Another Boar-ing NewsFilter Post
October 30, 2006 3:30 AM Subscribe
The recent E. coli outbreak and spinach crisis may have been partly caused by wild boar near the California ranch where the bad veggies were grown. (There's wild boar in California?) Meanwhile, they're shooting wild boars in Virginia after a rabies outbreak, and also in northeastern China in response to reports of boars attacking humans. Louisiana reportedly has wild boars the size of bears. (Somebody tell Colbert!) Meanwhile in Texas, they're capturing them live and selling them. When in France, cook up some Baby Wild Boar. It's as delicious as it is cute. (Or just enjoy the webcomic Adventures of Cy-Boar.) And you can expect a lot more from the boars in the coming months, because February 18, 2007 begins the Year of the Boar.
You need Bacon Busters, Australia's premier pig shootin' magazine, with the famous "Boars and Babes" centrefold.
posted by Jimbob at 3:53 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by Jimbob at 3:53 AM on October 30, 2006
We have boars in our neighborhood. Lovely big tusky beasts that snort in the dark. When it comes down to the recreational hunter vs. the boar, I hope the boar wins.
posted by pracowity at 4:07 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by pracowity at 4:07 AM on October 30, 2006
Those interested in wild hog hunting should head on down to Florida. Bring your hoss, your dawgs, and a good hog tyin' rope. Guns and bows are for sissies, but knives, hatchets and swords make for interesting ends to thick brush hunts.
posted by paulsc at 4:18 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by paulsc at 4:18 AM on October 30, 2006
This tidbit reminded me of a line in the Wikitravel about Maui:
"...it's hunting season year-round on Haleakala, so try not to let yourself be confused with a wild boar."
Indeed.
Does anyone remember a beautifully illustrated children's book about a monster rumoured to be living in a forest...which turned out to be simply a boar?
posted by squasha at 4:52 AM on October 30, 2006
"...it's hunting season year-round on Haleakala, so try not to let yourself be confused with a wild boar."
Indeed.
Does anyone remember a beautifully illustrated children's book about a monster rumoured to be living in a forest...which turned out to be simply a boar?
posted by squasha at 4:52 AM on October 30, 2006
Ian Frazier wrote a long article about the growing population of wild boars and the people who hunt them in The New Yorker 2005-12-05 issue. It's not on-line, but worth seeking out.
posted by of strange foe at 4:57 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by of strange foe at 4:57 AM on October 30, 2006
squasha-
I don't, but for a first rate, well illustrated, well written boar related children's book, I urge you to check out The Truffle Hunter
posted by IndigoJones at 5:22 AM on October 30, 2006
I don't, but for a first rate, well illustrated, well written boar related children's book, I urge you to check out The Truffle Hunter
posted by IndigoJones at 5:22 AM on October 30, 2006
Used to see family of boar out near Soledad CA. Pretty rad how they run in a cute little line from biggest to littlest.
I played rugby for a season in Monterey with a team composed of half Tongans and half Defense Language Institute military officers. Couple of the Tongans were avid bowhunters, for boar.
In their back yard they had a swingset with no swings.
Driving by I'd often see a couple big boar carcasses hanging, being bled, from that swingset.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:28 AM on October 30, 2006
I played rugby for a season in Monterey with a team composed of half Tongans and half Defense Language Institute military officers. Couple of the Tongans were avid bowhunters, for boar.
In their back yard they had a swingset with no swings.
Driving by I'd often see a couple big boar carcasses hanging, being bled, from that swingset.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:28 AM on October 30, 2006
The pig was finally presented to a private party, cut tableside and then sent back to the kitchen to arrange on plates with wild mushrooms of huge porcinis, mushrooms of death, and girolle.
Er?
posted by public at 5:32 AM on October 30, 2006
Er?
posted by public at 5:32 AM on October 30, 2006
I'm reading a narrative of De Soto's 16th Century exploration of the American South-East - a four-thousand mile trip from Florida to Arkansas by way of South Carolina. The first Europeans. They brought along boars, herding them through the forests like a flock of sheep, over 15-miles a day. Of course some escaped and this is how boars were first introduced to America, the swamps of the South-East still have some of the biggest boars around. Hogzilla.
posted by stbalbach at 5:43 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by stbalbach at 5:43 AM on October 30, 2006
Wild boar are a big problem in the Smokies, and are considered an invasive species that need to be controlled.
posted by OmieWise at 5:46 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by OmieWise at 5:46 AM on October 30, 2006
I ate some wild boar a couple of years ago at a little specialty restaurant in Chiba prefecture, Japan, near the Pacific coast. The hunter himself runs the place, and you have to make a reservation well in advance so he can be sure to have freshly killed meat on hand for grilling. It was very tasty.
It seems there are quite a lot of them in Japan: some boars once chased my wife along a little mountain road just on the outskirts of Kobe, and thankfully her friend's car was near enough to jump back into before they caught up with her. The boars chased the car, too, as they drove away!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:03 AM on October 30, 2006
It seems there are quite a lot of them in Japan: some boars once chased my wife along a little mountain road just on the outskirts of Kobe, and thankfully her friend's car was near enough to jump back into before they caught up with her. The boars chased the car, too, as they drove away!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:03 AM on October 30, 2006
Born in the year of the boar, and think they're cute. Wouldn't want to tangle with one, though. There've been sightings not too far away recently and one attack.
posted by dreamsign at 6:18 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by dreamsign at 6:18 AM on October 30, 2006
I'm sorry, as good as this post is (and it is good), it just cannot measure up to the higher bar already vaulted.
elephantpost wannabe...
posted by DesbaratsDays at 6:18 AM on October 30, 2006
elephantpost wannabe...
posted by DesbaratsDays at 6:18 AM on October 30, 2006
I was taken to meet a guy living in a ramshackle houseboat on the bayou in Louisiana, just next to his shed he dumped all his garbage which was eaten by boars. He would take orders for boar meat, shoot and clean them, and deliver the meat the next day.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:23 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:23 AM on October 30, 2006
Thanks for the recommendation, Indigo. I've been looking for the other book for a while...it was one I insisted be read before bed on a regular basis, and it irks me that I've blocked the title when I remember most of the others so vividly.
We've got that type of restaurant here in the mountains of Gifu, flapjax, but I've never actually had it in country. The last time I ate boar was at a hunter's home near Lake Balaton in Hungary. I recall it was stewed in a goulash but I'm afraid the palinka consumed before and after made all memory of the flavor disappear.
Or perhaps that was simply the goulash.
posted by squasha at 6:25 AM on October 30, 2006
We've got that type of restaurant here in the mountains of Gifu, flapjax, but I've never actually had it in country. The last time I ate boar was at a hunter's home near Lake Balaton in Hungary. I recall it was stewed in a goulash but I'm afraid the palinka consumed before and after made all memory of the flavor disappear.
Or perhaps that was simply the goulash.
posted by squasha at 6:25 AM on October 30, 2006
Boston is crawling with pigs, but no wild boar.
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:42 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:42 AM on October 30, 2006
Imagine if you will - a picture of Obelix. Those Texans are crazy. (taps finger against head)
posted by GuyZero at 6:54 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by GuyZero at 6:54 AM on October 30, 2006
Oh great. Whenever a boar sees its shadow, Ted Nugent's career gets extended another five years.
posted by hal9k at 7:07 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by hal9k at 7:07 AM on October 30, 2006
Can I get a shout out for vinegar-and-pepper-based barbecued javelina? It's pretty tough meat but responds well to slow cooking, and dang, is it good with a couple of ice-cold beers....
posted by pax digita at 7:12 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by pax digita at 7:12 AM on October 30, 2006
OFF THE PIGS!
posted by Etaoin Shrdlu at 7:22 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by Etaoin Shrdlu at 7:22 AM on October 30, 2006
This post is boaring.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:27 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:27 AM on October 30, 2006
Javelina and wild boars are actually not the same at all. You can tell the difference by the tusks--boars have long, curvy tusks and javelina tusks are short and straight. Boars are from the old world, while javelina are native to the Americas.
posted by gokart4xmas at 7:27 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by gokart4xmas at 7:27 AM on October 30, 2006
Went on a boar hunt with friends in Northern California once, not because I'm a hunter, or would eat anything that was caught, but simply because I was curious. They were primarily using bows, but they also carried rifles and pistols. They handed me a big pistol, which I initially refused, until they said that a pissed off, wounded boar is a nasty critter. "If one rushes at you, just unload the gun in his face and run like hell." Scary.
Thankfully we never even saw a boar and it was a just a camping trip with guns and beer.
posted by elendil71 at 7:33 AM on October 30, 2006
Thankfully we never even saw a boar and it was a just a camping trip with guns and beer.
posted by elendil71 at 7:33 AM on October 30, 2006
So wild boar feces is more common in a stream than cow from factory farms? Somehow I doubt this.
posted by destro at 7:53 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by destro at 7:53 AM on October 30, 2006
Oh, you bet there are wild boar in California. Nasty, peevish, destructive critters. There's no stealth in them, they just come along gouging furrows in whatever earth interests them. Pracowity, own a garden or an orchard some time, you'll change your mind.
posted by jet_silver at 8:59 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by jet_silver at 8:59 AM on October 30, 2006
Here in the rich white Republikan burbs of Austin TX, wild boars are attacking in the night. Specifically they are attacking the grub infested lawns of MacMansions that have intruded upon their habitat. Quite a laff!
posted by ahimsakid at 9:20 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by ahimsakid at 9:20 AM on October 30, 2006
They're evolving, man! The pigs are trying to take over! It will be like those guys in Jabba's palace in Jedi.
I, for one, Welcome our Piggy overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted blogging personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground mushroom caves.
Well, someone had to say it.
Woo! Extra geek points for combining Star Wars with the Simpsons.
posted by nyxxxx at 10:30 AM on October 30, 2006
I, for one, Welcome our Piggy overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted blogging personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground mushroom caves.
Well, someone had to say it.
Woo! Extra geek points for combining Star Wars with the Simpsons.
posted by nyxxxx at 10:30 AM on October 30, 2006
They're evolving, man! The pigs are trying to take over! It will be like those guys in Jabba's palace in Jedi.
I, for one, Welcome our Piggy overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted blogging personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground mushroom caves.
Well, someone had to say it.
Woo! Extra geek points for combining Star Wars with the Simpsons.
posted by nyxxxx at 10:31 AM on October 30, 2006
I, for one, Welcome our Piggy overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted blogging personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground mushroom caves.
Well, someone had to say it.
Woo! Extra geek points for combining Star Wars with the Simpsons.
posted by nyxxxx at 10:31 AM on October 30, 2006
They're evolving, man! The pigs are trying to take over! It will be like those guys in Jabba's palace in Jedi.
I, for one, Welcome our Piggy overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted blogging personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground mushroom caves.
Well, someone had to say it.
Woo! Extra geek points for combining Star Wars with the Simpsons.
posted by nyxxxx at 10:32 AM on October 30, 2006
I, for one, Welcome our Piggy overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted blogging personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground mushroom caves.
Well, someone had to say it.
Woo! Extra geek points for combining Star Wars with the Simpsons.
posted by nyxxxx at 10:32 AM on October 30, 2006
Ok, someone can delete those extra ones. It seemed that metafilter didn't respond for a long time, then timed out.
posted by nyxxxx at 10:34 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by nyxxxx at 10:34 AM on October 30, 2006
Oh, you bet there are wild boar in California. Nasty, peevish, destructive critters. There's no stealth in them, they just come along gouging furrows in whatever earth interests them. Pracowity, own a garden or an orchard some time, you'll change your mind.
posted by jet_silver
I lived on my stepfather's cattle ranch near Santa Maria, CA in the 1960s and they were a major menace. Even the bulls were intimidated by the boars. All the hands kept a 30.06 in their vehicles and saddle scabbards and no one ever ventured into the brush unarmed. The buggers sounded like a freight train as they charged unseen through the chaparral and would run over or through whatever was in their path.
They're horribly destructive but do make some good eatin'.
posted by buggzzee23 at 11:31 AM on October 30, 2006
posted by jet_silver
I lived on my stepfather's cattle ranch near Santa Maria, CA in the 1960s and they were a major menace. Even the bulls were intimidated by the boars. All the hands kept a 30.06 in their vehicles and saddle scabbards and no one ever ventured into the brush unarmed. The buggers sounded like a freight train as they charged unseen through the chaparral and would run over or through whatever was in their path.
They're horribly destructive but do make some good eatin'.
posted by buggzzee23 at 11:31 AM on October 30, 2006
own a garden or an orchard some time, you'll change your mind.
I do. I'd rather lose the garden than kill a boar.
posted by pracowity at 12:16 PM on October 30, 2006
I do. I'd rather lose the garden than kill a boar.
posted by pracowity at 12:16 PM on October 30, 2006
"(There's wild boar in California?)"
There're lots of wild bores out there, I know that.
I think there should be a constant season on 'em. Kill 'em with archery, riflery, artillery, and bad breath. As long as you're gonna eat 'em or make 'em into pet food (unless of course they're too diseased to eat).
And pracowity, we shared our squash patch with a big woodchuck this season, but except for the slight risk of plague from fleas those rodents ain't dangerous to humans (or pets that don't bother 'em). Wild boar on the other can and will kill and eat you.
posted by davy at 12:29 PM on October 30, 2006
There're lots of wild bores out there, I know that.
I think there should be a constant season on 'em. Kill 'em with archery, riflery, artillery, and bad breath. As long as you're gonna eat 'em or make 'em into pet food (unless of course they're too diseased to eat).
And pracowity, we shared our squash patch with a big woodchuck this season, but except for the slight risk of plague from fleas those rodents ain't dangerous to humans (or pets that don't bother 'em). Wild boar on the other can and will kill and eat you.
posted by davy at 12:29 PM on October 30, 2006
I'd rather lose the garden than kill a boar.
posted by pracowity
They're an invasive, destructive species that impact native habitat, compete with native animals for food and are a major contributor to wildfire hazard by altering the balance of fauna to the point that alien grasses such as cheatgrass thrive after they've altered their environment. See here and here.
But they are tasty if you kill them before they kill you. (they probably say the same thing about humans)
posted by buggzzee23 at 12:46 PM on October 30, 2006
posted by pracowity
They're an invasive, destructive species that impact native habitat, compete with native animals for food and are a major contributor to wildfire hazard by altering the balance of fauna to the point that alien grasses such as cheatgrass thrive after they've altered their environment. See here and here.
But they are tasty if you kill them before they kill you. (they probably say the same thing about humans)
posted by buggzzee23 at 12:46 PM on October 30, 2006
There are LOTS of wild boar/pigs in California. Just a few miles South of the Silicon Valley, too. You can get hunting licenses for them. I think the limit is pretty low, though.
posted by drstein at 1:13 PM on October 30, 2006
posted by drstein at 1:13 PM on October 30, 2006
My cycle/year/month sign is METAL PIG CANCER.
It is also the name of my band. We play minuets.
posted by Sparx at 1:49 PM on October 30, 2006
It is also the name of my band. We play minuets.
posted by Sparx at 1:49 PM on October 30, 2006
Wow, what's a cycle? Because the other two for me would be Cock Lion.
posted by nyxxxx at 1:58 PM on October 30, 2006
posted by nyxxxx at 1:58 PM on October 30, 2006
There are NOT Wild Boar in California. There are Feral Pigs. They have been feral for so long that their physical appearance has regressed somewhat. They are hairy and have tusks, but they are not wild nor native.
They are damn destructive, especially in state and national parks where there is a lot of open land. Several parks have active eradication programs. Farmers and ranchers shoot them regularly.
And, yes, they make mighty good eating.
posted by shifafa at 3:40 PM on October 30, 2006
They are damn destructive, especially in state and national parks where there is a lot of open land. Several parks have active eradication programs. Farmers and ranchers shoot them regularly.
And, yes, they make mighty good eating.
posted by shifafa at 3:40 PM on October 30, 2006
But some piggies are totally cute and totally inedible.
posted by wendell at 4:51 PM on October 30, 2006
posted by wendell at 4:51 PM on October 30, 2006
They're an invasive, destructive species that impact native habitat
Maybe where you live. Wild boar are native here.
If you want an example of an "invasive, destructive species that impact native habitat," you can look much closer to home.
posted by pracowity at 9:51 PM on October 30, 2006
Maybe where you live. Wild boar are native here.
If you want an example of an "invasive, destructive species that impact native habitat," you can look much closer to home.
posted by pracowity at 9:51 PM on October 30, 2006
They're big, ugly, foul tempered rototillers. Definitely one of the more dangerous and destructive animals wandering the woods.
posted by ryanrs at 3:59 AM on November 1, 2006
posted by ryanrs at 3:59 AM on November 1, 2006
"There are NOT Wild Boar in California."
Uh, yes, there are. Well, there is a pig/boar hybrid, according to the state. Link. But that's just being pedantic. If they're "Sus scrofa" then they're a 'wild boar' or 'feral pig.' Same damn thing.
A co-worker is out hunting wild boar this very weekend.
posted by drstein at 11:15 PM on November 4, 2006
Uh, yes, there are. Well, there is a pig/boar hybrid, according to the state. Link. But that's just being pedantic. If they're "Sus scrofa" then they're a 'wild boar' or 'feral pig.' Same damn thing.
A co-worker is out hunting wild boar this very weekend.
posted by drstein at 11:15 PM on November 4, 2006
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posted by elpapacito at 3:44 AM on October 30, 2006