Posted on 10/19/2022 6:32:47 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Wild pigs on the Central Coast continue to be a growing problem as they extend their range of damage and county park leaders now looking at hiring a private hunter to help eradicate the problem.
“It gets very very frustrating. Our parks are the jewels of our community,” said Mike LeBarre, mayor of King City.
LeBarre is referring to San Lorenzo Park in King City which was the latest target of the wild hogs. They ripped up the grass this week in search of grubs, insect larvae hidden beneath the grass. The damage is estimated to be thousands of dollars in manpower and materials.
“What the pigs do when they come in the damage they cause it's more than just today it will take weeks, and weeks and weeks just to get that grass back in place where it's starting to grow again,” said LeBarre.
The wild pigs have also ripped into the playing fields at Toro Park and earlier this year one pig destroyed a restroom at Lake San Antonio when it got trapped inside.
“They do cause so much damage that, you know, they need there needs to be a solution to it. And we're doing the best we can,” said Bryan Flores, chief of Monterey County Parks.
Flores said park rangers have set up traps to capture the pigs and “humanely dispatch” them as rangers describe it. In a two-week span, rangers captured 30 pigs but the growing pig population is outpacing any effort to eradicate the problem.
Recommended PG&E outage on Monterey Peninsula, oct 19Power restored to PG&E customers on Monterey Peninsula “It seems like a lot but when you're talking about a pig population down there, hundreds of pigs, and within a year, a sow can have three to four litters of, you know, 8 to 10 pigs… it's exponential growth and you can't even stay ahead of it,” said Flores.
That's why Monterey County will soon bring in a private trapper to help get rid of the wild pigs.
“A vendor that we're going to contract with that will come out, set up traps and then dispatch the pig when they catch one, and you know, we have a couple of traps at each park, but, you know, they have 30, 40, 50 traps that they can set up,” Flores said.
And just last month, the governor signed legislation that will make it easier and cheaper for hunters to kill wild pigs. The annual damage to public parks and private property including agriculture fields is estimated to be in the billions of dollars. And drought conditions are forcing the pigs out of the wild in search of food and water.
“They're going further and further into places they normally wouldn't go which is closer to people,” said mayor LeBarre.
Ping
Just enlist a few country boys with crossbows. Silent death. No hand wringing from the metrosexuals.
“Wild Pigs Destroying Parks in South Monterey County”
Make them wear Body Cams and FIRE the ones who are causing the trouble.
Few hunters with silencers and Thermal scopes.
The original pigs (boars) were brought in to be hunted also.
They’re so helpless they can’t even think for themselves
They can’t even handle wild boars but want us to entrust them to run the government and manage our tax money
Did you know that the door gunner was originally cast as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman?
Yes I did. “Ain’t war hell?”
The problem are the locations. Pigs are in an area where people are live, playing sports, and boating.
California has one of the better hunting regulations when it comes to pigs. You need a hunting license with wild pig. There are no daily limits and it’s open season year round.
I’m sure more than a few experienced Texans would be glad to deal with this problem fairly swiftly.
Porky could not be reached for comment.
We now have feral hogs that have traveled north into Minnesota due to climate change.
Well, if the economy keeps going the way it is, the feral hog population will be solved without any problem.
They are, after all, food.
I escaped Kali over thirty years ago.
This was a problem back then.
What really annoys Monterrey residents is when the pigs tear up the golf courses.
The refrain has always been, “Do something about the wild pigs, BUT DON’T HURT THEM!”
The answer is a bounty allowing archery or cross-bows.
And be careful wondering around in Kali parks as certain Immigrant groups are fond of setting up Punji Pits in them.
I read an article by a wildlife biologist that stated you have to cull 70% of the herd annually just to keep it level. They really breed fast!
“I’m sure more than a few experienced Texans would be glad to deal with this problem fairly swiftly.”
Occasionally I have some on my land West of Salado, Texas but just by evidence of them rooting. Not a problem yet. If they become a problem, I will build a wild pig trap and just simply trap and kill them. The big ones will be left for the buzzards, they do not taste good. The small ones will become excellent sausage.
We don’t have them here and so I don’t hunt them, but I have read quite a bit about hunting them.
The most impressive story I read was by a TX farmer that built a corral type enclosure with a gate that would allow entry but not exit. In the center they put corn soaked in diesel fuel. They said that soaking it in diesel caused the hogs to crave it, almost like bears go after honey.
The writer was a woman, by the way, and she said that they caught 148 in a very short time. I don’t remember the time frame.
There are also some outstanding videos on the internet of hunters shooting them at night with AR-10’s and AR-15’s with IR scopes.
At night from elevated blinds over bait.
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