Wild Boar

[Daydream Believer]

Just curious what folks know about Wild Boar on the AT. I ran into a herd/pack (whatever) near Blue Mountain a week or so ago. I have heard they can be very dangerous but this group ran off fast when I banged my hiking poles together. I was about 20 yds from them when they came out on the trail...certainly close enough to ID the long hair, tusks, and dark brown/gray color.

I was a bit surprised as I did not even realize there were wild boar in that area.

[Mrs Baggins]

Someone said on WB not long ago that there were "no wild pigs" in Shenandoah. I just read the book about the building of Rapidan Camp in SNP during the Hoover administration and pigs, both wild and kept by the mountain people of the time, were very prevalent up there. Unless the park is going to claim that they killed every single one of them, there still has to be the descendants of those that were there in the 1920's running around the park and all points north and south of it. They're pretty much everywhere else and there is no imaginary boundary that the pigs won't cross.

[flemdawg1]

Wild pigs are only aggressive normally if cornered or threatened. I twice had pigs coming near my campsite in Sipsey Wilderness last summer. A loud shout sent them running away.

[Trailweaver]

In the area where you were hiking there are a lot of boars, and if you observe the trail, you will see that it's often "disturbed" - the ground is dug up, rocks turned over, etc. - it's the boars doing that to look for their food. I was told that they can be agressive and that you should try to steer clear from them.

[Gray Blazer]

Feral cats and now wild boars? Wake up Sleepy Jean!

[MuleDeer]

Big difference between a wild boar and a wild pig. Pig's gonna run, boar's gonna run at you.

[Daydream Believer]

Big difference between a wild boar and a wild pig. Pig's gonna run, boar's gonna run at you.

Dave, who shuttled me out at Winding Stair Gap, told me that the boars I saw were way more dangerous than any bears and that we were lucky that ran away from us. He was not the only one to say that. These were bonafide long haired big tusked boars too...not a domestic pig left run loose.

[Incahiker]

Boars scare me more the bears too.... they are so unpredictable and they height of their tusks are perfect to cut your artery in your legs should they go to town on you..

[solstice]

Boars scare me more the bears too.... they are so unpredictable and they height of their tusks are perfect to cut your artery in your legs should they go to town on you..

Agreed 100%. They're bad tempered, unpredictable, ugly bastards. D:

[Bags4266]

Just got this e-mail, they bagged it in Fla.

[Bags4266]

Two more pics

[Daydream Believer]

Bags..the pics don't work...says we have to sign in.

[Old Hiker]

Feral cats and now wild boars? Wake up Sleepy Jean!

Shouldn't that be:

Cheer up, sleepy Jean, oh, what can it mean?
To a thru-hike believer and a ........

..... something, something that rhymes with mean.

[Bags4266]

Errr, they were on my e-mail. I will try it another way. You really need to see the size of this thing.

[Gray Blazer]

Shouldn't that be:

Cheer up, sleepy Jean, oh, what can it mean?
To a thru-hike believer and a ........

..... something, something that rhymes with mean.

........ refried bean.

Davy Jones always got it right the first take. Did you know Jimi Hendrix used to open for the Monkees?

[Daydream Believer]

Are you two having fun with my user name? Go right ahead...I'm used to it. Folks were singing the song to me on my last section hike.

[Gray Blazer]

I like your user name. Not too wild about the song. I'd rather be gored by a boar (or even bored by Al Gore).

[Daydream Believer]

No problem Gray Blazer. I do find the song catchy but it's not my favorite either. Sung by a couple of off key hikers, it's even worse! It was nice to be serenaded though!

[Tenderheart]

In the area where you were hiking there are a lot of boars, and if you observe the trail, you will see that it's often "disturbed" - the ground is dug up, rocks turned over, etc. - it's the boars doing that to look for their food. I was told that they can be agressive and that you should try to steer clear from them.

In 2000, when I went thru the Smokeys, rangers were killing the boars at night and leaving the carcasses for the bears. One ranger came to Russell Field and talked some about the problem. He said that if left unchecked, the pigs would destroy the park. Now, I think, men for hire are doing the job instead of park personnel.

litefoot 2000

[Incahiker]

Figured I would post an update. Me and my brother in law were hiking down from the Cohutta mountains Grassy mountain tower (we were hiking down the fire road) and were charged by a group of 4 hogs that were hunkered down in the grass last weekend. We have no clue how they did not hear us coming cause I remember we were talking very loud and laughing really good as we got to the spot. All of a sudden we saw the tall grass move and heard something grunt in the grass and a boar charged and stopped right at the edge of the grass. We backed off about 10 yards and another one started grunting in the grass right beside us. It felt like we were being hunted by them . Then they bolted across the fire road and into the forest on the otherside crashing through the woods. It was a pretty intense experience. They were pretty big boars, around 100-150 lbs, would have been messy if they actually attacked. Man those things scare the crap outta me. I saw a bear early and it took off through the woods scared to death.