# Pig Reports



## bioactive

Seldom said:


> Nope, not kidding at all. One of my property owners that I trap coyote on actually showed me the trap-building materials he said was dropped off by the DNR and than he told me about the check!! This occurred during the fall of 2010. He went on to tell me of three other property owners within 2 miles of him that we're in the same deal.
> 
> Now whether he mixed folks around during our conversation or not, I don't know. He said several times during our conversation he denoted the DNR. I do know that the Conservancy had 100 traps to give to property owners in MI with hog problems so that's why I included them in my post. This fact concerning traps was told to me by DNR personally when tney wanted me to head up a 3-County hog trapping program at that time. It was also announced during the public meeting in my County two years ago about the traps.


Your second paragraph rings true. I suspect that it was USDA who dilivered the traps. DNR is a very interested party and will help disseminate information, but I believe USDA has most of the responsibility for the pig issue. Things could have changed but I doubt it. Here (LINK) it says volunteers are not compensated for expenses... 



> I read all this stuff on this forum about folks "can't find the hogs" or "where are the hogs" so apparently nobody has ever understood what has been going on with the traps. Folks not doing the right kind of "scouting" I guess!!!


Sounds real simple eh? You don't have to do much "scouting" to know when they have been on your farm. They so so much damage in one day it is hard to walk through where they have been. It is like walking on plowed ground.










The problem isn't us being so dumb and lacking woodcraft that we don't know they are here. The problem is they can move 10 miles overnight if you put hunting pressure on them and there are very few parcels bigger than 100 acres. Guess what? When they walk off my property I cannot scout, or I am trespassing. Each landowner has a different philosophy about things so effectively, these pigs can just move around as they please. 

Lets suppose there is a group of pigs using the 4 square miles in this plat map as a core area (upper right). Pretty realistic distribution of where they were about 4 years ago. They are opportunistic feeders that will travel to whatever food source is available at the time, and they don't know were the property lines are, and they have 60 properties to roam on. One of these properties, prime bedding for pigs, is owned by a Vegan. He never walks back in his swamp so would have no idea they are there. They can hole up there and move at night to wherever they want to feed. Now, as the neighbors talk to each other over a year's time or so everyone realizes there is a problem, and we organize neighbor hood hunts. But it is done in a checkerboard pattern due to permission problems, so they can hole up on an unhunted property. Another thing they are known to do is just get out of Dodge, for example just move to a whole new territory. For example, as shown on the map, they could just move to center their activities 3 miles south. All of a sudden, they are gone, and no amount of "scouting" is going to find them. Over time, the neighbors start to see their gardens and fields being wrecked, and the cycle starts all over a gain.












> Again, if I wanted to shoot a hog, I'd think that whomever has a trap, has a better chance of having hogs in the vicinity!


You can hunt around my trap until the cows come home and you are not likely to see a pig. They are not around this year. They might show up overnight. When they do, I will not hunt them by stalking, sitting, or driving them, because I know that is not a solution to the problem, it just moves them to somebody else's location. I will try to trap them. 

So the trap is sitting on my property because I am well prepared and understand how things are done for the next time they show up. If a concentration shows up somewhere and the team needs the trap, it is waiting for them.


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## bioactive

ridgewalker said:


> What you write is quite true. In addition to those hunting problems, to be effective one would have to hunt pigs at night over bait. Given the present perspectives held by the dnr, I don't believe there is any chance of that happening until/unless the population of wild hogs becomes overwhelming.


You can do so with a light and rimfire .22 during the legal night hunting season. But still, hunting pressure on pigs in areas with punctate pig distribution can cause them to quickly shift core areas by miles.


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## bioactive

Linda G. said:


> I am also interested in any info available on that photo reputedly of an Antrim pig.
> 
> I have been editor of the Antrim Review since November of 2006 and have done several stories on the growing pig problem, but have never had a report of a pig sighting, or any type of photo or other proof submitted. I'm a very active hunter in Antrim, have never seen any sign myself, or spoken to any one else of the many hunters I know in Antrim who has seen pig sign or pigs.
> 
> I hear about cougars and wolves almost every day....LOL...but no pigs.


Linda;

You can contact the Michigan Conservancy and talk to Pat Rusz. He sent that picture to me.


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## ridgewalker

bioactive said:


> You can do so with a light and rimfire .22 during the legal night hunting season. But still, hunting pressure on pigs in areas with punctate pig distribution can cause them to quickly shift core areas by miles.


That is correct except for the baiting inclusion that I suggested, however I would never take on a full grown boar or sow with a .22. I can no longer run or climb:lol:.

The second statement is very true. Up here they head for the densest cover or for the nearest large cornfield.


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## djones9916

600 pounder I took at the beginning of the month about an hour north of Grand Rapids. My friend shot a 200 pounder that was with it. Between the two they had dug a pit about 8ft wide, and 1 feet deep looking for grubs and stuff, by the time we shot them.


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## Airplanes

djones9916 said:


> 600 pounder I took at the beginning of the month about an hour north of Grand Rapids. My friend shot a 200 pounder that was with it. Between the two they had dug a pit about 8ft wide, and 1 feet deep looking for grubs and stuff, by the time we shot them.


Thats a hell of a pig. Always nice to hunt with a service rifle!


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## djones9916

$1500 in that rifle, bought it 5 years ago, and I finally broke it's cherry with that pig. Shot it quartered towards me, took it in the left shoulder, and it punched out the belly on the other side. She walked about 15 feet before she dropped. She was a beast.

Those corelokt bullets are disgusting, I could have put my fist through the exit wound.


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## JourneyGirl

djones9916 - that is a big hog. Just curious, did you hunt in a fenced ranch or was this a free roaming hog on public or private land?


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## PsyopsE6

I worked with a forester while stationed in Germany and we used to throw the Red Deer that were shot on the ranges in a pit and the boar used have the bones picked clean by morning, they tore up so many crops that we shot what we saw....


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## ishot3bucks

This was shot in West Branch 2 or 3 days after the DNR gave the ok to shoot!! We had seen rooting on the property but no sightings, one day I stumbled onto them and saw about 10 of them. This one tried to run by me but the 12 gauge dropped it! The DNR took blood samples and let me know it was good to eat!! It was GREAT to eat!! After that shot we have never seen the pigs again? Scared them out of there?


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## blittle913

Where are you guys finding them in mecosta? I have property over by chippewa lake and pray to god they arnt in that area!

Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine


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## Swell Time

ishot3bucks said:


> This was shot in West Branch 2 or 3 days after the DNR gave the ok to shoot!! We had seen rooting on the property but no sightings, one day I stumbled onto them and saw about 10 of them. This one tried to run by me but the 12 gauge dropped it! The DNR took blood samples and let me know it was good to eat!! It was GREAT to eat!! After that shot we have never seen the pigs again? Scared them out of there?


 
Can you say exactly where in West Branch you shot that hog? 

My Brother in Law has 80 acres East of the Deer Preserve. Been seeing "Wanted" posters hear and there too. Wondering if he has anything to worry about.


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## stillfish

Any reports around Shiwassee county?? Aka Perry area. A guy next field over reported rooting, but it looked more like 
Turkeys scratching..


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