NY Hog watch

[larry]

Ray is spot on. As much as I would love to hunt them locally they are not worth the devestation they would bring.

[Rob DiStefano]

i hear ya, ray.  i still don't see it happening around here 'cause it wouldn't blossom overnight and would be monitored and controlled faster'n you could say 'hog heaven'.  same deal as with the scare of an over abundance of coyotes and wolves in the nor'east raising havoc with livestock.  just hasn't happened, and most likely never will.  the nor'east farmlands are pretty well secure, imo.  and the thought of hogs around these parts is pretty much just a thought.

[ronp]

While in college a few years ago, I hauled waste milk to a place that had well over one hundred russian boars.  It was near Bridgeport, north of Syracuse by Oneida Lake.  It was a pay to hunt deal.  Those hogs could get big and nasty. They easily survived in winter by getting into a pile like a nest.  They would hear my milk truck backing in and head over to the troughs all steaming and warm and running about in the 3 feet of snow.  I'm not sure how they would do over in Ken's mountains, but I am sure they would migrate to flatter terrain if needed!  I know several of the hogs escaped the "loosely" kept fencing around this hunting preserve.  Some of the local farmers where I also delivered the waste milk used to see them running loose and yell at me to tell the guy I was working for to do something about them, but he never did.  They bred so much he lost all track of how many he had.  He told me that he had the number 3 record for the biggest boar taken, ironically by a DEC official.  Not sure how true that was, but I'm pretty sure he contributed to the feral hog population that is now being noticed.

[ronp]

By the way, there was a pretty substantial fence between me and the hogs that came in for the milk.  A lot of the bigger boars didn't come in to eat, I was told.  They lived off the land and pretty much tore it up.

[woodworker]

I have raised pigs for several years, and they are hearty creatures and will do well in all but the most extreme climates.  I raised them through the beginning of winter so the cool weather would aid them in putting on weight.  Once they are large enough to root around successfully they do well and won't fall prey to our local predators.  New York's farming population is already in dire straights the last thing these family farms need is another blight.  Seeing what they can do in their own pasture and in compost, I would not wish them on any one and I would shoot every one I see.  I lived in the area where there have been many reports of siting and they could do well enough to spread to all the other temperate spots of our state, I say with no remorse "shoot on sight"

[VTer]

Ray, they've already got a toehold, and you drove home my point about it being "up to the pigs" beautifully!  

[Bent Rig]

There are 2 preserves where the DEC has been  desperately trying to readicate(don't know for sure from which they got loose , so niether are in any trouble ) the loose hogs , like Ray has said they will and are thriving with no problem . I also believe that they would have no problem in the Adirondacks - they are multiplying at an alarming rate here . I have a friend that waits till there's enough snow on the ground and then they gun them down while chasing them on sleds - but like I said in an earlier post -most all are on private land . Another friend who lives down the road , was coming home one night , around a sweeping curve doing 55mph - he runs over several piglets - he didn't realize until later . He says in the spring and summer you can see their destruction driving by fields that have been just all torn-up ! A DEC official said -be careful what you wish for , because if you want to hunt pigs that's fine , because that might be all we may have the most of , they compete with all other wildlife . So deer and turkey numbers may decrease  , plus like Ray also said our growing season's are short so you can't compare what might happen up here with say where Ray is in Georgia or other parts of the south.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I wouldn't hesitate to shoot one given the opportunity.  I would love to hunt them but dont want them thriving here.

Anyone know of some populations in the state let me know, I've always wanted to kill my own pork!

[Owlmagnet]

I have a small farm just a few miles from the Saint Lawrence River in northern New York.  In the fall of 2009 I saw hog tracks running the edge of one of my cornfields.  The dew claws had that distinctive right angle to the toes and it sank deeper into the earth than the comparable deer tracks using the same route.  I HOPED it was a stray pig off another farm and not the vanguard of an invasion.  I have not observed any this year.

[Stone Knife]

 Anyone know of some populations in the state let me know, I've always wanted to kill my own pork!  

Me too  

[SteveB]

The area with the preserves is near Homer. One of the biggest problems the landowners are having is people wanting to hunt them - more so then the damage. When they see evidence, they go out to kill them all. Anyone that they do know who hunts there land for pigs has to show up with real firepower and reach out can kill any they see. Most taken are incidental kills - the farmers/landowners are not looking to provide bowhunting opportunities.

[jcar315]

I can speak to the "urban myth" of the escaped hogs. A few years ago in SW PA a guy owned a pay to hunt preserve and had hogs on there. The classic "guy died and hogs escaped" story. We had guys telling us they had seen the hogs running loose and I saw, with my own two eyes, the farmer right down the street with a hog strung up on the front of his front end loader for pictures and with a crowd gathered around. Great big black hog that was one of the escapees. So I can see how a population could get established.

[Gaff]

MAN!!! i read about how much damage hogs do....
but.... bring on the hogs!!!!!
    hahah i'll do my part to put some pork on the ground!!


gaff

[BobCo 1965]

I have never seen one, nor know anyone who has. But I'd sure like to.

I did see an Emu once though running through the woods.  

[PhilNY]

We always find sign in these two parks, but lots of other people go here looking and few find them, many that are killed are on nearby private land during the deer season.
 http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/8198.html
 http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/61680.html
You can also do a web search of the syracuse newspapers and find a few articles about them simaliar to the link on one of the earlier posts.

[adkmountainken]

ok now let me get this straight IS THERE A SEASON in NY now?? or is it a see it shoot it all is legal???

[Stone Knife]

They can be shot at anytime as long as you possess a small game license.

[SteveB]

No season - shoot anytime with any weapon with small game tags as SK said.

Philly - I am about 5 miles from Bear Swamp - 10 from Hewitt. I know people who have seen and taken a couple from each. Hewitt actually backs up to one of the preserve's. All the sitings and kills have been incidental. Several have gone both places hunting them with no success.

[Peter Smith]

I wouldnt mind shooting one, My mother in law lives in Hendersonville NC, wonder how close the hog hunting is around there?

Pete

[SELFBOW19953]

How many farmers and other country folk that raise domestic porkers, loose them to the cold?  There are pig farms in the midwest, and it gets a bit chilly there.  Pigs can handle the cold, they're omnivores and will eat anything that gets in front of them-plant or animal!!  While the hunting opportunities sound exciting, you don't really want wild pigs in your favorite hunting area!