12-14-2008, 04:39 AM
Pigs can't see very well and if they think they are cornered they will attack. I've had a few that attacked instead of running away even when they could move away.
Male pigs have tusks and they slash as they go past. Tusks can slice to the bone as well as through it if the pig is over a hundred pounds or so. They are also heavier than they look so even what looks like a small pig can do a lot of damage. One boar pushed his way through the fence in my back yard, ran up the yard, tusked the awa tree out as he went past since it was in his way and then pushed under the fence at the back of the yard and vanished off up the road. Scary beast and he had no reason to want to go through the fence except because he wanted to. He was probably about a hundred and twenty pounds.
There is no natural predator for feral pigs here except humans so we need to eat the pigs. Either that or just kill and leave the carcass to rot, but that is a complete waste. When the pigs get overpopulated they become susceptible to diseases, lice and eventually starve after they have eaten all the food. By the time they have done that, a lot of other birds and creatures don't have any more food, either. It is a lot like deer on the mainland, if they don't have hunting then the deer overpopulate until they get decimated by disease or die from lack of forage in the winter. In pigs, though, they have a similar physiology to humans so I would suspect a lot of diseases can transfer between the species.
We trap and eat a lot of pigs. They dig up our neighbors' yards and gardens so we manage to control the yard pig population somewhat. There is getting to be a lot more pigs out there, though, the pig population is not declining at all so we could use a few more pig hunters.
Early summer is when there is the least amount of fat on them, after guava season and avocado season the pigs are much fatter. This year the biggest one was about a hundred and thirty pounds, the smallest were about five pounds. Those work well for roast suckling pig, the medium sized ones primarily get made into kalua pig and the larger ones get cut into the more traditional chops and roasts. Lots of pork sausage and we are now investigating making bacon, but haven't quite gotten that down yet. The braunschwiger turned out real well surprisingly enough even though I only put in about a quarter of the amount of fat the recipe called for. All of my sausage has a lot less fat than the recipe calls for but I render the fat into lard for cooking with. Chicken fried in lard is really crispy! Just like my granny used to make and she used lard, too. It is probably all sorts of unhealthy but it sure is tasty!
We are now working on curing the hides, too, just so we won't waste them. These feral pigs are a great resource and when things get tight having free meat is a god send to many folks. Kamapua'a mahalo nui loa!
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
Male pigs have tusks and they slash as they go past. Tusks can slice to the bone as well as through it if the pig is over a hundred pounds or so. They are also heavier than they look so even what looks like a small pig can do a lot of damage. One boar pushed his way through the fence in my back yard, ran up the yard, tusked the awa tree out as he went past since it was in his way and then pushed under the fence at the back of the yard and vanished off up the road. Scary beast and he had no reason to want to go through the fence except because he wanted to. He was probably about a hundred and twenty pounds.
There is no natural predator for feral pigs here except humans so we need to eat the pigs. Either that or just kill and leave the carcass to rot, but that is a complete waste. When the pigs get overpopulated they become susceptible to diseases, lice and eventually starve after they have eaten all the food. By the time they have done that, a lot of other birds and creatures don't have any more food, either. It is a lot like deer on the mainland, if they don't have hunting then the deer overpopulate until they get decimated by disease or die from lack of forage in the winter. In pigs, though, they have a similar physiology to humans so I would suspect a lot of diseases can transfer between the species.
We trap and eat a lot of pigs. They dig up our neighbors' yards and gardens so we manage to control the yard pig population somewhat. There is getting to be a lot more pigs out there, though, the pig population is not declining at all so we could use a few more pig hunters.
Early summer is when there is the least amount of fat on them, after guava season and avocado season the pigs are much fatter. This year the biggest one was about a hundred and thirty pounds, the smallest were about five pounds. Those work well for roast suckling pig, the medium sized ones primarily get made into kalua pig and the larger ones get cut into the more traditional chops and roasts. Lots of pork sausage and we are now investigating making bacon, but haven't quite gotten that down yet. The braunschwiger turned out real well surprisingly enough even though I only put in about a quarter of the amount of fat the recipe called for. All of my sausage has a lot less fat than the recipe calls for but I render the fat into lard for cooking with. Chicken fried in lard is really crispy! Just like my granny used to make and she used lard, too. It is probably all sorts of unhealthy but it sure is tasty!
We are now working on curing the hides, too, just so we won't waste them. These feral pigs are a great resource and when things get tight having free meat is a god send to many folks. Kamapua'a mahalo nui loa!
Kurt Wilson
Kurt Wilson
