wild hogs

[Mini14tac]

Originally Posted by pbharvey

I had read somewhere that the hogs in western Maryland were escapees from a PA game farm.

When I used to hunt Bedford county PA near Chaneysville, we had heard rumor of this also, although I had never seen any.

[lowoncash]

Originally Posted by Mini14tac

When I used to hunt Bedford county PA near Chaneysville, we had heard rumor of this also, although I had never seen any.

I've heard the rumors of wild hogs around Bedford for years. I've never met anyone who's seen them. There are stories that some escaped from a game preserve. I've read PA game commission reports that the hogs were getting harder to control because hunters were using the commission's bait piles to shoot hogs. The report said after being hunted the hogs would stay away from the bait piles and spread out. I forget if the report said the bait piles were treated to stop reproduction or not.

[Doco Overboard]

Anywhere there's a hog farm some are bound to escape. They can go feral pretty quick but usually head back to the pen at some point. I know a few that raise hogs in PA and MD and they usually get the red carpet ride rather than escape.

[Rocket Jay]

I've seen the damage they do and I know how tasty they can be. Wild
boar bacon will change your life. They need to be in "somebody else's"
back yard or farm and hunted vigorously.

[Doco Overboard]

Originally Posted by Rocket Jay

I've seen the damage they do and I know how tasty they can be. Wild
boar bacon will change your life. They need to be in "somebody else's"
back yard or farm and hunted vigorously.

I remember when I lived in PA the topic surfaced some years ago. The PGC had reacted with a kill all on site edict but was hesitant to establish a bona fide season.
The reasoning was that active hunting pressure would spread out the hogs and allow them to become more thoroughly established over a broader area.
Around the same time it was rumored that York county LE had dispatched a Sika deer that had went over the wire from somewhere.

[DaemonAssassin]

Originally Posted by pbharvey

I had read somewhere that the hogs in western Maryland were escapees from a PA game farm.

Originally Posted by Mini14tac

When I used to hunt Bedford county PA near Chaneysville, we had heard rumor of this also, although I had never seen any.

Originally Posted by lowoncash

I've heard the rumors of wild hogs around Bedford for years. I've never met anyone who's seen them. There are stories that some escaped from a game preserve. I've read PA game commission reports that the hogs were getting harder to control because hunters were using the commission's bait piles to shoot hogs. The report said after being hunted the hogs would stay away from the bait piles and spread out. I forget if the report said the bait piles were treated to stop reproduction or not.

I know a guy that lives up near Bedford and the reason why the hogs are there along Sidling Hill, is because there was a managed hunt kind of place up there that was about to get busted by PA DNR for some reason, so they let the hogs loose. I've seen pics on his phone of him next to a hog in front of his truck, in his driveway, in front of his house.

[tony b]

Still a big issue in Texas and Louisiana. The chopper hunts look like they would be a blast.

[Norton]

We were tooling back down I-95 returning to Jacksonville a couple weeks ago from Georgia and I saw something alongside the highway and it was a whole pack of hogs grazing along the road.

The said that it finally explained why there were miles and miles of the same fencing alongside the highway, though in this case they clearly had a break in the fence line somewhere.

[Mark75H]

Since the Pine Barrens of Jersey and the lowland swamps of western shore VA are both hog heaven its only a matter of time, but until they cross the Bay or the canal, its going to be a long time before wild hogs are on the Shore. That I know of, hogs haven't made it into any part of MD in any significant number. The Delaware river & C&D canal present a pretty good barrier until they get more pentiful along the Jersey side of the Delaware River & Bay.

[Inigoes]

Originally Posted by Norton

We were tooling back down I-95 returning to Jacksonville a couple weeks ago from Georgia and I saw something alongside the highway and it was a whole pack of hogs grazing along the road.

The said that it finally explained why there were miles and miles of the same fencing alongside the highway, though in this case they clearly had a break in the fence line somewhere.

There doesn't need to be a break. Hogs/pigs will burrow under it to get to the juicy morsels on the other side.