The Hog Blog

No, really.  It’s not a scene from a Japanese monster movie.  Germany is having a significant issue with radioactive wild boar roaming the countryside… on top of the problem they’ve been having with the booming population. 

Thanks to Kat for bringing this to my attention, following a brief report she just heard on NPR.  I did a quick follow-up and found the source article by Charles Hawley, in The Spiegel Online.  Here’s how it begins:

As Germany’s wild boar population has skyrocketed in recent years, so too has the number of animals contaminated by radioactivity left over from the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Government payments compensating hunters for lost income due to radioactive boar have quadrupled since 2007.

It’s no secret that Germany has a wild boar problem. Stories of marauding pigs hit the headlines with startling regularity: Ten days ago, a wild boar attacked a wheelchair-bound man in a park in Berlin; in early July, a pack of almost two dozen of the animals repeatedly marched into the eastern German town of Eisenach, frightening residents and keeping police busy; and on Friday morning, a German highway was closed for hours after 10 wild boar broke through a fence and waltzed onto the road.

Even worse, though, almost a quarter century after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in Ukraine, a good chunk of Germany’s wild boar population remains slightly radioactive — and the phenomenon has been costing the German government an increasing amount of money in recent years.

According to the Environment Ministry in Berlin, almost €425,000 ($555,000) was paid out to hunters in 2009 in compensation for wild boar meat that was too contaminated by radiation to be sold for consumption. That total is more than four times higher than compensation payments made in 2007.

Read the rest of the piece here.

Sounds kind of dire.  Even without the radiation issues, the booming boar population is a real problem.  According to the article, German hunters killed almost three times as many wild boar in 2008-2009 as they did the previous year.  Warmer winters and an expansion of corn farming are blamed for the burgeoning swine numbers. 

Man, and Texas thought they had a problem!

Today seems like a good day for a new edition of the Porcine Press.  Why?  Mostly because I couldn’t think of anything else to write about.

So, for starters, here’s a big one from South Carolina.  As reported in several SC news sources, including the SunNews, the SC legislature has passed some new laws related to hunting… and in particular, to hog hunting:

New laws, passed by the legislature this year, aim to rein in three problem species – wild hogs, coyotes and renegade hunters.

All three have been spreading in recent years, according to wildlife officials and law-abiding hunters. The bills passed this legislative session won’t get rid of any of the problems, but they could slow their spread.

The hog bill received little attention but might be the most important of the changes, according to wildlife officials. One provision makes it illegal to capture wild hogs and transport them to other areas of the state. The law also allows night hunting of hogs.

Of course, the article goes on to list the standard reasons that wild hogs are “bad” and must be managed.  Among the risks of disease and crop damage, they also talk about the potential damage to ecosystems.  I don’t completely disagree with all of that reasoning, of course, but I really wish they’d do a little more research to support the “environmental damage” claims.  (Sorry, slipping into broken record mode…) 

Anyway, something that I do totally agree with is the argument that a good reason these animals are expanding so quickly across the state is that hunting clubs and landowners are trapping and transporting them.  Until now, that activity hasn’t really been illegal, but it’s pretty short-sighted.  I attribute it not so much to people not caring, as to simple ignorance and poor understanding of the Law of Unintended Consequences.  You’d think that, with all the problems southern farmers have had with the exploding deer populations, bringing in another crop pest that is even more prolific and destructive would be the last thing local landowners would want to do.  But there ya go…

As far as the night shooting, I’m definitely unopposed to that tactic.  As a control method, it’s probably one of the best ways outside of largescale trapping or poison.  I wouldn’t be too surprised to see night shooting opened up in other states too, before much longer.  I do wish I had stock in a nightvision company right now, though, as I fully expect to see the sales of these devices to jump.  I also expect to see more outfits like JagerPro taking assorted nimrods into the field to experience a night hunt. 

The other note of interest to me from this SC legislative session, was the restriction on hound hunters from running their dogs on property boundaries without the expressed permission of the neighboring landowner.  The problem, getting worse for years, was that some houndsmen let their deer dogs run onto neighboring properties.  While the majority of legitimate hunting clubs and groups work hard to control this, there are an awful lot of so-called “renegades” who intentionally allow their dogs to range private property.  Antiquated range laws allowed them to enter private land to “recover their stock”, so they’d use the old laws to essentially hunt wherever they felt like it.  There was little recourse for the landowner, and many of these incidents turned into physical altercations.  People have been shot and killed over it.

In my opinion, this was a much-needed ruling.  I hope NC picks up the ball on this one and fashions their own law (I think they’re working on something as you can see over at the Moose Droppings blog). 

In other news, I stumbled across a kind of cool article in a Nebraska news outlet, the Grand Island Independent.  Like many newspapers across the country, early summer is time for articles on vacation destinations.  However, most other newspapers aren’t writing about hunting opportunities.  This column in the Independent’s sports section isn’t earth-shattering or hugely newsworthy, but I really enjoyed reading some good, general discussion about hog hunting, followed by a report on a group that goes down to Texas for an annual hunt.  There’s not a lot of hyperbole about how dangerous or tough hogs can be, and except for some boilerplate about ecological damage, there’s not a lot damning the hogs for existing either.  It’s just a nicely written piece of work. 

And to wrap up, appropriately, with a little fluff from the entertainment industry.  I posted earlier this week that Pig Hunt was going to be released on DVD, and that they are in the running for theatrical release (go vote now, if you haven’t).  What I didn’t notice then was the new entry from South Korea, CHAW!  I guess the film is being screened now at the 2010 NY Asian Film Festival, and the reviews haven’t been too bad.  For example, you can see what The Brooklyn Rail had to say about it, or click over to the Fangoria site for another reasonably, lukewarm review.  No, neither of these flicks are likely to be considered great art on the scale of Citizen Kane or even Satyricon, but they promise a lot of grins and some content that’s custom made for sitting around a hog hunting camp after dark, with some friends, a bottle of tequila (or scotch) and some tasty snacks.

I haven’t done an edition of the Porcine Press in a while, and today just seems like a good time to get back into the flow.  So here goes…

First of all, we’ll head over to Arkansas where the Log Cabin Democrat has an article about the hogs’ spread through the state that’s nicknamed for wild boar (the Razorbacks).  Apparently the feral hogs have spread across the state, to all 75 counties, and there’s a little bit of confusion over which State department is in charge of managing them… the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission (agriculture) or the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.  For what it’s worth, however, the AGFC does have some basic rules regarding hunting the hogs. 

In the AGFC’s words, here are the condensed rules for feral hogs:

“On private land, feral hogs may be killed or trapped year-round, day or night, by a landowner or anyone with the landowner’s permission (except anyone who has had his or her hunting license revoked). All general regulations for hunting safety should be observed.

 “The AGFC encourages hunters to shoot all feral hogs they see on WMAs. Hunters may kill feral hogs on WMAs during daylight hours during any open hunting season as long as they are using a weapon legal for that season. Only permit holders may hunt feral hogs during special permit hunts. Feral hogs killed on WMAs can be taken for processing or left where they were shot. Hunters may not use dogs, bait or traps to hunt feral hogs on WMAs and may not hunt at night.

“The following WMAs have particularly high hog numbers — Cut-Off Creek WMA, Gulf Mountain WMA, Petit Jean River WMA, Dr. Lester Sitzes III Bois d’Arc WMA, Gene Rush WMA, Harold E. Alexander Spring River WMA, Sulphur River WMA and Shirey Bay Rainey Brake WMA.”

Yeah, you saw that… hunters can recover shot hogs, or leave them where they fell.  Later in the article, the author talks about eating wild hog but I think he really missed the boat.  Instead of talking about the excellent table fare, he short-shrifts the meat and warns about all the possible diseases, and ends up offering the worst advice ever… to cook the meat well done!  Well done is the ruin of any wild game!  Don’t do it! 

For a better take on wild hogs as table fare, check out this bit in the Naples News online edition.  Author Doris Reynolds runs a column called, “Let’s Talk Food,” and while she’s pretty obviously not going to become a big-time hunter, she certainly seemed to enjoy sharing the experience of her friend on this trip. 

I must confess that I have never hunted and can barely stomach the killing of any living critter. However when Jennifer brought down a wild boar I experienced a rush of excitement and pride in her marksmanship and skill. And a great deal of anticipation for consuming tasty ribs, roasts and chops.

 The recipe at the end of the article was probably written for domestic pork, but it looks like it would work great with some wild boar instead! 

Finally, here’s one from Manteca, CA (fun note to those who don’t already know, but “manteca” is Spanish for “lard”) in which the author mangles a few basic facts, but I’m excusing him for his exuberance over getting into hog hunting and killing his first hog. 

Getting afflicted worse and worse with boar fever, I began to carry my old 7 millimeter Mauser carbine with me.

I missed a running shot at a huge boar about 400 yards away. I didn’t feel too bad about missing,  because that’s a long shot even for a good rifleman. Then, a month later, I missed a couple uphill shots at forty yards that any idiot should have made.

It’s really embarrassing when your son says “Gee Dad, next time you should take a little more time and aim more carefully”.

This pig hunting can sure be humiliating.

Finally, on Memorial Day Weekend, I spotted a nice pig standing broadside at about 50 yards. This time I did everything right and actually shot my very first wild pig.

For the record, it wasn’t William R. Hearst who brought Eurasian wild boar to CA, although he may have been one of the first to openly complain about their destructive tendencies.  George Gordon Moore brought these animals from his farm on Hooper’s Bald, NC in the 1920s.  However, feral hogs had already been roaming CA (and much of the country) for almost 300 years prior to Mr. Moore’s experiment.  Hogs were brought overland by the Spanish explorers, and were likewise deposited on the shores by early shipping interests to provide an easily managed source of meat.  As animals escaped or were abandoned, they established small, self-sustaining populations wherever they weren’t wiped out by the natives or by other predators. 

That’s enough for this edition of the Porcine Press.  Stay tuned, as we keep our ears to the ground for more wild hog news!

Feral hogs are widely despised in Texas.  Many Lone Star State hunters, ranchers, and land managers curse the swine, and kill them with extreme prejudice.  None of this is news. 

But not every pig makes a nuisance of itself, as is the case with this helpful porker down near Bonney, TX. 

According to the article from the Texas Farm Bureau, “Squeaky” the pig has become quite the cattle-herder. 

“We were penning cattle and she started putting the cows together,” Mike says of the talented pig. “When a cow would break, she’d whip out there and bring it back in.”

Mike found the quarter-ton-of-fun as a piglet in a pasture lying next to her dead mother. He decided to take her in, something that had never crossed his mind before with other orphaned piglets. The half-pint showed no objection, not one squeal.

Named by his grandson, Squeaky has been Mike’s helper at the China Grove Ranch ever since. The patch of land is owned by baseball great Nolan Ryan. The Hall of Famer has even fallen victim to the porker’s pranks, watching her run off with his boots on occasion.

“She’s not really like a wild hog, more like a pet. She goes everywhere we go,” Mike says. “If we had a bull get out, we’d turn the pig out. She can do it easier than we can on horseback.”

Squeaky is more intimidating than a cow dog and even has her own bark. That’s one thing she’s sure to have picked up from her two canine co-workers.

Hmm… maybe a new, money-making option for all those hog trappers in Texas.  Start training cow pigs!

Hey all you folks in Southern California, it looks like those of you who’ve been wishing for huntable hogs can stop wishing and start hunting!  Check this out, from the San Diego Union Tribune.

It’s been more than seven months since the first documented kill of a wild hog in San Diego County.

Plenty have been killed since, especially by private landowners who don’t need wild-pig tags to kill them. Now there is a confirmed report of another kill, this one an estimated 200-pound sow taken on public land in the foothills of Palomar Mountain.

Scanning the Outdoor Pressroom today, I came across this story that was simply too good not to share.

Apparently, some yo-yo filed a complaint with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality because some hunters were defecating in the woods.  Apparently the cabin they’d leased did not have a bathroom facility, so these guys were just answering nature’s call naturally.  I don’t have any more details about the actual, alleged violations, but it does look like someone is just spending way too much time worrying about someone else’s business.

From what I read, I guess Judge Daniel Burkeen didn’t think too much of the charges either.  In a classic, straightforward Texas approach, Burkeen drafted up a pretty good summary of the “investigation” and his findings, including the following brilliant comments: 

“We have had some delay in our investigation of the incidents alleged in the complaint which you kindly forwarded to us,” Judge Burkeen wrote in his investigation report to TCEQ. “The problem is, we have recently had a rash of reports of cows, horses, sheep and goats defecating at will in pastures throughout the county.

“… we suspect that wild hogs, deer and all sorts of other animals are defecating without even trying to find a proper facility.

“In addition, I have personal proof on my windshield of a mischievous bird defecating in flight.  The culprit flew away, but I did get a description. It was red. The gift it left was white.”

One of the things I really love about Texas is a general feeling that folks should use a little common sense and personal responsibility.  I’m pretty sure that whoever filed this complaint had a larger agenda, but they sure picked a piss-poor way of getting positive results.  I think Judge Burkeen’s response was perfect!

Wow, how to lead this one off? 

Back when I lived in coastal NC, one of the things I loved to do was go flounder gigging.  In short, this is where you put a couple of submersible lights off the front of a small boat, then pole the shallows on a dark night, looking for the outline of a flounder in the sand and mud.  When you find one, you gig it (a flounder gig is a small trident on the end of a long pole) and flip it into the boat. 

It’s a world of fun, but it’s also sort of eerie out there.  You can really only see what’s right in front of you and under the boat.  Everything else is pitch black, and made blacker because the bright flounder lights kill your night vision.  Things flit in and out of the circle of light, going from visible to invisible in a flicker.  In the darkness and weird lighting, ordinary objects and sounds become unearthly.  There’s been more than one night out there that my friends and I have sort of freaked ourselves out.

I don’t know if I’ve properly set the stage for the story my friend Chris  Fullilove just sent me from coastal Texas (where flounder gigging is also popular).  By the way, if the writing seems a little dramatic, consider that it comes from a small, local, free newspaper - the Seabreeze News, out of San Leon, TX.  The tagline on their webpage describes San Leon as, “a small drinking community with a large fishing problem.”

You may want to click on the image to enlarge it if you can’t read the article.

Pretty crazy stuff, huh?  Thanks, Chris!

I realize that even though the Ethics Roundtable is going pretty well, I haven’t been posting all that much the last couple of weeks.  I really need to go hunting. 

There’s a lot going on out there in the world of hogs and hunting, so how about we take a quick look around to see who’s doing what?

First of all, my friend and fellow Skinny Moose blogger, Moose, has been covering the recent upswing in feral hog stories back in North Carolina’s Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  According to this article, the Eurasian hogs that have been there for decades are now being supplemented by feral hogs, which may or may not have been released by hunters.  They’re being blamed for significant damage to the Smoky Mountain ecosystem, and the park system folks are trying hard to come up with a solution.  Moose also had another story earlier about more hogs in the Tarheel State, this time in the central part of the state.  They’re spreading fast!

Down in South Carolina, feral hogs have been around for a while, but the State is apparently ready to do something drastic, at least with the animals living on one of the coastal islands.  According to this article in the Myrtle Beach Sun Times, the State will be bringing in hunters to control the population of hogs on North Island, a small barrier island on the ocean side of Winyah Bay.  Barrier islands are generally small, delicate ecosystems that provide nesting and shelter for many sea birds, sea turtles, and other creatures.  I can see where a burgeoning wild hog population would be unwelcome there.

“Feral hogs have continued to multiply on the island, causing destruction to the landscape and native plants, jeopardizing the nesting success of ground-nesting birds as well as sea turtle nests scattered along the beaches of (the island),’’ said Jamie Dozier, wildlife biologist with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

DNR officials hope the hunts can put a major dent in the hog population and help preserve the island. The hunts are part of an overall hog removal project on the Yawkey Wildlife Center. The agency will allow three, two-day hog hunts with dogs to take place on North Island only in February. The weekend hunts are scheduled for Feb. 12-13, 19-20 and 26-27 from sunrise to sunset only. North Island is only accessible after crossing Winyah Bay by boat and contains 1,410 acres of uplands and 1,703 acres of marsh. 

So all you SC hunters, here’s an opportunity to get in some hog hunting, fill your freezers, and help out the environment all in a weekend or two!  Step up!

Heading all the way over to Texas, a quick glance of recent news stories about wild hogs and boar shows a stack of articles like this one, all clamoring about the continued spread of these animals across the state.  The tone is almost always the same:

Feral hogs root and trample for acorns and other food, sometimes taking out large areas of crops or pasture. They are omnivorous and will also eat eggs, particularly those of ground-nesting turkeys, as well as small animals. The hogs are blamed for more than $52 million in losses to agriculture in the state each year, and are also blamed for water quality problems.

They can pass along diseases like brucellosis and pseudorabies (not related to rabies) to other wild and domestic animals. Tests conducted for the Texas Animal Health Commission show that about 20 percent of the hogs tested carried pseudorabies and about 10 percent carried brucellosis.

These concerns are very real, and have led Texas to allow some pretty harsh measures to control the spread, including night hunting and even aerial depredation.  The war is on!

What’s being done?  Well, many things as I’ve called out here before.  I know it’s a hot topic in a lot of places, and a lot of folks are talking.  There’s a Wild Pig Conference scheduled for April, in Pensacola, Florida… another state that’s currently “under seige” by feral pigs.  Here’s what it’s all about:

Damage caused by wild pigs is one of the greatest concerns to wildlife biologists and managers today. Wild pigs have the potential to cause ecological and economical destruction far surpassing any other invasive exotic vertebrate. The adaptive and prolific nature of these animals along with their capabilities for widespread devastation places their management as one of the top priorities for wildlife scientists. The International Wild Pig Conference is the only forum in the world that provides federal, state, and private stakeholders a venue to discuss biological, financial, and social implications specific to wild pig subsistence in our ecosystems. The conference will assemble experienced managers as well as those new to the wild pig industry in a professional, educational atmosphere.

(NOTE:  If any magazine editors or wealthy benefactors are reading this right now, I could sure use a sponsor to cover my costs to attend this conference.)

That’s about it for right now.  I’ve got some hunts coming up soon, so maybe I can finally get back to what I love… and write about something more fun than ethics debates or lead-free ammo!

My friend John, over at the Western Wanderer blog knows I”ve been trying to keep up with the spread of hogs across the U.S.  He was kind enough to send me this heads up from the Capital Press, an online agricultural news source.

You can read the article for yourselves, of course, but in summary, the ID farmers and authorities are concerned about the spread of wild hogs, apparently introduced by hunters (!!!).  The concern, of course, stems from the possibility that the swine carry diseases that can be transmitted to the livestock.  A single outbreak of brucellosis or pseudorabies can put a rancher out of business… and a major outbreak can shut down the whole region. 

I think the concerns over disease are maybe a little overblown, but they are realistic.  But what gets me is this part of the report:

In his communications with state and federal agencies, McDonnell said it is believed that hound hunters in the Bruneau Valley imported the Eurasian feral hogs from California, bred them to domestic hogs and released several trailer loads of the offspring in the area last year.

Oakey said officials are still trying to determine how the hogs got here, who is responsible and how many exist. They are also trying to determine which agency will have jurisdiction over the issue. USDA-APHIS and Idaho Fish & Game are also involved.

“We’re putting together a plan we can go to the governor with and show the agencies are working together,” said Idaho State Veterinarian Bill Barton.

The agencies’ first priorities are to determine the validity of reports, the extent of the problem and to put together a management plan to handle the issue, he said.

Charges could be filed in the incident, Oakey said.

I love hog hunting, I truly do.  And I can understand how some folks would want to have the experience in their own backyards (relatively).  But I can’t get behind the mindset of bringing in a known invasive, non-native species and turning it loose uncontrolled in a new habitat.  And yeah, I know that’s been the history behind many popular game species in this country… but most of that happened before folks understood the impacts of these actions. 

ID officials don’t think the population has grown very large at this point, but they don’t know the real extent.  I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if there are a lot more animals than they expect, though.  I’m interested in hearing what they do determine, and how they plan to manage the hogs. 

Thanks for sending this along, John!

I’ve read and shared an awful lot of stories from around the world regarding the environmental destruction caused by the wild boar and feral hogs.  Still though, if you read the reports carefully, folks seem to be most concerned about the possibility of damage and destruction… while there’s often little evidence of the actual incidence.   (Yes, the damage to actriculture is very real, but that’s a different story.)  Theoretically, of course, some of these fears are feasible, but you have to wonder just how bad these animals are on habitat.

With that in mind, it was refreshing to see this very different story about wild boar in the BBC news. 

Rather than being another tale about eradication or displacement, this one is about wild boar being reintroduced into the Caledonian forest in Glen Moriston, Inverness-shire.  The hope is that the hogs will control the growth of bracken, which tends to grow quickly in the understory and choke out other plants. 

I have to note that the wild boar is native to the area, so the introduction isn’t quite the same as turning hogs loose here in the U.S.  It’s likely that the extinction of the wild boar in the area had a lot to do with the overgrowth of bracken, so this is simply the repair of some damages done by man in the first place. 

But it does illustrate the possibility that wild hogs may play positive roles in the habitat, and that their appearance in certain areas may not be the ecological kiss of death that some folks would have us believe.  As I’ve said before, I think we need a lot more objective research into the impact that wild hogs have.  In some cases, a solid management plan may actually be much better for the habitat than continued eradication efforts. 

It definitely bears consideration.