An exploding population of hard-to-eradicate “super pigs” in Canada is threatening to spill south of the border, and northern states like Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana are taking steps to stop the invasion.
In Canada, the wild pigs roaming Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba pose a new threat. They are often crossbreeds that combine the survival skills of wild Eurasian boars with the size and high fertility of domestic swine to create a “super pig” that’s spreading out of control.
Ryan Brook, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan and one of Canada’s leading authorities on the problem, calls feral swine, “the most invasive animal on the planet” and “an ecological train wreck.”
The pigs are mainly around agricultural areas. We’re on the bare edge of the Canadian prairie (10km from the edge of forest that extends 2500km to the west and however far to the tundra) and we rarely see wolves even here. They aren’t really a predator for the Russian boar that are now endemic in our area.
Between the 3 of us here on the farm, we’ve probably shot (and eaten because they’re delicious) about 200 of them over the last 5 or 6 years. And we’ve knocked them back a bit on our own land, but they just breed over on other people’s farms and give ours a wide berth now.
Biggest one we shot was over 500lbs
500 lb wild pig??? Holy shit!
It had tusks on it the length of my hand, and I don’t have small hands. Wish I could find the pics, had to get a tractor over to even move it.
Shot a few more in the 200-400 range but most of them have been sub-100lbs, lots of piglets. What I’ve found is that mom will often push the young out of the bush ahead of her (or the group of mature sows) and wait 15-20 minutes before sticking her nose out. If you wait and pop mom, you can clean up the young as they mill around her.
Sounds cruel, and I get no enjoyment out of killing things (and even less out of having to gut and butcher), but between keeping them in check and putting meat in the freezer of everyone around here, it’s been a success. Being Russian boar, it’s not like the cold here was going to get them, despite hitting -40 most winters.
I don’t consider it cruel as long as the meat is used (except for the young ofc).
But it sounds like you know enough to teach others how to do it right.
One question … do you have abattoirs or butchers in your area where you take deer/elk/moose for butchering, cause they’d be a big help.
It wouldn’t be worth the cost for deer, but there are butchers that will do elk/moose at about $1/lb hung weight. I’ve only ever done them myself, between my own tags and helping friends/family, I might skin and cut up 20 deer in November, usually with a couple moose and/or elk thrown in. Most of it just gets put into grind, the backstraps and a few roasts for jerky might be taken out, though elk and moose give nice steaks and roasts as well.
Most of the people I know do the same, except all of the deer goes to jerky and sausage … cause the deer eat too much pine and spruce. lol
Sacrificial piglet.