# Florida Wild Boar



## GandalfTheShepherd (May 1, 2017)

Today on our hike we encountered a 600-700 pound wild boar burrowing its snout into the dirt alongside the path. As we walked past I held Gandalfs collar and talked loudly so as not to spook it... the thing didn't even look up and seemed oblivious to our presence. I was surprised as well to see Gandalf didn't even so much as bristle... no reaction from him either. This isn't the first time we've ran into wild hogs in the woods but certainly takes the cake for the biggest. We run into piglets almost daily. I've heard they are extremely dangerous, my neighbor back when I was a teenager was chased in our neighborhood by a big boar that was trying to impale him with its tusks. He ended up jumping into the bed of his truck to avoid it and the police came and shot it. The ones I've ran into in the woods seem either scared of us or indifferent. Has anyone ever dealt with these invasive beasts? What are you supposed to do? I am afraid of them... this one today was probably 6 or 7 times bigger than Gandalf. I'm thinking of getting my CWP to defend myself if it came down to it but would a pistol even do anything or scare it off?


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## cloudpump (Oct 20, 2015)

Should carry when you walk. A boar that big might be a new state record
Weiser Weight & Tusk | Trophy Wild Boar Record Book


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## Nurse Bishop (Nov 20, 2016)

Oh dear, this is what happened one night a couple of months ago- 

This is a Texas cattle ranch. My husband and I took Inga outside to potty and suddenly she took off running and disappeared in the dark. Then we heard the most horrible sound- the grunting a squealing of a big sounder of wild hogs and Inga's aggressive ferocious barking. I called her and yelled Come but she did not recall. This horrible screaming and roaring noise continued and grew fainter as the sounder was running away up the hill. Fortunately she had the e collar on. I called again no response. Gave her a size 3 correction, still the barking and fighting continued. So I gave her a size 7 correction and she reappeared, panting and all in one piece.

Now we carry powerful flashlights on her bedtime potty break and if she takes off to critter a sounder she can be called back before she engages.


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## GandalfTheShepherd (May 1, 2017)

Nurse Bishop said:


> Oh dear, this is what happened one might a couple of months ago-
> 
> This is a Texas cattle ranch. My husband and I took Inga outside to potty and suddenly she took off running and disappeared in the dark. Then we heard the most horrible sound- the grunting a squealing of a big sounder of wild hogs and Inga's aggressive ferocious barking. I called her and yelled Come but she did not recall. This horrible screaming and roaring noise continued and grew fainter as the sounder was running away up the hill. Fortunately she had the e collar on. I called again no response. Gave her a size 3 correction, still the barking and fighting continued. So I gave her a size 7 correction and she reappeared, panting and all in one piece.
> 
> Now we carry powerful flashlights on her bedtime potty break and if she takes off to critter a sounder she can be called back before she engages.



Yikes glad to hear Inga was okay! I've heard they tend to be more aggressive around dogs. There was no way Gandalf would have been able to take on this thing, it was as big as a bear. I called fish and wildlife I hope they go out there and investigate. I hate that these things live here now!!! It's scary enough worrying about alligators!


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

I have seen documentaries about Florida's invasive species. Nothing to mess with. Is there a place where you can safely let them roam free a bit? It seems like a difficult state to have dogs if you love the outdoors. And then the native gators as well. 
A super recall along with an e-collar seems the way to go.


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## Nurse Bishop (Nov 20, 2016)

I wish thegooseman90 would get on here. He has hunted wild boars using dogs and has some hair raising stories. Like once the dogs ran the boar into a pond and his 'catch dog' swam out and bit onto the boar's ear. The boar was trying to drown the dog. Gooseman swam out there and saved his dog!


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## GandalfTheShepherd (May 1, 2017)

wolfy dog said:


> I have seen documentaries about Florida's invasive species. Nothing to mess with. Is there a place where you can safely let them roam free a bit? It seems like a difficult state to have dogs if you love the outdoors. And then the native gators as well.
> A super recall along with an e-collar seems the way to go.


No where but dog parks. Luckily Gandalf has zero interest in wildlife, boar especially he completely ignores even the piglets. I've heard that's the best way to get mauled if you have an aggressive dog or your dog chases as they are very territorial. I've also heard they're hard to shoot because of thick skin and bone structure, id like to hear goosemans opinion too.


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## Nurse Bishop (Nov 20, 2016)

Sows with piglets will defend the piglets and hurt a dog (the sounder Inga chased had a lot of them, according to tracks). But its the boars that have tusks and can eviscerate a dog. 

People hunt feral hogs here. There is a bounty on them- a whopping $5 a tail. They are good to eat if you shoot a young one under 80lbs. People have ranch barbeque parties.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Why are boar so hard to eradicate? They seem to be spotted easily. I can understand that Pythons are to stay but boar seem to be more visible. But this may be my naive thinking from the PNW where we (mostly) don't worry about cougars or bear.


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

We have boars here too.They are most active after dark and they burrow way back under tangles of trees and brush in the daytime.


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## cloudpump (Oct 20, 2015)

wolfy dog said:


> Why are boar so hard to eradicate? They seem to be spotted easily. I can understand that Pythons are to stay but boar seem to be more visible. But this may be my naive thinking from the PNW where we (mostly) don't worry about cougars or bear.


They have large litters, are hearty, few natural predators, and are extremely smart.


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## GandalfTheShepherd (May 1, 2017)

I wonder if it's the same species in Texas as here? I'm a biologist and many of my past colleagues hunted and ate boar, they said it was very tough meat, not very good, hard to dress since some of the pigs were pretty big, usually disease ridden so they must be cooked well and that I think you didn't need a license to hunt them. They seem to be most problamatic in areas where hunting isn't allowed like the trails and conservation areas.


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## Nurse Bishop (Nov 20, 2016)

Its best to eat the shoats. Thats the young ones 80lbs and less.

Mature boar meat is nasty. The Germans like it though. Lots of boar meat is exported to Europe. All pig meat has to be well cooked or people can get trichanosis 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis 
We have taken care of patients from Mexico in ICU that had trichanosis worms in their brain.

In the olden days around here, people used to let their pigs loose in the woods to fatten on acorns. They would round them up in the winter, sort them because people marked their hogs with ear notches, and butcher them and salt the meat. Next year do it again. My neighbors did this. Feral hogs were not a problem back then. Also, the hog breeds then were lard hogs, not lean bacon hogs like they have now. Then, (this is my theory anyway) when people with big hunting ranches started importing European Wild Boar in Texas and let them loose for canned hunts. About 20 years later the feral hog problem began. They are a hybrid, wild, mean, lean. From Quick Facts on Feral Hogs - eXtension

There are an estimated 4-5 million feral hogs in the nation and 2.6 million in Texas.
Females are capable of producing 10-12 piglets per litter, but 4-6 young born per litter is more common in the wild.
Gestation is approximately 115 days.
Females are capable of having two litters per year.

Interestingly, coyotes prey upon piglets. One coyote draws off the sows while others run in and snatch piglets. But there are not enough coyotes to make a dent. There were a lot of feral hogs in the river bottom. in the last few years they have spread here to this area. They have been within 30 yards to this house. They root up the ground like it has been plowed. Its a good thing mama cows are so protective of their new born calves or the hogs would eat them too.


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## dogbyte (Apr 5, 2002)

Wolfy dog. they have no natural predators where they have invaded. They can be super dangerous. They destroy crops. There is a video of a field of corn? being cut. Not much left. When all of a sudden tons of those little boogers come running out of the patch that is left. Like they were stacked on top of each other.


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

This just scares me so much. I can't imagine just walking by, I would have been in the opposite direction so fast Tess would have been dizzy. They really can be so dangerous..please be careful. What part of Florida do you live in? I still have shivers.


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## Muskeg (Jun 15, 2012)

If I remember right from my college classes, even hogs from those disgusting hog farms turn feral and develop boar characteristics in just one or two generations. So the fat porker sitting in the tiny pen on the industrial farm, once loose, undoes domestication and grows tusks, hair, etc. I don't think it's a different species, just an undomesticated version of the same species we buy as bacon at the store. Pigs are weird critters. 

I worked on a NPS plan to eradicate feral swine in Hawaii. They've tried everything from dogs to hunts to traps. The pigs are still having a grand old time eliminating all native ground nesting birds and native plants. I doubt they'll ever eradicate them completely.

I've never seen wild boar, but I sure hope they don't like cold weather and snow and stay south of where I live... although I bet they could adapt to it just fine.


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## GandalfTheShepherd (May 1, 2017)

ksotto333 said:


> This just scares me so much. I can't imagine just walking by, I would have been in the opposite direction so fast Tess would have been dizzy. They really can be so dangerous..please be careful. What part of Florida do you live in? I still have shivers.


It was behind a bunch of fallen trees so I didn't even see it until it stepped around, and usually Gandalfs posture gives things away but the boar was so nonchalant and Gandalf didn't even really react either. He simply looked at it and continued on. The noise it was making for what it was doing was surprisingly quiet and familiar. I think they are always there on that section of the trail. Probably why Gandalf didn't react, because they have always been there... just passing by scenery to him. Very weird and I'm not too keen on going that way anymore. I've been hiking that path lately since I never run into people or dogs since it's mainly a horse path (no horse either). Might be safer to stay on the more trodden roads I guess.


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## cloudpump (Oct 20, 2015)

ksotto333 said:


> This just scares me so much. I can't imagine just walking by, I would have been in the opposite direction so fast Tess would have been dizzy. They really can be so dangerous..please be careful. What part of Florida do you live in? I still have shivers.


https://goo.gl/images/RtA693


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## GandalfTheShepherd (May 1, 2017)

cloudpump said:


> https://goo.gl/images/RtA693


Whats the link? doesn't work


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## cloudpump (Oct 20, 2015)

GandalfTheShepherd said:


> Whats the link? doesn't work


 was trying to link a picture of the feral hog range.


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## GandalfTheShepherd (May 1, 2017)

cloudpump said:


> was trying to link a picture of the feral hog range.


:surprise:


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## Nurse Bishop (Nov 20, 2016)

There is some hope. This hog bait being tested is put out in fenced 'traps' so livestock dont get in and eat it. Since it is sodium nitrate, (what bacon is pickled with ha ha ha) and the hogs do not have the enzyme to neutralize it. They do not suffer, they just go to 'sleep'.

Potentially potent feral hog poison bait to be field tested in Texas


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## thegooseman90 (Feb 24, 2017)

At 6-700 lbs he’s a hybrid. Meaning part domestic, part wild. They can get huge but the biggest I’ve ever caught was about 300 lbs and from hoof to shoulder he was about waist high on me at 6’ tall. Your shot would have to be absolutely perfect to kill it with just about any handgun round. I’ve dug .308 rounds out of the shoulders of smaller hogs to give you an idea of how tough their bone and skin are. Your best bet is to avoid it entirely. They can become extremely aggressive if provoked and there’s next to nothing you can do to stop it without the right tools.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

cloudpump said:


> was trying to link a picture of the feral hog range.


 So they are already moving north. We did screw up the natural balance big time with all these invaders.


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## GandalfTheShepherd (May 1, 2017)

thegooseman90 said:


> At 6-700 lbs he’s a hybrid. Meaning part domestic, part wild. They can get huge but the biggest I’ve ever caught was about 300 lbs and from hoof to shoulder he was about waist high on me at 6’ tall. Your shot would have to be absolutely perfect to kill it with just about any handgun round. I’ve dug .308 rounds out of the shoulders of smaller hogs to give you an idea of how tough their bone and skin are. Your best bet is to avoid it entirely. They can become extremely aggressive if provoked and there’s next to nothing you can do to stop it without the right tools.


So is there nothing to do if one decides to attack you? They hang out right on the trail so they're hard to avoid. Stop hiking entirely? I can climb a tree but I worry about my dog... do you think he's fast enough to get away from one? Aren't these guys originally from Russia? I could easily see them infesting the north if so that's like home territory...


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## thegooseman90 (Feb 24, 2017)

GandalfTheShepherd said:


> So is there nothing to do if one decides to attack you? They hang out right on the trail so they're hard to avoid. Stop hiking entirely? I can climb a tree but I worry about my dog... do you think he's fast enough to get away from one? Aren't these guys originally from Russia? I could easily see them infesting the north if so that's like home territory...


Most likely may rush your dog but won’t full out chase to attack although it’s hard to say who’d win that race. I’ve had dogs outrun by hogs before. The problem would be if your dog attacked it. That first initial cut may be all it takes. Especially if it starts near the belly or groin. Their head motion is how dogs end up gutted in that event. Muscle cuts are ugly and scary but not usually life threatening. As far as stopping them basically you’re SOL. They’re far tougher than you or your dog. Way stronger and they bring knives to the fight. Personally I’d find a new trail to hike or you’re rolling the dice on whether they attack or your dog does


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## rshkr (Feb 9, 2012)

i would listen to gooseman and jsut avoid the trail.
even if you get a concealed weaps permit, you are not trained enough to put a few rounds under stress on a moving target.
think of this, you need at least 21 feet to draw your weapon and put 2 rounds center mass against an attacker moving towards you- this is against human, a boar runs faster than a person.


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## Daisy&Lucky's Mom (Apr 24, 2011)

Wow scary. I thought we are free of the boar issue but it looks like Ashtabula County,Ohio and Erie County PA have them. Glad you and Gandalf are both safe. your training has really paid off. Good job Gandalf! Interesting thread . Doesn't sound like there is a lot to do other than train your dog and avoid.


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