Wild Pigs in Washington

[JDHasty]

Couple more pig hunting songs. 

list=PLR4_ZmBO0YBrzt6a7FKjb4rl0J83_nMje&index=2

[brew]

i've seen trail cam pics of some on the OP 2 years ago....the only pics they have of them are at night....never seen them during daylight...  they are there

[follow maggie]

You don't need to see them to know if they're around. They wreck the gound like nothing else. It's very distinctive.

[Rob]

I'll just say it...  I can't wait for them to get here!  It's just a matter of time till they do, and the damage they cause will be bad, and I feel for the farmers/ranchers, but from a hunting opportunity standpoint, it will be a hoot!

As for the question, can they survive in Washington...  if the Russian Boar can survive the cold Russian winters, bears and wolves, I think the pigs can survive our weather and predators!  They are amazingly adaptors.  More like humans than we wish to admit!

Four legs good, two legs bad.

[HarboritE]

A friend of mine shot one on the wynoochee about 15 years ago. It was chasing his little brother around their yard. My uncle found an awesome pig skull up the wynoochee last year that was really old, but still had those huge bottom teeth. I haven't heard of anyone seeing any in a long time. We also saw a turkey up the wynoochee in the mid 90s

[Gringo31]

Portion of WDFW wildlife area
closing for feral pig removal


EPHRATA – Starting Friday (July 29), the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will close public access to a portion of the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area in Grant County as part of a month-long effort to remove feral pigs from the area.

The closure will be in effect through Aug. 31 on about 1,300 acres of the Desert Unit of the wildlife area.

During that time, a team from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will attempt to locate and remove feral pigs, which have been spotted in that area over the past year.

The USDA, which considers feral pigs an invasive species, plans to use bait to attract the animals and shoot them from a helicopter, said Matt Monda, WDFW wildlife manager for northcentral Washington.

According to the Washington Invasive Species Council, feral pigs can be extremely destructive to fences, fields, wetlands, and other wildlife habitat. They can also transmit diseases and parasites to livestock and people. The USDA is currently working in 39 states to control feral pigs, which cause an estimated $1.5 billion a year in environmental damage nationwide.

“We first started receiving public reports of wild pigs in the wildlife area last July,” Monda said. “One of our officers shot a pregnant sow two months later, and we’ve occasionally picked them up on remote cameras over the past year. We don’t want this to get out of hand.”

After assessing the situation, federal agents determined that locating and shooting feral pigs from the air is the best option, Monda said. They also plan to retrieve hair samples from the carcasses for DNA analysis to help determine the origin of the pigs, he said.

“We’re hoping this closure will have minimal impacts on wildlife area visitors,” Monda said. “With the hot weather and buggy conditions, August is the time of year the Desert Unit is least visited by wildlife watchers, anglers and hunters.”

Monda said WDFW will post signs marking the closed area, which will reopen Sept. 1 for the start of early hunting seasons.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/jul2816a/

[pianoman9701]

Why not get hunters involved instead of spending $100K+ on a helicopter and crew?

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

Why not get hunters involved instead of spending $100K+ on a helicopter and crew?

Hey, helicopter pilots need jobs too!
WDFW is not interested in providing hunting opportunity, unless it benefits one of their contributors.
$$$
Probably letting the USDA deal with the pigs makes them eligible for federal funds.
Allowing hunters to use a WDFW wildlife area to hunt a non-classified wild animal for free... 
That does not follow the direction they seem to be heading, unless it was on private land with a fee to access.

[Bob33]

Don't give them any ideas.

Quality Pig. Antlerless Pig. Youth Pig. Disabled Pig. Master Hunter Pig....

[Angry Perch]

If the pigs show up in big enough numbers maybe we can get some of these hog hunting girls to come show us how they catch them?

Oink,oink!

[gilroym]

As an non native invasive species cant you hunt them year round without a licence or tag. You now know where they are just have to go in before WDFW close the area.

[pianoman9701]

Don't give them any ideas.

Quality Pig. Antlerless Pig. Youth Pig. Disabled Pig. Master Hunter Pig....

[kodiak 907]

If the pigs show up in big enough numbers maybe we can get some of these hog hunting girls to come show us how they catch them?

That's what I'm talking about

[Antlershed]

Why not get hunters involved instead of spending $100K+ on a helicopter and crew?

Because of posts like the one above where hunters want a huntable population. The goal for ferel hogs in WA is complete eradication, as fast as possible, which it should be. WDFW really has nothing to do with the removal of ferel pigs, except when it involves one of their wildlife areas like it does this time.

[cdriver]

News today says that part of the Columbia Basin wildlife area will be closed for a month while Feds/state shoot feral pigs that have come to their attention. From helicopters. This news came out of Ephrata, I caught it on KOMO news on line. Wish I had known exactly where and what the plan was, would have given them some attention this last spring.  Ha, I just saw the detailed post about the feral pig news.