through the animal without delivering sufficient energy or internal damage (which is the reason that big game hunting with military, full-metal jacket ammo is illegal in this state). It’s an issue that bears objective research by DFG, because if it’s true that the non-lead ammo is truly resulting in less humane kills and more lost and wounded animals, the ban should be repealed immediately.

Finally, the myth of availability… non-lead ammo is NOT “widely” available for “all” rifles. It is available for the most common centerfire hunting rifles, but not for many less common calibers.

It is not available for most rimfire calibers either, with the exception of .22 magnum. Winchester has reported development of a .22 long-rifle (one of the most common small game rounds in the country), but that round is still not available for general purchase. For hunters shooting vermin (rats, ground squirrels, etc.) rimfire is the only practical and affordable option… so many of them probably ARE ignoring the law, because there is no alternative except to buy new guns or stop hunting.

There are other ways to achieve a lead-safe environment, short of an all-out lead ammo ban. There are many bullets, for example that leave nominal lead traces or particles in game. It’s also been shown that shotgun slugs and muzzleloader bullets don’t generally fragment, and can be recovered intact from a game animal… leaving nothing behind to threaten carrion eaters.

It’s probably too late to take this approach in CA, unfortunately, but I hope hunters and hunter advocates in other states can learn from the mistakes made in CA.

I’m gearing up today to go put in a few hours for the US Sportsmen’s Alliance at a Trailblazers event.  It’ll be my first event with the USSA, and I’m really looking forward to it. 

I’ve gotta roll out of here in an hour or so, and really didn’t intend to do a full write-up about the organization or the Trailblazer program.  You can read more than I could write anyway at their website, and I encourage you to go check it out (if you don’t know about them already). 

Here’s the press release for today’s event.  Find out about more events in your area, and if you have some time, get out and give a little bit of your “right now”, in exchange for our future.

Golden Empire Council to Host National Youth Outdoor Program

(Sacramento) – The Golden Empire Council, BSA Buttes District will host a Trailblazer Adventure Day on April 18 at Grey Lodge Wildlife Area in Butte County.
Trailblazer Adventure, a program of the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation (USSAF), is designed to introduce families to outdoor activities and promote an outdoor lifestyle.  Hundreds of youth and their families will participate in the upcoming Trailblazer Adventure Day.

The USSAF Trailblazer Adventure Program has been honored with the Take Pride in America® award by the Dept. of Interior for its leadership in recruiting youth and families to the experiences of hunting and fishing and for teaching them about outdoor activities and conservation. The USSAF is one of the Take Pride in America Charter Partners, who work to improve public lands, historic sites and other recreation areas.

Trailblazer is also endorsed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s (NSSF) STEP OUTSIDE Program and NSSF is a major sponsor.

Groups involved in the program include the USSAF; the Golden Empire Council and the California Department of Fish and Game.  Other groups providing their expertise include the California Waterfowl Association, California Deer Association, California Hunter Education, California Houndsmen for Conservation and NWTF-Yuba Sutter Chapter.

“These partners give young people the chance to experience a variety of outdoor activities including archery, firearm safety, trapper education and many other conservation education programs,” said Phil Loughlin, USSAF  California Local Field Director. “Trailblazer’s success is possible because of the many groups working together to give this opportunity to youth and their families.”

Youth-serving partnerships include:  Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, Campfire USA, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club, Girls Incorporated and YMCA.

Conservation organization partnerships include: National Shooting Sports Foundation, Masters of Foxhounds Association of America, Fur Takers of America, National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), its state chapters and the NWTF JAKES program, Ohio Division of Wildlife, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources- Wildlife, Wild Sheep Foundation, ESPN BASS, Kentucky Fur Takers Association, Safari Club International Foundation, Safari Club International Golden Gate Chapter, United Taxidermist Association (UTA), Hidden Haven Hunting Preserve, local sportsmen’s clubs, and the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit.
Special partnerships: Three of the aforementioned organizations have signed agreements to provide leadership at Trailblazer events.  These groups are the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), its state chapters, and the NWTF JAKES program, ESPN BASS, and the United Taxidermy Association.

Also indispensable to the success of Trailblazer are generous financial sponsors including the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, Ohio Division of Wildlife, Bushnell Performance Optics, Cabela’s, Charles Daly and the Crosman Corporation.

Additional support: The Lee and Ramona Bass Foundation, Shikar-Safari Club International Foundation, Mrs. Mary A. Cabela, William H. Flowers Jr. Foundation, Alan & Barbara Sackman, McBean Family Foundation, Bicknell Fund, Hampe Family Foundation, Inc., Mr. Richard C. Hampe, JCK  Foundation, U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, West Virginia Trophy Hunters Association, and the Big Game Hunters Foundation.

For more information about the Trailblazer Adventure program, e-mail trailblazer@ussportsmen.org or visit www.trailblazeradventure.org.