Stray pig

[rabler]

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.

 

[NCjeeper]

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.

 

[RJSakowski]

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.

 

[Manual Mac]

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

 

[rabler]

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.

 

[rabler]

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.

 

[rabler]

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

 

[Bi11Hudson]

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]

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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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 …

 

[Nutfarmer]

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