Wild Pig Hunting on BI (law, garden, license)

[hotzcatz]

We found a pig still flopping in the road near our house once. Wasn't too big and we didn't see any damage to anyone's car but we finally found out months later that our neighbors down the block had hit it about sunset and for some reason they didn't want to tell anyone they'd hit it. It was real tasty and roadkill is easy to catch, too. Trouble with roadkill (well, technically, road wounded it wasn't quite dead yet) is there is a lot of trauma which doesn't leave a very good carcass. There is usually blood all through the meat and the meat is all torn up. It's hard to get it presentable on the plate when you start out with a carcass like that. The same with hunters who shoot them with a body shot while the pig is running. The best carcass is if you drop a serene pig in a trap from a distance. Some folks have suggested feeding them a bucket of beer to the pig before shooting them. They'd be nice and mellow then. No adrenalin pumping through their system which is supposed to be not so flavorful.

There are a lot of folks who depend on feral pigs as part of their food source so "eradicating" them is probably not what we want to do but keeping them under control is necessary since they damage crops and plants as well as cause wrecks on the roads.

[jeffington]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

We found a pig still flopping in the road near our house once. Wasn't too big and we didn't see any damage to anyone's car but we finally found out months later that our neighbors down the block had hit it about sunset and for some reason they didn't want to tell anyone they'd hit it. It was real tasty and roadkill is easy to catch, too. Trouble with roadkill (well, technically, road wounded it wasn't quite dead yet) is there is a lot of trauma which doesn't leave a very good carcass. There is usually blood all through the meat and the meat is all torn up. It's hard to get it presentable on the plate when you start out with a carcass like that. The same with hunters who shoot them with a body shot while the pig is running. The best carcass is if you drop a serene pig in a trap from a distance. Some folks have suggested feeding them a bucket of beer to the pig before shooting them. They'd be nice and mellow then. No adrenalin pumping through their system which is supposed to be not so flavorful.

There are a lot of folks who depend on feral pigs as part of their food source so "eradicating" them is probably not what we want to do but keeping them under control is necessary since they damage crops and plants as well as cause wrecks on the roads.

From what I have seen on Discovery, it is pretty hard to keep them under control without serious depletion of their numbers. They breed rapidly and consume anything or anyone, and tear up a lot of territory doing so.
They appear to have no natural predator to keep them in check.

[hotzcatz]

Do cars count as natural predators?

Oh, we should deplete their numbers, but we should eat the ones we deplete and not just "eradicate" them by killing and burying them. As a manged resource they are pretty tasty and they are the only thing a lot of folks can afford as far as meat goes. The fishing hasn't been as good as it used to be, so folks are kinda using pigs as their meat source these days. They are really nasty and ferocious if they get cornered and have an impressive set of teeth/tusks, too. It doesn't take that big of a pig to be dangerous and they are usually a lot heavier than they look.

The national parks fence the pigs out of the areas they are trying to keep the natural flora in since the pigs rip up a lot of terrain when looking for food. For that matter, cows are pretty destructive, too. Most of the mountains around Waimea used to be forested but the cows ate the young trees so when the old ones died off, there were no replacements.

[WindRide]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Do cars count as natural predators?

Oh, we should deplete their numbers, but we should eat the ones we deplete and not just "eradicate" them by killing and burying them. As a manged resource they are pretty tasty and they are the only thing a lot of folks can afford as far as meat goes. The fishing hasn't been as good as it used to be, so folks are kinda using pigs as their meat source these days. They are really nasty and ferocious if they get cornered and have an impressive set of teeth/tusks, too. It doesn't take that big of a pig to be dangerous and they are usually a lot heavier than they look.

The national parks fence the pigs out of the areas they are trying to keep the natural flora in since the pigs rip up a lot of terrain when looking for food. For that matter, cows are pretty destructive, too. Most of the mountains around Waimea used to be forested but the cows ate the young trees so when the old ones died off, there were no replacements.

Aloha Hotzcatz! I'm finally here in Kona and have already experienced the wild pigs. The house we are renting sits between a mac nut orchard and some undeveloped land. At night I can hear the pigs crunching the mac nuts. The landlord has electric wire around the lawn but it doesn't seem to stop them. I've been here a little over 2 weeks and they have pretty much destroyed a beautiful lawn (thankfully, I am not responsible for pig patrol).

Hubby gets here in a couple of weeks and he's very interested in hunting them, but obviously he can't do that here since they are nocturnal and it would be dangerous (and stupid) to try hunting in the dark, especially when there are houses around (only a few, but still).

Any other ideas on how to keep the pigs off the lawn? I let my dogs out a couple of times during the day hoping the scent of the dogs will discourage the pigs, but I won't let them out at night.

You've been such a font of useful information, I thought I'd ask your help on this as well. I love the idea of the fresh pork, but just not sure how to get there from here.

[hotzcatz]

Don't let the dogs chase the pigs. The pigs have tusks and can gore a dog real easy. Hunters have special pig dogs and use them in groups when it comes to hunting pigs.

Pig traps might be your best bet for catching the pigs. They are big wire cages with trap doors. I'm surprised the pigs are eating the lawn, though, if there are tasty macnuts nearby. Sometimes you can bribe them with something in one area so they will stay away from another area but apparently there are too many tasty things in the lawn for the allure of macnuts to keep them away.

[terracore]

I had wild boar meat one time and it tasted horrible. Perhaps it was prepared incorrectly. When we get to our 3 acres if we have a pig problem I was thinking of building a trap and using a crossbow- I don't think its legal to discharge a firearm near a road. My plan is that if I don't like the meat I can give it away or use it for dog food.

[hotzcatz]

Local lore is that boar meat (male pig) doesn't taste as good as sow meat (female pig). A lot of the taste is in how it is killed and butchered as well as how it is handled afterwards. Hang the carcass and drain it as soon as it is killed, while the carcass is still warm is best. Then clean it and chill it right away but don't freeze it. Letting it soak overnight in salt water in the refrigerator does a lot to improve the meat. This is also for chickens and most any other meat. For beef, letting it age for about ten days to two weeks really improves the flavor. Pork and chicken don't need anywhere near as long. The overnight chill lets it go through the rigor mortis stage and become more tender and the salt helps keep the moisture in the meat - from what I've heard, anyway.

If the blood chills in the carcass, it isn't so good. If the bile sac is broken and spills over the meat, that will taint it, too. If it isn't let to age through the rigor mortis stage it will be real chewy. Probably what it had been eating would make a difference, too. After avocado season the pigs are nice and fat and those are the ones we use for making sausage. If you have off flavored meat, a lot can be done with brine and sausage seasonings to get it into an edible state.

Find folks who make kalua pig or smoke meat and ask them for tips. There are a lot of folks out there who hunt and process pigs.

[cynmkolohe]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

The national parks fence the pigs out of the areas they are trying to keep the natural flora in since the pigs rip up a lot of terrain when looking for food. For that matter, cows are pretty destructive, too. Most of the mountains around Waimea used to be forested but the cows ate the young trees so when the old ones died off, there were no replacements.

I did a volunteer planting day with Kohala Watershed Partnership this weekend at one of their reforestation sites up on Kohala Mountain... pics here if you'd like to see (it's FB, so hopefully they're visible). The difference in even 10 years worth of growth in one of the sections (see photo captions) is pretty impressive!

[KauaiHiker]

terracore said: "using a crossbow." I believe crossbow hunting is illegal except for disabled bow hunters. So go with a compound bow. I was looking into it recently, and there is pig hunting with bows in Hawaii. Saw a guy on YouTube who shot right through the pig, tracked it down where it had bled to death.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by nwcountrygal

uhmm I have one friend that does use a rifle. But don't know many others that use anything else other than dogs and knife.

Originally Posted by terracore

... I was thinking of building a trap and using a crossbow- I don't think its legal to discharge a firearm near a road.

I'm surprised only one person (nwcountrygal, above) posting this thread has mentioned the traditional -- and still common -- way to kill pig ... dogs and knives. No worry about discharging a firearm or losing the pig with a bullet or arrow in it. Dogs pin it, hunter stabs it. Game over. Took my oldest son on a traditional hunt (B.I.) and he loved the whole adventure ... he is a rabid hunter of everything mainland ... when he left B.I. he almost took a pig-dog pup home to Washington.