Sep 15, 2018 5 min read

When the larger game animal is considered, Pennsylvania residents talk about the deer, bear and elk. Deer season, in particular, is the big day of the year for many residents and rightfully so. But have you ever thought about which animal is the second in population across the country? Fortunately, the numbers of this invader are not that high in our home state, but I’ll stick my neck out a bit and say that there are far more of them here than the average outdoorsman or even the nonhunter would think.

By now, you should have figured out that it is the feral hog that I am talking about. Many persons would call them Russian Hogs, but being honest I doubt if very many of these destructive but intelligent animals carry the Russian strain. To many, if it is black it’s of the Russian strain, but I hardly think that the coloration determines the animal’s ancestry. Far and away most wild pigs are, or at least were, the descendants of the domestic pig.

George Orwell stated in the book Animal Farm that the pig might be the smartest of all the domesticated animals. Even the pig confined in the pig pen, where it lolls in the mud most of the day, is very good at problem solving, as any farmer will tell you. A late aunt of mine once went into the pen to feed the hogs, as she did every day. She told us kids how they were laying peacefully in the mud just enjoying themselves. The poor lady turned her back on them and bent over the food trough. You know what happened? One pig nailed her backside while the rest mobbed the gate. She had to eat lunch standing up and that was a rule we always had to obey on the farm: Never take your eyes off a pig. They seem to sense when you are looking the other way.

So it is in the wild. As the pig adapts to the freedom of his escape, his habits and even his appearance changes a bit. His hair might grow longer as do his tusks. The same can be said of his snout. It is hard to believe the transition as it adapts to the wild. A pig in a pen is not too friendly generally and you can multiply that many times when judging one in the wild. You may walk by one with little response from the animal but invade its space and it just might not like it. The problem is determining what each pig considers its personal space. While not as life threatening as a grizzly bear or as quick as a mountain lion, pigs are quicker to come after you, I have been told more than once by experts. I remember when hunting in South Carolina we were scouting the area with another fellow. If you said, “I see a hog. He went up the nearest tree.” Maybe he was smarter than the rest of us. While a Grizzly Bear can easily kill a person, a pig attack usually results in a badly torn up leg. It’s just a matter of size. I saw a huge pig taken on a hunt down Tennessee way that weighed more than 600 pounds. That is a lot of pork!

The closest place to Washington County that I would consider as a boar hunting spot would be Bedford County. It seems the pigs are a problem there and a good place to try is near a town called Fossilville. The question is always where did they come from? Well, they do reproduce quickly and that can explain some of it. Many are escapees from farms and shooting preserves. Much like the coyote, they have been with us for many years but the populations have been low, so they go unnoticed.

My daughter and her husband recently went to Arkansas, where they are a problem. This adds to those high numbers hunted. The state’s college team is called the Razorbacks, so this should not have been such a surprise. Remember, I said the only big animal hunted in the USA in higher numbers is the Whitetail Deer. Maybe someday we will find it commonplace around here to hunt wild feral pigs.

• It is time to talk about that conservation scholarship again. Soon it will be time for the annual sports show at the Washington Crown Center Mall, where we will award one lucky young person with a George Block Conservation Scholarship. The scholarship is monetary with all money being donated by area businesses and persons interested in continuing to support the environmental and conservative efforts of our youth. Applications can be found at most area high school guidance offices and it is offered to youth up to 18 years of age in Washington and Greene Counties. We had tremendous entries last year and I’m hoping this year brings the same. So pick up an entry and encourage your youngsters to enter. They only need to write a short essay about what they have done to conserve, protect or promote our environment. This does include the outdoor sports. I really am looking forward to reading those entries.