In South Africa the legal definition of "hunting" includes the catching; so requesting help to catch live bushpigs should not be to far off topic?

Can anyone please give any advice on how to catch and transport live bushpigs? What age range of pigs are the best relocate? Target translocation area in typical thorn encroached bushveldt north of the town of Brits, South Africa.

Suggestions on methods to capture? References to people with tame, half-tame or captured bushpigs? References to places to try to set up traps or other capture devices? References to game dealers who can help?

Any help please?

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

Andrew, We used to catch wild Boar all the time, but I have a friend that has been doing it for years and still does. I'll ask his advice as he is very successful. Give me a day or two and I'll try to get full details.
GH,
David

Andrew

Baby warthogs ... looking for the bushpig pics. They sometimes come up to the truck when seperated from their mothers in a panic. Cute little buggers!

Andrew,

How about either live catch traps similar to a larger version of a cat trap? Alternatively, try the game auctions/parks depts or ask PHASA, who are very accommodating for that kind of thing, to put something in their next newsletter.

Otherwise try a game capture company who might be able to help you as part of their other game capture operations.

Sugar cane farmers in KZN regularly catch them in traps. Not sure where you would start looking?

Andrew
I cannot substatiate with documentation but as one does I heard that boma traps have been used successfully in areas where there are large numbers of pigs, it will cost you a months worth of crushed mielies and the setup of the trap but you can take a whole group at a time. This allows you to take family/clans and relocate them.

You build a square/rectangular enclosure with entrances on all for corners with trap dooors. Line of sight is then open through the boma out the other end of the door. You then start to feed and monitor the number of pigs coming in. Once you have substantial traffic you start to trap. Done at night. You either use sound or if you can afford an infrared video camera to verify the numbers. This can be as simple as pulling on a peice of string or remote triggers. Success obvioulsy goes up if you are further away.
I belive that if you feed long enough you can trap for up to two weeks after the first trapping with ongoing success, just need to be careful that you don't remove all the pigs from an entire areas as they may be serving a purpose in the local ecosystem. If you are baiting in the middle of a large cane plantation then no problem, but be careful of drawing innocent populations of out their forest habitat with the scent of crushed mielies as these pigs are a vital part of said ecosystem.

This is very labour intensive but does seem to work quite well.

Good luck
Ian

Andrew, make sure that you get the right permits to "hunt" and transport Bushpigs. They are not classed as problem animals anymore, you cannot get them on your exemption and you need a special permit to hunt them.

Then also you will have to obtain a vet. certificate for the transport, as Bushpig are cariers of swine fever.

You very seldom see them for sale at auctions, and there is a very good reason for that......

I can't really speak for bushpigs, but they're pigs and my friends catch feral pigs up to 500 pounds (which are quite rare, most are in the 75 to 200 pound category) all the time with bay and catch dogs. Catch dogs are usually pitbulls wearing cut vests. If they are going to kill the hog, this is when they stab or shoot him otherwise, they go in, grab the hind legs and flip the pig, tie him, and carry him out alive. That's one way.

Another way is to trap them. If you're trying for quantity, it takes some effort but is relatively cheap. I'm not sure what you call them in RSA but we call them cattle panels (heavy duty wire mesh panels, 16 feet long by 5 feet high). Set up a trap consisting of several cattle panels, supported by T posts driven in the ground about every 3 to 4 feet, and obviously with the panels well wired to the T posts, leave one corner open, with one of the corner panels pulled back and staked, bait with whatever they like to eat, we use corn, let them get used to it for a few days first, then set a trigger on the panel, which is flexible and "springy", trigger is in far corner of trap, when they hit the trigger, whatever is in the trap is caught. This is a brief description, if you need more details PM me. This set up works MUCH better than normal "hog" traps.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
I can't really speak for bushpigs, but they're pigs and my friends catch feral pigs up to 500 pounds (which are quite rare, most are in the 75 to 200 pound category) all the time with bay and catch dogs. Catch dogs are usually pitbulls wearing cut vests. If they are going to kill the hog, this is when they stab or shoot him otherwise, they go in, grab the hind legs and flip the pig, tie him, and carry him out alive. That's one way.

Another way is to trap them. If you're trying for quantity, it takes some effort but is relatively cheap. I'm not sure what you call them in RSA but we call them cattle panels (heavy duty wire mesh panels, 16 feet long by 5 feet high). Set up a trap consisting of several cattle panels, supported by T posts driven in the ground about every 3 to 4 feet, and obviously with the panels well wired to the T posts, leave one corner open, with one of the corner panels pulled back and staked, bait with whatever they like to eat, we use corn, let them get used to it for a few days first, then set a trigger on the panel, which is flexible and "springy", trigger is in far corner of trap, when they hit the trigger, whatever is in the trap is caught. This is a brief description, if you need more details PM me. This set up works MUCH better than normal "hog" traps.

Bugger that first option for a game of soldiers! You Texans sure do have a stylish way of doing things!

Second option sounds similar to the boma trap Ian suggested......... I gues it'd have to pretty strong to contain a big bushpig, but I guess it's work.

A game auction might be the easiest and possibly cheapest option in the long run.

Sent you an Email

Dan

When we catch pigs in the States we put out corn that has been mixed with Diesel. This seems to keep away he other corn eaters.

quote:

Originally posted by Cunningham:
When we catch pigs in the States we put out corn that has been mixed with Diesel. This seems to keep away he other corn eaters.

That's interesting, a friend of mine in KZN does the same thing...... and swears by it.

I've used the corn/diesel mixture as well. Since our primary object it to feed deer I don't normally do it but it works.

I can't speak for bushpigs but feral hogs LOVE used oil or diesel just poured on the ground. The EPA doesn't care for the practice but our feral pigs will literally go by corn to dig in, roll in, etc the oil spot, probably for insect/lice control but maybe it just smells like Chanel #5 to them?

Be carefull. Bush pigs are grumpy at the best of times. If you take the piglets away, mamma bush pig is going to be very pissed off. If you are near, death may follow shortly.

we all dig our own graves

I've actually gone on one of those hog hunts with guys who want to go at it with knives. Best news was we didn't find a pig. I agree that the best (easiest) way to get all the pigs you want is a stock option. If bushpigs are anything like our feral hogs they get used to traps real quick. You get a few and then you don't get any.

Ment to say "stock auction". Sorry.

Thanks for the responses and advice. I'll reply in general:

I only need one or two breeding pairs to stock a very well fenced game farm area that used to have bushpig, but now have none. Now a breeding pair has a big poar and a sow, and catching and transporting a big boar is easier said than done. Methinks that eventually getting 2 or 3 immature but fully weaned pigs from two different locations. They are likely to adapt to a new environment quicker and establish a new population.

Infinito, thanks for the warning. It may be easier to get permits if catch and release is in the same general area of the same province.
Vlam, there is no danger of my operation pleting the population very much somewhere. I envision using pre-welded reinforcing mesh of appropriate size to construct the trap as described by yourself. I will for sure try the diesel/corn mixture, it may 'save' a lot of corn being consumed by guinea fowl and other birds rodents! Getting a captured pig from a 8 Ft by 8 ft cage into a transportation cage is my next worry. I have traps designed for porcupine that can be used to transport captured young pigs, but how to get a bewildred pig from the big cage into a smaller one remains a worry. I know that there is a safe injectable product that calms warthog for transport, and hope to find out that it, or another, can also be used for bushpigs.

Thanks again guys for the suggestions. As Steve said, some methods are for Rambo only!

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

Hi Andrew
If you only need one or two you may want to try one more option here.

If you say there used to be pigs in the area then there may still be some in close proximity. They are highly secretive and may be completely unnoticed. Before you go down the rout of transport you may want to try and set up a few bait stations around the borders of the property. Give it some time and see what bites. If you get a hit from a resident wild bushpig/group you can then set up a new station inside your property, dig an entrace tunnel under your fence and they will start to use it.

After a while they may just decide to stay, just keep moving the station and if you have some thick bush move towards that.

This is obviously all dependent on the area and your neighbours etc though. Worst case you may loose a bit of time and mielies, best case you could lure some new pigs into taking up residence.

Good luck
Ian