While Waiting For The “Murder Hornets”…
By Mitch Berg
…and having given up on the “killer bees”, people in the Upper Midwest have this to worry about:
Fearless predictions:
- North Dakotans, being gloriously well-armed and with a state government run by smart people ,will have all sorts of pulled pork (and, given these pigs reportedly yield a fairly bland meat, likely come up with some great recipes).
- Minnesotans in CE7 and CD8 – the northern half of the state – will try to kill some hogs. But Metro “environmentalists”, claiming the “erasure” of “undocumented potential DFL voters”, will appeal to Keith Ellison, who will promptly file an injunction citing a battle against “MAGA White Supremacy”.
- Canadians, being largely disarmed, will remain under cover, get eaten by hogs, or prosecuted by the Trudeau (who is no way, no how Fidel Castro’s son) regime.
Prove me wrong.
November 27th, 2023 at 6:26 am
Man, going after wild hogs is a blast and a great way to practice your shooting skills.
A late friend of mine from my days in Texas, owned a ranch west of Midland. I went down there to hunt a couple of years ago. Because I was his guest, under Texas law, I was deemed to be “helping the rancher”, so I didn’t need a hunting license. He had a small processing station on his property, where he butchered and did some smoking of hams and bacon. And yea! There was plenty of pulled pork and sausage. If any of you get the chance to hunt those critters, do it!
November 27th, 2023 at 6:31 am
One additional thought here.
As Bidenomics continues to wreck the economy, I suspect that a lot of the minions that voted for Dems, will take to hunting to survive.
November 27th, 2023 at 6:40 am
Yes, it will become a problem because Canada is doing little to stop it. They will just keep coming.
Yes, plenty of gun toting folks will kill many of them. But not enough.
In one spot in Texas you can bring your wild hogs to a plant that makes premium dog foods. Maybe a new venture for the Tuffy’s company.
November 27th, 2023 at 6:53 am
Interesting that the image used was of some relatively small piggies instead of those massive 800lb monsters I’ve seen hunted in TX.
I can’t prove you wrong, but I doubt there will be a reaction to save the piggies – unless the DFL teaches them to vote, as you say. I don’t know of any efforts to restrict deer hunting – and deer are cute. And hunting out here just beyond the metro area has been pretty good this year. Four, just on my street (two next door). From what I hear, way north has actually been less good because the wolves.
boss, hunting is a lot of work. I doubt those minions that voted for Dems have what it takes to hunt, kill, track down the carcass, pull it out to the Prius, hang it up, disembowel and skin it, and butcher the meat. Better to let Gov Walz just open another Feeding the Future outlet.
November 27th, 2023 at 7:15 am
I had been putting off a carry permit for years until I took a short-cut on my daily walk.
Keep in mind that I left the inner-city a decade ago and didn’t feel the need while walking out on country roads.
My place is surrounded by DNR land that the locals affectionately call The Minnesota Mosquito Refuge, and one very cold winter day, like I said above, I left the gravel and took a hike through the woods and marsh.
It was a nice clear blue-sky day, very relaxing and easy walking on the frozen ground and ice – until HOLY SH*T. Everywhere around me the fresh snow was trampled by very fresh coyote tracks.
Coyotes tend to be shy critters and I rarely see them, but damn, I can hear them almost every night – and I know their feeding call all too well.
Glad I didn’t hear it that day.
That was the last time I went into the refuge unarmed.
Now you tell me I have to worry about pigs.
Guess I’ll have to upgrade my .22 LR.
November 27th, 2023 at 7:35 am
I’m curious about the rules for Super Pigs.
Will it be rifle above I-94 and shotgun slug below?
What’s the minimim caliber?
What’s the maximum number of rounds – will I need a “Pig Plug” in my gun?
Will there be separate Bow and Firearms seasons? Crossbow?
Will there be bonus Anterless tags to reduce the population?
How many years will it take DNR to sort out the rules?
November 27th, 2023 at 7:40 am
It occurs to me the Pig Rules should be different from our life-long experience with other hunting.
Pigs are not “game” animals, they’re “nuisance” animals. There should be a bounty and easier rules to encourage hunters, same as nuisance critters in the olden days.
Hunt with dogs, shine at night, bait with food, radios to coordinate – all the stuff that’s No-No for Deer (becaue it would reduce the animal population to dangerously low levels) could be Fine for Pig (because that’s the whole point).
Write your legislator. Tell them to tell DNR to think outside the box for a change.
November 27th, 2023 at 7:41 am
Moderation. Oops. Try again, with substitution.
It occurs to me the Pig Rules should be different from our life-long experience with other hunting.
Pigs are not “game” animals, they’re “nuisance” animals. There should be a bounty and easier rules to encourage hunters, same as nuisance critters in the olden days.
Hunt with CANINE, shine at night, bait with food, radios to coordinate – all the stuff that’s No-No for Deer (becaue it would reduce the animal population to dangerously low levels) could be Fine for Pig (because that’s the whole point).
Write your legislator. Tell them to tell DNR to think outside the box for a change.
November 27th, 2023 at 9:49 am
I’m with Bigman on this one. One can debate whether they’re game or nuisance animals, but if indeed they breed like rabbits and damage everything they touch, you need long seasons and a wider range of options for hunting.
November 27th, 2023 at 9:51 am
While it is certainly possible to take down a pig with an AR-15, for real pig stopping power you want at least an AR-10. Gun dealers should take note, .30 cal sales prospects are bright. The preferred cartridge will be Winchester 300 mag – gives you a great safety margin, cause wounded pigs are angry pigs and they will come after you.
November 27th, 2023 at 9:55 am
There should be no season, like coyotes in Wisconsin, just take them, day or night, whenever you see them.
November 27th, 2023 at 10:02 am
If you’re going to engage a pig with a side arm it better be a .45 – pigs have thick skin. More good news for M1911 sales. I personally like Kimber PRO TLE.
November 27th, 2023 at 11:39 am
I just listened to this story on last Wednesday’s Garage Logic, and I laughed my a$$ off.
I wish I knew where Johnny Heidt got the story he read. That story claimed that hunting is actually counter productive and leads to an increase in the population. The reasons being that hunting only harvests 2%-3% of the hog population instead of the 60%+ harvest rate needed to cut down on the overall numbers. The increasing the population claim is because hunted hogs become more nocturnal and wary of humans, so they are more difficult to track.
I can only assume that it’s some sort of common core math that gets that result.
November 27th, 2023 at 11:51 am
Pig is spot on.
My buddy used a Ruger Gunsite Scout Ranger shooting .450 Bushmaster. His brother had a Marlin 1898 lever action in .45-70. They lent me a Ruger American bolt action .308. We took every pig we shot, down with the first one. I was the only one that needed two to finish one of the two I bagged.
November 27th, 2023 at 11:54 am
Smith;
A lot of Texas ranchers hunt at night. Whole sounders also get caught in baited fenced in traps.
November 27th, 2023 at 3:38 pm
A buddy from my gun club did a helicopter hunt in Texas a few years back. He told me he didn’t realize the experience was on his bucket list until he had done it, IIRC the group he was with used AR-15, They did a bunch of ground hunting also.
Feral pigs are a huge problem in the South. They’ve been forecasting their range would expand all the way to MN over time. Never thought the migration would come from the North.
November 27th, 2023 at 3:52 pm
While it is certainly possible to take down a pig with an AR-15, for real pig stopping power you want at least an AR-10
Which is high up on my list of potential build projects.
Y’know – to replace the guns that fell into the lake. .
November 27th, 2023 at 4:42 pm
At first I thought Pig had suggested an A10, not an AR10. A flight of Warthogs strafing the breeding/feeding grounds would seem appropriate, as well as impressive, though. That would probably tear the turf up worse than the feral hogs, though.