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Has anyone seen any of these?

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/us-alberta-immigrunts-destructive-wild-boars

673;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope all is going well as can be with the snow we've all received overnight.

While I've only done a wee bit of looking into the "Saskatchewan Super Pig Problem", I will note that pretty much each and every time it's mentioned, Ryan Brook from UoS Saskatoon is the one being quoted.

Curious that, no?

Now it could be he is the only voice crying in the wilderness or it could be he's figured out how to get more study funding as well.

Talking to folks in Saskatchewan, some areas were able to eliminate the hogs and some were not. The terrain or better said existence of bigger rivers where the pigs could escape in the brush and steeper country seems to be a common part of the issue.

Alberta took a wee bit longer to decide whether or not to shoot pigs on the loose.

Here in BC they've always been classed as invasive so open season, no bag limit on hogs seen on public land.

All the best.

Dwayne

Its all smoke and mirrors from what I've been able to glean. They were said ( by the New York Times no less...) to be filtering down into Montana. Buddy on the Livestock Dept flew the border areas looking for sign for three days.......nada.

ingwe;
Good morning my old cyber friend, I hope the weekend behaved and you're all well and ready for the week ahead.

With all due respect to your friend, if he's going to introduce actual facts to the discussion, we're going to have to ask him to leave.

This is a major problem and Prof. Brook's study funding and future speaking engagements are hanging in the balance.

I'm sure you and your friend will understand.

All the best.

Dwayne

I have hunted all over Alberta.

As far South as the Montana/Alberta Border, as far North as Sexsmith, as far East as the Saskatchewan/Alberta border, and as far West as the BC/Alberta border.

I have never seen a single FOOTPRINT, would like to though!

I have also hunted all over Manitoba.

As far South as the North Dakota and Minnesota/Manitoba Borders, as far North as The Pas, as far East as the Ontario/Manitoba border, and as far West as the Saskatchewan/Manitoba border.

I have never seen a single FOOTPRINT, yep we have a serious Pig problem in Canada!

NOT

Dwayne I have attached a couple of articles on wild pigs around the Edmonton area. Prof Brook's name is in the second one.

I do recall there being a article noting that more study / research was required (ie funding request). Also the people that want to bait and trap these critters are looking for funding as well. I have not been able to track that one down as yet.

In terms of personal experience I have seen a dead one by Estavan (my wifes uncles farm - not large maybe 150 lbs), a dead one on the side of the road out towards Wabamum and a group of three live ones out in the country on a photo tour of old buildings (no gun in the truck). The live ones really booked it across a field when I stopped to take a picture of them.

I hunt the province a fair amount and know quite a few land owners. There are a few pigs around just not one behind every bush. Scarce would be a good word ---- unless you are looking for more funding then Invasive and Threatening would be the words of choice.

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/lo...y-with-permanent-feral-pigs-expert-warns

https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2022/04/06/wild-boar-hunting/

Hugh;
Good evening to you sir, I hope the day behaved, the weather was tolerable and you're well.

Thanks for the articles, I actually see that he's quoted and has supplied photos in both articles Hugh, that's his pig spotting map in the first one.

To be clear I'm not remotely suggesting that there are zero wild pigs in the western provinces, nor am I a fan of them whatsoever.

Perhaps I was a tad hard on Prof. Brook too, but he surely seems to get attached to all the "Invasive/Threatening" pig stories for sure.

All the best and thanks again.

Dwayne

Dwayne it was a balmy minus 20 with a 30 to 50 Km wind here today. Hoping for some nicer weather toward the weekend as I would like to get out ice fishing for a bit.

In terms of Prof Brook I do not think you were hard on him at all. There was a push for funding studies in the Edmonton River Valley --- while there are coyote, deer, moose, bear and the odd cougar sighting there have been zero sightings of wild pigs.

I find it interesting that the discussions on wild pigs in the river valley seem to have started at the same time that our Mayor (ex Liberal MP) started musing on having the Edmonton River Valley declared a national park. Now the skeptic in me might say an opportunist may come forward saying a national park cannot have invasive species so a study is in order.

Certainly not enough evidence to invest taxpayer dollars in a a research project.

All the best

There are no pigs in northern ON or Northern MN.
Our -40 temps that we get down to in winter won’t allow them to survive here.

The local liberal here in SW Saskatchewan along the Frenchman River had a bunch of Russian boar. Being a typical Liberal, he turned them loose to feed on the neighbours crops, believing that they would return home before winter set in, they didn’t. Had a lot of fun shooting truckloads of the feral pigs. Took a couple of years to wipe them out, but haven’t seen any for at least 15 years now.
Plenty of them up in the Tisdale and Carrot River areas these days.

CullingTime;
Good afternoon, I hope the day finds you well.

It's always of interest to me how small the world becomes sometimes and your post is a wee bit of a case in point.

My late father was born north of you in Fox Valley, telling me about having to go by wagon into the Cypress Hills for firewood. My late Mom came from Etzikom so not that far west of you all either.

Although most of my earlier years were east of Yorkton, I lived for 3½ years in Nipawin and we used to hunt ducks west of Pontrillas and over by Carlea and Aylsham too.

Haven't been back into that northern country in 41 years now so I'm sure a whole lot has changed.

On another forum I conversed with a fellow from somewhere near your part of the world - I think - who mentioned they were down in the bigger river bottoms for awhile.

Thanks for the update and for the memories!

All the best.

Dwayne

I would like to shoot a few of them, as mentioned never seen even a Puddy Print.

How did they taste?

Dwayne

There are a lot of wild boar around Aylsham area now. One fellow that used to post on Gun Nutz has killed hundreds of boars in the bush up there. I got into a bunch of boar feeding on a wheat pile near Prairie River a few years back. Still do a fall bear and elk hunt every fall around Hudson Bay. Friends there have boar sightings in recent years.

Went thru Yorkton this fall, hadn’t been over that way for a decade. It’s really booming now. Toured up the Pas by way of Witebeach, Elbow Lake to Armit. Nice area , but the forest it really disappearing fast.

KB

Used the sows and younger pigs as mix for elk sausage. No complaints. Never bothered with the boars, those flat out stunk.

You do NOT want pigs moving in. Its cheaper by far to pay to shoot the things if need be. They are not at all worth the issues they create.

CullingTime,

I was fishing for Tarpon and Sharks in the Florida Keys a few years ago with my friend who has a condo there.

Anyway, after a day of fishing, we took some wild pig that he killed in the Everglades earlier that year and tried to cook some steaks up in his condo.

OMG they stunk so bad in the pan that we threw the steaks off the balcony (we were drinking heavily lol), because they stunk so bad we thought we were going to puke!

One thing I do know for sure, don't ever eat a pig that was shot in the Everglades, but do go there fishing, it's amazing, and compared to what we pay for alcohol in Canada, the booze is really cheap!

Cheers ~

Culling Time;
Good afternoon once more, hopefully the day's progressing as planned thus far.

Thanks again for the reply and further info.

Wow, there's elk down by Hudson Bay now? Crazy.

My late father hunted north east of Erwood every fall for moose with his brother and some friends from Stockholm. He and I went in there together one year, must have been 1977 or perhaps 1976.

Looking at a map, we must have been up Smoking Ridge area.

Hogs around Aylsham now too, that's also crazy.

I recall it as having some fairly big sloughs, thus the duck hunting, so if the pigs got into the big sloughs and brush they'd for sure be hard to get out of there.

Again sir, thanks for the memories from long, long ago.

All the best.

Dwayne

Hi Dwayne
I hunted for moose north of Erwood in the late 80’s. It was just a few small farms and cut lines in the bush back then. It’s all farm land now and moose are mostly gone . Manitoba natives flood in every fall and kill every moose they find.
Elk have taken over the North east and the numbers are high. They are very adaptable and love the Canola and oat crops. Bears have taken to eating Canola as well.

CullingTime;
Top of the morning to you once more, I hope you're getting survivable weather and are well.

Thanks for even more information, it's always of interest to me.

Back in those days there were elk east of Nipawin in the Fort A La Corne area.

Also there were elk north of Roblin, towards Duck Mountain Park sort of. My wife's nephews hunted there in the '80's.

That Smoking Ridge area was wild, wild country when we hunted it and unless it froze Dad and Uncle Frank's party couldn't get in. They had a modified Jeep and a couple snowmobiles that would drag sleds down the cut lines and then onto a frozen creek for quite a bit of the trip.

Too bad about the FN overharvest, its something we're struggling with across the west from what I can gather.

There were bears then too, but of course by the time we went in for moose they were all asleep.

Thanks again.

Dwayne