Hog wild: Parks, native plants, animals victims of increasing pig population

The San Jose Mercury News ^ | Tue, Dec. 17, 2002 | Priyanka Sharma-Sindhar Special to the Mercury News

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

It's early morning at Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve, just south of Palo Alto, and park ranger Susannah Anderson-Minshall sets out for a routine inspection in her truck. She soon notices something that makes her slam on the brakes.

A creek that was filled with fresh water until yesterday now looks like a muddy bog. The ground all around is dug up, and ferns and plants lie trampled. She doesn't need to look at the huge, round, footprints in the mud to guess where the blame lies. The culprits are wild pigs, non-native, sharp-tusked, black bristly marauders who have been causing havoc across Northern California's landscape with increasing frequency.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

A creek that was filled with fresh water until yesterday now looks like a muddy bog. The ground all around is dug up, and ferns and plants lie trampled. She doesn't need to look at the huge, round, footprints in the mud to guess where the blame lies. The culprits are wild pigs, non-native, sharp-tusked, black bristly marauders who have been causing havoc across Northern California's landscape with increasing frequency.

WHO LET THE LIBERALS OUT ...OINK...OINK...OINK...OINK

[toddst]

They could make a lot of money selling permits, but instead they spend thousands of dollars to trap and release a handful of them, and in a few months it's right back to the same old story.

You are correct. However, I thought these folks primarily wanted to control - perhaps eliminate - the pigs. I guess not or they would be inviting hunters in. Beyond belief.

[toddst]

Though i've never killed one, I did track wild boar in the Everglades, Big Cypress during dry season when I was a kid. Once one of these guys goes into the thicket growth of a hammock, the only way i'd go in after them is with a large caliber handgun.

Your comments bring reality to the situation. I have used .44 Magnum chambered revolvers as a backup, the primary weapon being a Winchester model 94 lever-action chambered for .44 Magnum (performance is higher from a rifle.) This is a minimum weapon for use on boar - unless you have a death-wish.

[Hugin]

However, I thought these folks primarily wanted to control - perhaps eliminate - the pigs. I guess not or they would be inviting hunters in.

This is a very liberal area, so don't expect logic on the part of the local officals. A combination of animal rights types, anti-gunners, soccer moms who don't their kiddies to see dead animals, and those who just think hunting is the provice of neandrathal rednecks and sadists combine to shoot down any reasonable discussion of the idea.

[toddst]

A combination of animal rights types, anti-gunners, soccer moms who don't want their kiddies to see dead animals, and those who just think hunting is the provice of neandrathal rednecks and sadists combine to shoot down any reasonable discussion of the idea.

I would say you are exactly right and under these circumstances the pigs win. How unfortunate.

[FreetheSouth!]

Have you ever tried to skin a pig? I wouldn't recomend it! With a sow, you scrape 'em, don't skin 'em. With a bore, you feed it to the dogs and hope they have strong stomachs(and that you live up wind).

[crystalk]

How did "30 tusked boars" "birth piglets" at the apartment complex?

I am not sure that even 100 times that many boars could have done it.

[MarkL]

Nothing that a S&W Model 29, or one of those nifty Ruger .44Mag carbines wouldn't take care of!

All those years that people have been doing handgun siloutte shooting at plate steel pigs can come in handy!
Mark

[catpuppy]

Must admit I have not. I did come home one day to find that wild hogs had carved ditches through my little patch of woods, uprooting stones and whatever else got in their way. A call to the 2nd Amendment believing good old boys who lived nearby took care of the problem.

[Happy2BMe]

I say round 'em all up, load 'em on C130's, hook a parachute up to their a$$e$ and mass airdrop them over Baghdad!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I say round 'em all up, load 'em on C130's, hook a parachute up to their a$$e$ and mass airdrop them over Baghdad!

Now that is a great idea!

[185JHP]

What effect would Ritalin have on these beasts? Could it be put in their waterholes? Failing that, how about tagging and lobotomizing them? That assault on the apartment complex could be an entertaining TV movie. Does Martin Sheen know about this? How big is his estate?

[strela]

With a bore, you feed it to the dogs and hope they have strong stomachs(and that you live up wind).

Wonderful idea, but feeding your tedious party guests to the dogs will get you talked about. Being a bore should indeed merit the death penalty, but its not PC to actually come out and say it.

[CurlyDave]

Your comments bring reality to the situation. I have used .44 Magnum chambered revolvers as a backup, the primary weapon being a Winchester model 94 lever-action chambered for .44 Magnum (performance is higher from a rifle.) This is a minimum weapon for use on boar - unless you have a death-wish.

I have killed 5 wild pigs with a Bowie knife and two with a .308.

The .308 is safer and brings them down every time, but the knife is more exciting.

[CurlyDave]

Your comments bring reality to the situation. I have used .44 Magnum chambered revolvers as a backup, the primary weapon being a Winchester model 94 lever-action chambered for .44 Magnum (performance is higher from a rifle.) This is a minimum weapon for use on boar - unless you have a death-wish.

I have killed 5 wild pigs with a Bowie knife and two with a .308.

The .308 is safer and brings them down every time, but the knife is more exciting.

[SierraWasp]

Ya know... I wuz jus thinkin... Too bad that nut that drove his eighteen wheeler into the Crapitol a coupla years ago didn't have a load uv these muthas on board! If thay'd excaped the flames without bein BBQ'ed, they coulda layed waste to the place... especially Steve Peace's office since he wuz still there at the time.

"No Steve! It ain't the attack of the Killer Tomatoes! It's liberal PORK that's turned on ya! Yee Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

[SierraWasp]

Oops, I meant ta ping yew tew that last one!

Have ya been pilin up sandbags taday?

[SierraWasp]

"WHO LET THE LIBERALS OUT ...OINK...OINK...OINK...OINK"

Thanks fer bringin a grin ta my face.

Hey! Didn't you do a bowing out thread the other day? Maybe I've got you cornfused with somebody else.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

"No Steve! It ain't the attack of the Killer Tomatoes! It's liberal PORK that's turned on ya! Yee Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

ROFL!!

[Datom]

Is there some way they could be herded down to the Mexican border? Could solve 2 problems at once.