# Stray pig



## rabler (Mar 3, 2022)

So this is stray pet pig #3.  They keep getting bigger with each new intruder.  How long am I obliged to wait before shooting it?  I try to ask myself how I tolerant I would  want  someone to be if our horses got loose.

Pig #1 was around 15 years ago in Georgia.  Maybe 20lbs.  I rescued it from the mare paddock before it got trampled to death.  In gratitude it made a wallow in our driveway.  After a week I headed out of the house, 1911 in hand, to shoot it.  A distant neighbor showed up moments before I reached the pig, looking for his kid’s pet.  Glad that worked out.

Pig #2 was last summer.  Maybe 35-40 lbs.  After a week it started discovering the horse feed and eating it out of the buckets before my wife could pass them out to the horses.  Animal services was not helpful.  Ended up shooting it.

This one is 50-60 lbs.  Obviously use to being around people.  Not intimidated by our help’s pit bull mix.  It has been showing up frequently in the last week.  Initially one of the mares worked it over but they’ve become complacent, although the stallions feel otherwise.  

I’m suspicious that we’re getting animals dumped on us by people who no longer want to take care of them.  We’ve been trying to keep up with the stray cat population, getting them fixed.  It gets expensive.  I have yet to resort to castrating the males myself as a former farm vet trained me in that skill.  

It just bugs me to deal with other people’s rejects.

Thanks for listening to my grumbling.


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## NCjeeper (Mar 3, 2022)

My sister lives out in the country and people are constantly dumping their animals. Pretty despicable when all the have to do is call animal control and they will come and pick them up so the animals can be rehomed.


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## RJSakowski (Mar 3, 2022)

At 150 -200 lbs, they make excellent chops, ham,  and bacon.  Feral pigs used to run in our neighborhood a 100 years ago.  The farmer had hog fencing but was lax in keeping it up.  They were eventually wiped out.  Probably during the depression when food was hard to come by.


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## Manual Mac (Mar 3, 2022)

I feel your pain. I have chicken’s & 3 Soay sheep, pasture  trimmers/pets.
i have very good fences, & I maintain them. My animals do not get out.
But we have from time to time acquired other folks animals (that just show up) from time to time.
i haven’t had to resort to shooting any yet but I understand your dilemma.
good luck


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## rabler (Mar 3, 2022)

RJSakowski said:


> At 150 -200 lbs, they make excellent chops, ham,  and bacon.  Feral pigs used to run in our neighborhood a 100 years ago.  The farmer had hog fencing but was lax in keeping it up.  They were eventually wiped out.  Probably during the depression when food was hard to come by.


I was about to say I don’t remember wild pigs there, but my experience in your neck of the world was well after the depression.

S.E. Georgia had feral pigs too.  But they were wild enough to not set up shop in someone’s yard.


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## rabler (Mar 3, 2022)

NCjeeper said:


> My sister lives out in the country and people are constantly dumping their animals. Pretty despicable when all the have to do is call animal control and they will come and pick them up so the animals can be rehomed.


Our county’s animal control is a non-profit rather than a government agency, although they seem to have some loose affiliation.  Anyway they are basically a cat/dog operation.  They didn’t quite say they would not do anything about pig #2, but kept putting us off in a roundabout way.


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## rabler (Mar 3, 2022)

Manual Mac said:


> I feel your pain. I have chicken’s & 3 Soay sheep, pasture  trimmers/pets.
> i have very good fences, & I maintain them. My animals do not get out.
> But we have from time to time acquired other folks animals (that just show up) from time to time.
> i haven’t had to resort to shooting any yet but I understand your dilemma.
> good luck


Every once in a while we have had horses get out of their primary pastures, usually by opening a gate that we neglected to double latch.  The barns have a secondary fence and gate across the driveway so they don’t get off our property.  Sometimes annoying to deal with the additional gate, but I consider it part of being responsible


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## Bi11Hudson (Mar 3, 2022)

rabler said:


> S.E. Georgia had feral pigs too. But they were wild enough to not set up shop in someone’s yard.


Hogs, most any animal, will go where the food is. A farm is easy food, a back yard is not as but still easier than the woods. Feral hogs in the deep south have been a situation for as far back as history was recorded. The small ones (under 100 pounds) don't have the tusks, yet. . . If a boar gets out of a pen, he will grow tusks within a few months of becoming feral. I can't comment on sows, boars are ill tempered enough. If you want to pen feral pigs when they're young, they should domesticate fairly easy. Once they're grown, killing is the best way to deal with them. I've been treed a couple times, central Fla, by angry boars. They have thick skulls. I was sitting in a tree at essentially point blank range, so I *don't think* I missed. The meat was probably OK, we (the swamp rat and me) left them lay in the swamp. He grew up there, his grandfather grew up there. His great grandmother used a hole as a playpen. Threw in a chicken. . . If the chicken squawked, something needed to be seen to. They never ate feral hogs, the meat was questionable at best.

.


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## rabler (Mar 3, 2022)

Bi11Hudson said:


> Hogs, most any animal, will go where the food is. A farm is easy food, a back yard is not as but still easier than the woods. Feral hogs in the deep south have been a situation for as far back as history was recorded. The small ones (under 100 pounds) don't have the tusks, yet. . . If a boar gets out of a pen, he will grow tusks within a few months of becoming feral. I can't comment on sows, boars are ill tempered enough. If you want to pen feral pigs when they're young, they should domesticate fairly easy. Once they're grown, killing is the best way to deal with them. I've been treed a couple times, central Fla, by angry boars. They have thick skulls. I was sitting in a tree at essentially point blank range, so I *don't think* I missed. The meat was probably OK, we (the swamp rat and me) left them lay in the swamp. He grew up there, his grandfather grew up there. His great grandmother used a hole as a playpen. Threw in a chicken. . . If the chicken squawked, something needed to be seen to. They never ate feral hogs, the meat was questionable at best.
> 
> .


Ossabaw island near Savannah is a state owned reserve after the previous owner got behind on taxes.  (Many of the islands in that area were winter get aways for NYC millionaires in days long past).  As part of maintaining the island, the state DNR keeps a few people on the island which is not open for general public access.  One of their  primary duties is shooting wild hogs to keep them from decimating the island.  Given the size of the island, it is a never ending job.

editted to add:
Looks like the island is slightly more accessible now than it was in the 2003 timeframe. Interesting tour back then …


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## Nutfarmer (Mar 3, 2022)

I would feed it until butcher weight and if not claimed by then,I would enjoy the pork chops.


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## rabler (Mar 4, 2022)

Nutfarmer said:


> I would feed it until butcher weight and if not claimed by then,I would enjoy the pork chops.


Unless caught and penned, the things are too destructive to keep around.  My neighbor had much less favorable words …


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## matthewsx (Mar 4, 2022)

My friend is a wildlife biologist. He says they don’t belong here, shoot them and leave for other critters to eat.


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## jwmay (Mar 4, 2022)

rabler said:


> I’m suspicious that we’re getting animals dumped on us by people who no longer want to take care of them


I'd say you're right. I'll ask someone if they want to go collect it. Gimme a day to ask. Lol.


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## rabler (Mar 4, 2022)

I'm going to give it through the weekend in case someone with a day job comes looking then.


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## Firebrick43 (Mar 4, 2022)

Loose pigs should be shot on sight.  They are so destructive and revert back into wild pigs in just 2 or 3 generations.  Wild pigs are mean and kill people.  A woman was killed in 2019 in texas when a wild pig attacked her as she walked to front door of the house she was caretaker in.


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## RJSakowski (Mar 4, 2022)

Nutfarmer said:


> I would feed it until butcher weight and if not claimed by then,I would enjoy the pork chops.


The only caveat is that you should make sure it isn't a boar.  I made that mistake once, never again.  It put me right off pork.


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## Janderso (Mar 4, 2022)

RJSakowski said:


> The only caveat is that you should make sure it isn't a boar.  I made that mistake once, never again.  It put me right off pork.


RJ,
Would you please explain your comment.
I don’t know much about this subject But I do find it very interesting.
I have watched some videos on the baiting, trapping and shooting of wild pigs in Texas and Georgia.
Nasty animals. Fast too.


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## RJSakowski (Mar 4, 2022)

Janderso said:


> RJ,
> Would you please explain your comment.
> I don’t know much about this subject But I do find it very interesting.
> I have watched some videos on the baiting, trapping and shooting of wild pigs in Texas and Georgia.
> Nasty animals. Fast too.


Uncastrated pigs have a distinctive flavor about them.  At 150 -200 lbs, they may have not matured to that point yet.  Our hog was around 350 lbs.   The same holds for uncastrated sheep and goats.  

I've watched some of the videos of shooting feral hogs down south.  I've also read accounts of hunting feral hogs in Texas with a javelin.  That's truely a one on one sport where there is a fifty-fifty chance the hog will win.


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## davidpbest (Mar 4, 2022)

rabler said:


> So this is stray pet pig #3.  They keep getting bigger with each new intruder.  How long am I obliged to wait before shooting it?  I try to ask myself how I tolerant I would  want  someone to be if our horses got loose.
> 
> Pig #1 was around 15 years ago in Georgia.  Maybe 20lbs.  I rescued it from the mare paddock before it got trampled to death.  In gratitude it made a wallow in our driveway.  After a week I headed out of the house, 1911 in hand, to shoot it.  A distant neighbor showed up moments before I reached the pig, looking for his kid’s pet.  Glad that worked out.
> 
> ...


I had a wife like that once.


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## jwmay (Mar 5, 2022)

Firebrick43 said:


> Loose pigs should be shot on sight. They are so destructive and revert back into wild pigs in just 2 or 3 generations. Wild pigs are mean and kill people. A woman was killed in 2019 in texas when a wild pig attacked her as she walked to front door of the house she was caretaker in.


I'd hate to ask how ya feel about humans! Lol. Many thousands more have been attacked and killed by other humans since 2019. And talk about destructive! Remember that exxon valdez?!


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## Firebrick43 (Mar 5, 2022)

jwmay said:


> I'd hate to ask how ya feel about humans! Lol. Many thousands more have been attacked and killed by other humans since 2019. And talk about destructive! Remember that exxon valdez?!


??? They are not humans, they are pigs.  I have never seen a born in the wild pig that wasn't aggressive and tore things up.  As in 100 percent of them.  Its in the pigs nature.

On the other hand there is a very small percentage of humans that do so.  Not that I deny that it happens.  But if its in humans nature just to tear things up our "civilization" and its upbringing teaches that out of them.  Although I think we have passed the peak and are heading on a downward slide.

  But yea, if someone threatens me or my family, they will end up the same as the 4 legged varmints. I did my part serving in the Marine Corps in Iraq in 2003.


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## jwmay (Mar 5, 2022)

Ok. Sorry you didn't like my joke.
They aren't always that good, so I try to make it up with volume.


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## rabler (Mar 5, 2022)

davidpbest said:


> I had a wife like that once.


Shooting her wasn’t an option even if the thought occurred to you?


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## rabler (Mar 5, 2022)

This one appears to be male, havent gotten too close though so not positive.

Research indicates that prostate cancer metastasis is facilitated by fat in the diet/bloodstream.  I’m still undergoing long term treatment  from stage 3b cancer, i.e., multiple positive lymph nodes on surgery which was followed by radiation and chemo/hormone treatment.  For this reason pork is not something I still eat.  Otherwise I would consider butchering it myself at current weight.


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## brino (Mar 5, 2022)

@rabler,

It is certainly not fair that you are getting other people's problems dumped on you.
Too bad some people have not matured enough to take some responsibility.

I had a friend that advised the following plan for repeat nuisance animals; shoot, shovel and shut-up.
Do as you see fit.

Brian


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## rabler (Mar 5, 2022)

brino said:


> @rabler,
> 
> It is certainly not fair that you are getting other people's problems dumped on you.
> Too bad some people have not matured enough to take some responsibility.
> ...


Based on text with my neighbor, it has been 2 weeks as of this morning since the pig first appeared.  I checked my cellphone, didn't realize it had been that long.  The problem has been resolved.  Until the next idiot dumps something.  I blame the people, not the animals.


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## cwilliamrose (Mar 5, 2022)

We had a feral pig problem about eight years ago. They had always been here but for some reason the population exploded and they were damaging lawns as well as the wetlands on our property. I hired a trapper but we managed to only trap raccoons. After that it was time for firearms. There was a mom with six piglets and no male that were resident in our wetlands.

One day I heard them heading through the wetlands toward our driveway and I decided to 'meet' them when they emerged at near the driveway. I got serveral shots at mom as she charged me but she turned and headed back into the wetlands as I scored more hits. She got about 50 yards before collapsing motionless in a clear area of the wetland. The piglets gathered around her and I was very tempted to pick them off but I reasoned that they would make good prey for the bobcats and coyotes so I didn't shoot them. Some months later it became clear that three of them had survived and were doing just fine. I guess I'd have made a different choice if I had known we didn't have enough predators here.

After a couple of days the vultures had the carcass pretty well handled.


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## Nutfarmer (Mar 5, 2022)

It's not only people that will dump animals in rural areas. We had a government organization plant red fox at the farm. They are protected so  they aren't supposed to be shot. It wasn't long until all the chickens were gone and five or six  peacock were missing. They even had the nerve to  place a trail  cam  baited with chicken on private property , with a sign not to disturb it. No one would take responsibility for this.


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## rabler (Mar 5, 2022)

Nutfarmer said:


> It's not only people that will dump animals in rural areas. We had a government organization plant red fox at the farm. They are protected so  they aren't supposed to be shot. It wasn't long until all the chickens were gone and five or six  peacock were missing. They even had the nerve to  place a trail  cam  baited with chicken on private property , with a sign not to disturb it. No one would take responsibility for this.


Yep, that would get me more than a little irritated.  I guess if no one takes responsibility then they would not miss their camera either.

We have plenty of fox, which I don’t mind.  Even more coyotes, which my understanding is that in Indiana can be shot on your own land at any time without a permit.


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## eugene13 (Mar 5, 2022)

Shoot, Shovel and Shut up, wolf management in Montana, works for us.


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## Firebrick43 (Mar 5, 2022)

rabler said:


> Even more coyotes, which my understanding is that in Indiana can be shot on your own land at any time without a permit.


If racoon, squirrel, rabbit, possum, fox or coyotes are a nuisance, then yes you can in Indiana on your own property.  DO NOT keep the fur however, if you do you are violating the hunting regulations then.


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## Nutfarmer (Mar 6, 2022)

In California crows are a game bird with a season. Fish and game even published recipes for them. There is a good reason for the old saying eating crow.


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## Bi11Hudson (Mar 6, 2022)

A few years back, before the I'net exploded, there was a buddy of mine at one of the mills where I worked. He had a coyote captured in a small town caged in his pickup. Some animal rights folks got wind of it and when they showed up in the parking lot, called him out. When he went out to the parking lot, they started in on him with lots of legal mumbo-jumbo. While they were yelling, he reached into his glove box, took out a revolver, and shot the coyote in the cage. Coyote are (at least were) considered the same as feral hogs. Shoot on sight, no season, no limit. They shut up and left, he locked the revolver and went back to work. . . This in an urban location. No cops were called.

.


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