We hear a lot about bears and poisonous snakes as hazards on the trail, but has anyone had any experiences with feral hogs? I've only seen their digging in the ground; have never run into one though.
We hear a lot about bears and poisonous snakes as hazards on the trail, but has anyone had any experiences with feral hogs? I've only seen their digging in the ground; have never run into one though.
ive seen a few in the Smokys and some of the surrounding national forests...............mainly at night rooting around......
the ones i saw were more skittish than bears and basically ran away after spotting me.........
ive never really heard of someone getting charged by one.......
here's a video of some i saw during the daylight in the Park...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4uMQQKFYDE
Last week, hiked down Lawson Mtn on the Cumberland Trail and encountered a large group of them - roughly a dozen. Much evidence of their rutting all around, and also in Frozen Head State Park, not that far away to the south. I pointed out to them that their rutting was against LNT principles, and they ran away in shame.
You got me! I had the Rutles on my mind, indirect/obscure ref. to Queen Elizabeth on a podcast this morning.
https://youtu.be/gdqDuOP59RI
After seeing the mounted heads in the Fontana Inn lobby, I really don't want to encounter one in the wild! Man, those beasts are both BIG and UGLY! Good thing they are skittish and are usually out at night.
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If you see an area that is all torn up like someone turrned it over with a spade. It’s hogs eating all the roots. It’s not real common to see hogs along the AT but we have them on the South end of the trail.
Interesting. I've always heard they could be really dangerous, but it sounds like no real threat on the trail, at least from the experiences related so far. As far as in general, I had not googled any information to try and learn anything before I posted because I was interested in the experiences of people on the trail. After researching for a few minutes, I did find this article, which helped with some additional information. Apparently, like bears, they can be timid, or aggressive, depending on circumstances.
http://blog.wildlifejournalist.com/2...these-do-pt-1/
I thought the thread was going to ask if we had tried them. I assume they could be tasty.
Yes, they are a major threat to not only plant communities, both native and in commercial agriculture, but water quality, wildlife, as predators that will eat a host of small animals, even ground dwelling birds and sea turtles(and their eggs), and causing erosion. Perhaps, the most significant danger of wild pigs in context of your question are the bacteria that contaminate water sources.
Many have talked about Beaver Fever and always treating water where beavers are present and certainly so when we note any livestock, poultry farms, etc. as they all signify a much higher risk of disease. Wild pigs transmit some very nasty bacteria and parasites to humans, domestic pets(don't let your dog run loose in areas of feral pig activity), native wildlife, and livestock. These bacteria and parasites aren't are also in the contaminated soil, feces, urine, on trees(as dried mud is rubbed of by the pigs), etc.
When sectioning through the park 10 years ago, we encountered a large group of smaller pigs and a couple sows right on the trail. They did get off the trail but it sure wasnt what I called skittish, they just slowed walked off to the sides not that far into cover and let us walk by. We met one of the parks hunters later in the day and he was excited until we showed him where on the map. It wasnt his district. He did say when they first started hunting them, they had to bury the carcasses and couldnt take any meat away. Eventually they just starting dragging the carcasses out of sight and let the bears eat them. His theory was that it wasnt a bad thing for a bear to get a taste of hog.
I saw some during a weeklong trip in the Smokeys as well, same deal though, they scattered before I had even spotted them. On my thru last year, a girl I was hiking around told me she had been chased by a mother hog after accidentally splitting the kids from the momma. Honest mistakes breed honest responses.
I've heard that they can be dangerous, and read of attacks, but hasn't been my experience. I have seen javelina in a national wildlife area. Did not seem to be very threatened by people's presence but didn't seem aggressive either. (This was NM and javelinas are peccaries.)
I've heard that eating their meat is discouraged because it can cause disease.
A decade ago I saw about a half dozen of the hogs in the Smokies. Hiking southbound on the AT, I decided to get water from the spring that is located right before the climb up Thunderhead Mountain. There was a short side trail from the AT to that spring. Noticing the pigs 40 feet from me, across the spring, I stopped walking and shouted at them, as I would do to shoo away a pesky bear. After completely ignoring me, five minutes later those pigs wandered away. I then went to the spring and collected my water, purifying it thoroughly, as usual.
I've always heard the hogs were potential more dangerous than bears. Of course pretty much all wild life is wary of humans, and so most of the time we encounter bears or hogs, they run from is. Perhaps the potential difference is that with bears, the can escape by climbing, and if you come between a mama black bear and her cubs, she's more likely to climb a tree to get away from you knowing her cubs will do the same than she is to charge you. But hogs don't climb trees.
I've always heard the hogs were potential more dangerous than bears.
and i think that has to do many with their tusks........
I heard the squeal of something that sounded like a feral pig, while hiking Southbound just after sunset in New Jersey. I did not see it, so it could have been another critter. New Jersey offers feral pig hunting in locations where the animals have been officially spotted.