Interesting article. https://www.theguardian.com/en...wild-pigs-borneo-aoe

I guess we will be next. I remember when we didn't have CWD in mule deer and elk populations. Eventually what gets around, comes around. That might solve our wild hog "problem", but it would be a shame.

I hunted wild hogs (in West Java) while living in Indonesia in 2008. They weren't the bearded pigs, just your run of the mill wild hogs, kind of scrawny. It was an experience. I was the guest of the West Java RPCI (Regional Police Chief Inspector). We met with him and his people, had a meal served on the floor, and they showed me their rifles; homemade-looking, bolt-action, 7.62mm (reloaded ammunition). Scary looking. The man said the hulls sometimes jammed in the chamber when trying to jack them out, so he used sand paper to file the sides of the casings to "make them work". That "cure" no doubt caused "the problem".

We sighted the rifles in and they couldn't be held to 3' at 100 yards. They had rudimentary scopes.

We started hunting at 4:30 in the afternoon, and hunted until daylight in police "Jeeps" rigged with spotlights. We would stand up to shoot off the back deck.

I remember when we would pull through a tiny village, the people would rush out of the huts to see what was causing all the ruckus and immediately start kowtowing when they recognized the General.

We missed a lot of hogs, but killed four or five. They considered that a good hunt. (They left them where they dropped.)

Sometime before sun-up we took a break. You could see the faint glow of the sun starting to lighten the horizon and the Call To Prayer commenced. It was eerie to be sitting in the dark in a 'Jeep", with a bunch of strangers, in the middle of no where, listening to the Call To Prayer coming from somewhere in the distance.

We were dead tired by morning. We thanked our host, said our goodbyes, left there and started the long drive back to Jakarta. Our man driving fell asleep I think and nearly got us killed. The oncoming car knocked our rear view mirror off. I insisted that they change drivers. That next guy couldn't stay awake either. (They wouldn't let me drive because I didn't have a valid Indonesian drivers license.)

We were within an hour or so of my apartment at the Dharmawangsa Jakarta when I decided I had had enough of near-death experiences. I had them pull over at a restaurant, unload my gear, and I called my driver to come get me.

I had the opportunity a few months later to repeat the hog hunt, but decided I was one-and-done. I didn't want to push my luck. I was lucky to be alive.

As ugly as they are, I’d shoot them for sure.

What a disaster for the people of Borneo. I hope Pfizer and Moderna are working on mRNA vaccines.

Lots of Europe got hit with SF in last few years

quote:

Originally posted by dustoffer:
As ugly as they are, I’d shoot them for sure.

The drivers or the pigs?