“Really,” you ask? “Big bloody d’uh!”
Yeah, I know, it’s no news that hog populations are blossoming in Texas. Hell, it’s estimated that half the feral hogs in the US are in Texas right now, and the number is growing fast. Then why bother to post up more articles about the same old thing?
Well, partly because this is the time of year I start thinking of my annual Texas hunting trip (which may or may not happen this year). I just got my latest press release from Texas Parks and Wildlife, and it led me to an article in the TPW magazine, When Pigs and People Collide.
The article was pretty much the standard fare. Pigs are hard to control. Pigs are damaging crops, habitat, farm equipment, and threatening livestock with disease. Etc. Etc. Still, I can’t seem to keep myself from reading this stuff, and from time to time I’m rewarded with a solid quote, like this one:
“Control is the key word,” Boedeker tells me. “We can’t eradicate them because they breed too fast. This is the third time in the past couple of years that I’ve flown this ranch, and by the number of pigs I see each time I come here, you wouldn’t know that we’ve done anything. All we can do is hope to control them to the point that we can slow down the damage they cause.”
The Boedeker in the article is an animal control specialist and is licensed to perform aerial shooting, as well as other control measures. I like the pragmatic way he looks at the problem.
And then, as I was reading this, I got an email from Rex, over at the Deer Camp Blog. Rex was short on commentary, but just included a link to an article on CBS Local.com, out of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Apparently the wild hogs are moving right into the edges of the big city, and are tearing up lawns and landscaping in Irving, as well as in Dallas proper.
Again, the article really didn’t offer much that hasn’t already been said. Lots of hyperbole about the potential danger to people, and plenty of the same old thing about crop and ecosystem damage. But what got me was the comments on the article. A lot of it is the standard B.S. you see on newspaper websites… conservative vs. liberal… but the real killer to me was the pure ignorance about wild hogs, in part fed by rumor and hearsay, and in part fed, I’m sure, by the foolishness on Discovery and National Geographic television.
Some examples:
- Hogs are native species and we (humans) displaced them… we should leave them be.
- The feral hogs are crossbreeds between javelina and domestic pigs (my personal favorite!)
- The feral hogs aren’t really hogs at all, but are javelina
- The feral hogs are inedible.
- The feral hogs are dangerous, and should only be hunted from a tree stand.
- Feral hogs should only be cooked by “specially trained” individuals because of the diseases
- And so on…
I’ve always had a hard time finding humor in real ignorance, but what I read on that site was almost laughable. Check it out yourself, and let me know what you think.
These things just started showing up in lower Michigan (Onsted area) where I am. Someone hit one with a car about 2 weeks after I started seeing hog signs in the woods. Anotyher was shot by bow and area during early deer hunting season.
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