Discovery Channel "Pig Bomb"

[sbarkowski]

Anybody else catching this show? Its really informative. Don't have pigs in our area (thank god apprently). Never knew what others had to deal with and how distructive and dangerous these things were. This show's definately worth watching, especially for you hog hunters.

 

[xmanpike]

Yeah I thoguht the most interesting fact was: "To control an established population of pigs, you need to kill 7 of every 10 pigs." I guess due to the fact that they breed so often, and have a high survival rate.

 

[Titan6]

Saw part of it last week. I think the bomb already went off many years ago. The problem is some states don't like the solution (no bag limit hunting in all areas).

 

[sbarkowski]

Can breed as early as 5 months old, up to 4 litters a year, each litter containing an average of 6. I think thats what I heard. Thats just insane!

 

[alsaqr]

Watched the Pig Bomb" couple of weeks ago. The part about the crop and environmental damage done by wild hogs is all true. In this part of OK wild hogs are starting to have an adverse effect on the deer population.

Yep, a sow can have two or three litters per year. A sow in the wild will not have three litters per year even in the best of times. Very few wild sows have two litters per year: This only happens in years when there are lots of acorns and pecans to eat.

I hunt hogs at least twice per week all year long. Have been doing this for many years. Contrary to popular opinion, pigs in the wild do not have a high survival rate. Yep, sows sometimes have big litters. Very few of those wild sows raise the entire litter to weaning time. Have seen dozens of wild sows running with 6 or more little pigs. When the pigs get to about 20 pounds there are usually four or fewer of them left. It is quite common here to see a sow with just one 20 pound pig.

Coyotes, bobcats, and disease kill many more pigs than are raised to 6 months of age.

 

[chas08]

Can breed as early as 5 months old, up to 4 litters a year, each litter containing an average of 6. I think thats what I heard. Thats just insane!

No... Thats just hogs. They're like a fire you can't put out. Anyone who wishes for these vermin on their hunting grounds is a fool. I've killed well in excess of 200 of these vermin with a rifle (56 in one year) . And help to trap a few hundred more and we're still loosing the war.

 

[~z]

Anyone know when this show will air again? I keep missing it!
~z

 

[camoman33935]

you might be able to find it on youtube

on second hand...here it is right on discovery channels website

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/pig-bomb-the-ruinous-pig.html

the whole thing is broke up in sections...

 

[rondog]

I've seen it. Interesting subject, but IMO the show itself is pretty lame, they could have done a much better job on the show. It's like they had 15 minutes of material to make a 60 minute show with. Lots of repeated information and footage shown over and over.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

http://www.uga.edu/scwds/dist_maps/swine04.jpg

 

[Double Naught Spy]

While the show is interesting, I found parts troubling. They seemed to be trying to connect the "pig bomb" with the Russian boars, if just by plain association, even though there is no reported genetic evidence (as per the show) to support the supposed influx of Russian boar genetic contributions to account for the phenotypes being seen and reported as Russian boar. The problem with phenotypes is that many of the feral hog phenotypes seem to match Russian boar phenotypes and so you have people calling lots of pigs Russian boars when they are just feral.

The show also sensationalized the whole notion of the Russian boar to the point that they even identified a very large Russian boar on a game camera digital image based solely on eye shine. From the eye shine, they extrapolated Russian boar features not in evidence in the photo.

So the pig bomb in the US is tied with the Russian boar within the program, but there was no accounting for how Russian boars would be responsible for this phenomenon. Strangely, the same thing is going on elsewhere in the world, such as in Europe where the boars are indigenous. Why is the pig bomb going off over there as well? Have they had a recent influx of themselves?

While there isn't any doubt that the populations of feral hogs is growing and spreading in the US, the show was just hokey in the sense that the one aspect they needed to really substantiate several points, genetic evidence, was not in evidence for the show and so much of their claims were just suppositions.

Is the feral hog population actually getting larger (individual animal size) and more aggressive because of Russian boar genetics or is it because of a combination of feral hog phenotypes combined with a highly competitive environment. As the population grows, competition increases. One potential result is increased aggression.

It is an interesting show, but it has a lot of hype.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Gleaned from the map I posted a link to above - my guesstimates.

Top 28 states with largest areas available for feral hog hunting (roughly in order):

1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. Mississippi
5. Georgia
6. Louisiana
7. (tie) Arkansas / New Mexico
9. Alabama
10. Oklahoma
11. North Carolina
12. (tie) Tennessee / Hawaii
14. South Carolina
15. Missouri
16. Kansas
17. (tie) West Virginia / Oregon
19. Arizona
20. Indiana
21. (tie) Wisconsin / Illinois / Ohio
24. (tie) Virginia / Kentucky / Nevada / New Hampshire
28. Nebraska

Surprising to me that New Mexico is ahead of Alabama, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Tennessee, Hawaii, & South Carolina - not sure if the map is accurate.

 

[alsaqr]

The show also sensationalized the whole notion of the Russian boar to the point that they even identified a very large Russian boar on a game camera digital image based solely on eye shine. From the eye shine, they extrapolated Russian boar features not in evidence in the photo.

Good point!

There are quite a few hogs with Russian boar blood in this area. Some are pure Russian boar. Russian (German) boars are here because a rather rich guy imported 100 pairs from Germany and turned them loose in SW Oklahoma. In other parts of OK there is no evidence of Russian boar blood in feral hogs.

That show totally ignored the one sure fire method of determining whether or not the hog in question is cross between a domestic hog and a Russian boar.

Only Hybrid Wild Boar will have this tooth. Hybrid is a cross breed between domestic hogs and the Eurasian Hog (Russian Boar). Domestic hogs or domestic feral hogs will not have this tooth.

(Go to boartuff for all your hog info, such as aging.)

http://www.boartuffoutdoors.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=hog;action=display;num=1141873299

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

What county were these 100 pairs released in?

 

[~z]

Nevermind
~z

 

[sbarkowski]

When they came up with the idea of the eyes being that of a Russian boar, they were in Russia.. but who knows maybe it wasnt even a boar at all.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Yeah, could have been a wolf - the eyes were forward-looking like predator eyes - I'd much rather tangle with a boar than a wolf! But neither would be my first choice for my daily activity.

 

[alsaqr]

What county were these 100 pairs released in?

Comanche and Kiowa.

 

[bigbore442001]

I don't want to drift this thread too much but if the feral hog population is such a problem why aren't landownders more receptive to hunters helping to thin them out? You'ld think that a number of ranches would offer coffee and doughnuts for hunters to take out feral hogs.

 

[alsaqr]

I don't want to drift this thread too much but if the feral hog population is such a problem why aren't landownders more receptive to hunters helping to thin them out?

Very good point.

 

[~z]

Some are, however, these are cultivated relationships. How often do you open your door to a stranger with a gun?
~z

 

[Flash!]

if any of you have a place in Texas that I can go help to reduce the hog population, please let me know.... they are tasty critters.

 

[Todd1700]

Saw this show a while back. It is true that the hog population has exploded and this has caused some problems like crop and land damage. Hogs also compete with other more desirable big game animals for local resources and that's bad as well. We consider them a shoot on sight pest on our land. All that said, the show really ridiculously overstated the danger these animals pose to humans. The only people I have ever heard of being injured by a hog were a few of the folks that used to go out and catch them with dogs. And those folks got bitten or slashed because they were (along with the catch dogs) grabbing a live hog trying to capture it. Grab any live wild animal, be it a squirrel, beaver, rabbit, or you name it, and it will try to bite you. Wild hogs are no different. But as far as being a danger to someone just walking through the woods? Naaaa, they will run like a deer at the first sight of a human.

 

[alsaqr]

The only people I have ever heard of being injured by a hog were a few of the folks that used to go out and catch them with dogs.

The ones with Russian/German boar blood can be a little different. A friend was knocked down last year by a big sow without pigs that made a sudden unprovoked charge. He got some small cuts on his face. After knocking the guy down, that hog turned and came back at him. By that time my friend had his .45 out and he killed her.

Have been charged by three different hogs, one a wounded boar, one a sow with pigs and another time by a boar that answered the distress call of a wounded sow that I went into a plum thicket after.

Having said that, they ain't rinos and it does this 70 year old guy good to get his heart pumping now and then. It is all part of the fun of hog hunting. I do now wear chainsaw pants when going into a thicket after a hog.

There is a huge boar on one of our places. I named him Osama bin Laden. Started into a plum thicket after OBL a month or so ago and suddenly felt naked with just my muzzleloader: Backed out and called it quits-for now.

 

[KenWP]

Pigs breed according to the amount of daylight so the southren states have daylight that is about average all year round. In the wild you would be lucky to get a couple of litters a year but even if a sow has only 4 pigs survive your looking at 4 times the amount of pigs you had.
Wild pigs do not get there teeth cut at birth so you get a lot more starve outs due to them fighting and biteing mom and she rolls over and crushes them.