Posted on Mon, Jan. 01, 2007
In California, wild pigs hunted in defense of nature
By Denis Cuff

Contra Costa Times

(MCT)

SUISUN MARSH, Calif. - Save the flowers. Save the birds. Kill the pigs.

This was Ted Champagne's mission deep in a maze of tule-covered islands and twisting sloughs where he steered his shallow hunting boat and waited for his Catahoula hounds to catch a whiff of wild pigs.

The dogs, Butch and Porter, held their bodies taut and sniffed furiously.

Champagne kept his 12-gauge shotgun close.

He kept his 10-inch-long knife closer, strapped to his side and ready for use in case he found a pig in thick grass and reeds where it could be hard to tell if he was shooting a pig or his dogs.

"Once the dogs smell something and jump out of the boat, things move fast," Champagne said. "You want to get in and finish it fast."

Champagne is no ordinary hunter in this big marsh, but rather a guardian of endangered flowers and plants.

He hunts to protect nature.

Champagne volunteers his hunting services for a conservation group, the Solano Land Trust, one of a growing number of California public and nonprofit landowners who kill wild pigs to prevent them from damaging or killing native plants and wildlife.

The 2,027-acre Rush Ranch Open Space, where Champagne hunts south of Fairfield, Calif., is a hot spot for rare plants and birds within the Suisun Marsh, the largest brackish water marsh on the West Coast.

The feral pigs, a non-native descendent of European boars, dig up, trample and smother habitat for the native species, if not the species as well.

"It was obvious to us that the pigs were wreaking havoc," Ken Poerner, the Solano Land Trust land steward. "They decimate everything in their path. I don't think the pigs target endangered species, but they don't avoid them, either."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agrees pig hunting is warranted.

In a recent report commissioned by the agency, consultants backed pig hunting as a tool to protect two endangered plants. One is the soft bird's-beak, an herb in the snapdragon family, and the other is Suisun thistle, a member of the aster family.

The report notes there are two organized pig-hunting programs in the Suisun Marsh, the Solano Land Trust hunting effort and also hunting on the state's nearby Joice Island.

The state uses a drawing to award some 20 to 24 pig hunting licenses a year.

Many hunters on Joice Island fail to bag pigs, state officials say, unlike Champagne and his hunting parties that have bagged some 150 pigs in about 18 months.

The federal report writers said that if current hunting efforts are not enough to hold the pigs in check in the marsh, professional hunters could be brought in for an estimated cost of up to $400,000 over 20 years.

Hunting pigs and fencing out cattle make up 90 percent of the $1.6 million potential cost of measures to protect the two endangered plants in its critical habitat in and around the marsh, the report says.

For the time being, though, the Fish and Wildlife Service believes the current pig hunting is adequate, says agency spokesman Al Donner.

No one, however, knows how many pigs live in the marsh.

One environmental group is skeptical the federal government is doing enough to protect the rare plants.

"Feral pigs are a huge problem in California we need to address," said Emily Roberson, the Center for Biological Diversity campaign director for native plants.

Peter Galvin, the center's conservation director, said he believes government agencies have been reluctant to push hard to thin pig populations because wild pigs are a popular animal to hunt.

Deer are the only animals more popular to be hunted in California, according to the state Department of Fish and Game.

Pigs are also very smart, Champagne said, and the marsh provides abundant food, hiding places and escape routes for them.

"Their survival is based on these waterways," he said. "They can outswim the dogs. If you ever seen them swim, it looks like they're powered by batteries."

Champagne had little success finding pigs on Rush Ranch when he agreed about three years ago to hunt there in exchange for being allowed to keep the pig meat for his family and friends.

He had more success after he brought in hunting dogs, and strapped a ladder to his boat as a lookout post.

He bred and trained two of his favorite dogs, Butch and Porter, a mix of Catahalou hound and Walker hound, so they would be suited to working in mud, water and thick plants.

"Without the dogs," said Champagne, who learned to hunt in swamps in his native Louisiana, "you can walk right past the pigs all day and all night without seeing them."

During a recent hunt on a chilly winter afternoon, Butch and Porter stood at the bow of the 17-foot Boston whaler as it moved past a shoreline lined with tules.

Sensing something, the dogs dove in the cold, green water and swam straight to shore. They wriggled through the reeds, and disappeared.

Back on board, Champagne eased back on the throttle, while his friend, Steve Smith of Knightsen, kept watch from the top of the ladder.

"You can see a long way into the island once you're past the tules, " Smith said.

"See any dogs?"

"No, but I can hear them," Smith replied.

What they did not hear was the trademark squeal of pigs confronted by dogs, which try to corner and hold their prey until the hunters arrive.

Butch and Porter returned in a few minutes, sloshed back aboard, and shook off the water.

When the hunters find pigs, the men sometimes have a clear view to shoot from the boat.

But other times, the hunters must slosh through waist-deep water or scramble on land through tules taller than their head.

In close quarters and thick brush, the hunters will try to stab the pigs rather than risk accidentally shooting their dog.

Champagne, however, said he won't rely on a knife to kill the occasional 400-pound they find because of the risk the animal will attack with its long tusks.

"There's a danger," he said. "You could fall over or get hit if you get in front of them."

On this afternoon, they saw no pigs, only several large areas trampled by wild pigs.

Several days later, however, Champagne and his hunting party killed three pigs, and Champagne had a close encounter with a big boar.

Following his dog Porter through rough terrain, Champagne scrambled up the banks of a deep ditch. At the top, a big boar hid in the brush in fading daylight.

The boar hooked the life vest of his dog Porter, and flung the animal several feet through the air. The dog was shaken but not hurt.

The boar ran off.

Champagne said he would return another day to try to find the boar.

Send them a couple hundred WOLVES! They'll clean out those bad piggies!!

I've followed the political situation with pigs for 20 years.

If you really think about it, hunters are their only "friends". The ecologists want them all gone, the ranchers want them all gone, the farmers and vineyard folks really want them all gone, the various branches of the government generally want them gone, the typical anti-hunting types would rather save the plants and animals the pigs impact... and for the most part also want them all gone.

It's just the hunters who want a sustainable population.

Once a population is established they can be severally reduced in numbers but unless the habitat is changed it's almost impossible to get rid of them completely. To do it "right" the fencing requirements are monumental and almost impossible acheive. Few areas will ever be able to commit the resources to completely rid themselves of pigs.

Meanwhile, try finding a private land owner who will allow hunting. Most of them want the pig numbers reduced and would like the income but very few will take the risks to allow people to hunt them. It's an interesting situation. Quite frustrating if you're in the business.

Kyler

quote:

Meanwhile, try finding a private land owner who will allow hunting.

Which is really the issue with managing feral pigs in CA, having access to the lands that have em' to actually manage them.

And it's not just private lands but Federal, State, county and city owned parklands, "open space", "reseves", etc, etc. Add in water district and energy company properties. None of whom allow any hunting and those properties serve as refugia for the pigs to breed and disperse.

Yet this idiot makes up this bullshit,

quote:

Peter Galvin, the center's conservation director, said he believes government agencies have been reluctant to push hard to thin pig populations because wild pigs are a popular animal to hunt.

The areas where pigs are a serious ecological problem are those areas where no one can hunt them.