"Does Anyone Know What It Feels Like to Open Fire on 20 Baby Piglets?"

Michigan's Department of Natural Resources continues it anti-wild hog crusade. Our story so far:

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is trying to get rid of feral pigs by going after people who keep boars that might be able to survive in the wild. An order has been issued which mandates the killing of all such swine by April 1, at which point the DNR "hope[s] to be invited onto farms voluntarily. We will be doing inspections" to make sure the forbidden breeds—classified as invasive species—are no longer around.

Of course, Big Government and Big Pig are in cahoots, reports Senior Editor Damon Root:

Unsurprisingly, the Michigan Pork Producers Association—an organization whose members do not grow heritage pigs—supports the Department, which has allegedly assured the Association that its members' operations will be exempt.  It must be nice for large-scale producers who command enough political clout to simply outlaw their competition.  Meanwhile, Mark Baker and other smaller-scale farmers must wait to see where the bureaucratic winds will blow.

Now those "inspections" for smaller-scale producers have come to pass. One farmer wrote in to the blog of Baker's Green Acres, which has become a respoitory for horror stories about the Michigan pig purge: 

Subject: search warrant

I was served a search warrant yesterday at 7: 45am.

After 8 guys 3 four wheelers, and 4 hours, DNR decided I was correct. I have killed all my hogs. They gave me papers that say I do not have any hogs on my property. All they saw were dead hogs laying around from my mass slaughtering. It took 12 guys 4 times in there to kill all of them, sows with young, Pregnant sows, dozens of piglets, and old mature boars. It has been a sad few weeks.

Does anyone know what it feels like to open fire on 20 baby piglets in one group which weigh between 5lbs and 15 lbs. They are so adorable and cute.

They commented to everyone that they never saw a fence built so tough and no way would a hog get out of this area. I trenched 2? then installed chain link fencing, then a 10? high tightlock fence on top of that. ( 200 acre area ) They never saw a fence like that.

Dave Tuxbury

deer tracks ranch

 Stay tuned for more.

Comments

[AlmightyJB]

Pigs killing Pigs. Doesn't anyone ever learn.

[db]

Somehow we have to break the cycle.

[Groovus Maximus]

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR)

I've been doing it wrong...

[Wilt Chamberlain]

You could say that Michigan's DNR is going... hog wild!

YEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

[Drake]

Were they in a barrel?

[Ex Nihilo]

Does anyone know what it feels like to open fire on 20 baby piglets in one group which weigh between 5lbs and 15 lbs. They are so adorable and cute.

But you raise them to butcher, so you get no sympathy from me.

Just to be clear, I think what the DNR is doing is wrong and everyone has a right to make a living.

[Brett L]

Having eaten pigs at that size, I say they taste even better than they look.

[Ex Nihilo]

That is why I don't get the sob story of having to kill them. He was going to anyway. Have a special sale on DNR pigs or something, but don't bitch about something that was going to happen anyway.

[SugarFree]

Maybe the upsetting part was being ordered to do it by corrupt retards.

[Ex Nihilo]

Maybe the upsetting part was being ordered to do it by corrupt retards.

I can understand that part, absolutely. I guess the part that irritates me is the imagery of "adorable and cute" to get additional sympathy.

[SugarFree]

Why is emotion a weapon that has to be denied to people who fight for liberty?

[Ex Nihilo]

Any weapon is permissable in the fight for liberty.

It just strikes me as somewhat 'hypocritical' for a farmer who is going to kill them anyway to whine about how adorable they are when you kill them.

[SugarFree]

Maybe they aren't adorable when they are of a ripe time to kill. Surely some of the police out there would have qualms about beating an infant to death while screaming "STOP RESISTING!"

[R C Dean]

EN, people who raise livestock for slaughter are capable of being quite fond of them in their way, especially the little ones.

I've known plenty of ranchers in my day, and the sight of a grizzled old hand making nice with new calf does not strike me as cognitive dissonance.

It may seem weird to you, but there it is.

[Ex Nihilo]

Yep, the human psyche is a wonderful thing. It did bring this to mind:

Clarice Starling: I heard a strange noise.
Hannibal Lecter: What was it?
Clarice Starling: It was... screaming. Some kind of screaming, like a child's voice.
Hannibal Lecter: What did you do?
Clarice Starling: I went downstairs, outside. I crept up into the barn. I was so scared to look inside, but I had to.
Hannibal Lecter: And what did you see, Clarice? What did you see?
Clarice Starling: Lambs. The lambs were screaming.
Hannibal Lecter: They were slaughtering the spring lambs?
Clarice Starling: And they were screaming.

[Generic Public Name]

Just to be clear -- Deer Tracks Ranch isn't a farm; it's a hunting ranch.

They imported wild boars for canned hunts.

[o3]

urban know-it-alls dont care about the ag industry damage caused by invasive, non-native ferals which have no predators. >next try the oppression of asian carp by govt. i mean jeesch...

[T]

You know how we handle that in Texas? We kill the feral hogs. Easy peasy.

No bag limit, no season, no rules. If hogs are tearing up your property, shoot them. It seems to work pretty well.

You know what we don't do? Outlaw people raising hogs.

[o3]

"Nor does the invasive species order, aimed at reducing Michigan's feral swine population, include domestic swine breeds"

[Matrix]

Apparently your reading comprehension, or just overall intelligence is lacking. He may be raising wild breeds, but he is raising them and keeping them confined. What the hell is wrong with you? Do you take the government's side on every issue?

[o3]

nope but i can read the words in the regs & understand the plain meaning just like anyone can including that farmer. why didnt he seek remedy? go ask alice...

[Drake]

So when SWAT shows up, puts you in cuffs, and shoots all your livestock you shout "I'm seeking remedy!"

Is that some kind of magical get-out-of-jail password?

[Geoff Nathan]

He did. He was told 'Tough shit. The law's the law.' And local papers said 'What would happen if somebody came along at night and secretly let his hogs out? Then where would we be? It's for the children...'

[R C Dean]

Urban know-it-alls don't understand that current wild hog populations are self-perpetuating, and killing any hog that is behind a fence does absolutely nothing to solve the wild hog problem.

Texas is covered up in wild hogs, with vast stretches where you are a very long way indeed from a single domestic hog.

Texas also has 24/7 open season on wild hogs, and a thriving market in their meat. So we kill them in boxcar-loads.

Net result of (1) no domestic hogs to speak of and (2) redneck hog-killers gone wild? A thriving population of wild hogs.

[Killazontherun]

I wonder what your post would look like if you ever made sense.

[o3]

pendantic boar is boring

[db]

So open season on actual feral pigs. Don't go killing the ones in captivity that are valuable assets to piv farmers. If you need to, make high penalties for allowing pigs off property and require brands or something ro ID the source.

There are so many other ways around this than mass slaughter of privately owned animals. The whole thing reeks of big farming's influence and regulatory capture.

[o3]

"Nor does the invasive species order, aimed at reducing Michigan's feral swine population, include domestic swine breeds"
_

[db]

Are you saying the farmer in question shot all of his pigs based on a misinterpretation of the law?

[SugarFree]

Just walk away, db. It's not worth it.

[o3]

the quote is from the reg directly. the farmers owns his actions, let him explain them. why didnt he seek remedy? dunno

[R C Dean]

What's the definition of "domestic swine breeds"?

Sounds like its probably limited to the varieties that are factory-farmed, and excludes the heritage breeds.

[Chris Mallory]

BINGO! They wrote the "domestic swine breeds" so narrow it only protects the huge factory farms. They based the "feral" destination on the swine meeting one of six characteristics. Such as having stripes as a piglet, light coloring on the end of the hair bristle and some other vague identifiers.

[Drake]

So the race war has started.

[db]

So open season on actual feral pigs. Don't go killing the ones in captivity that are valuable assets to piv farmers. If you need to, make high penalties for allowing pigs off property and require brands or something ro ID the source.

There are so many other ways around this than mass slaughter of privately owned animals. The whole thing reeks of big farming's influence and regulatory capture.

[Death Rock and Skull]

Michigan needs more Appalachian mountains for the conservation police to patrol and accidentally wander in to someone's personal space.

[Restoras]

Detroit - Ruining more than just itself.

[Jeff P.]

Piglet was Jack the Ripper on Star Trek, so fuck him.

[Suthenboy]

Personally, I love hunting wild hogs. Fortunately we have had a few russians show up in La recently. I personally bagged one around 500 lbs that was straight out of an illustration of pleistocene mammals.
When I first saw him my brain reeled for a second unable to believe the shaggy ice-age nightmare was real. I had a Winchester 94 in .375 winchester. I put my finger on the trigger but a little voice in the back of my head was saying " no, no dont do it, it is just going to piss him off!'.
Fortunately for me the lead landed in the right spot.

[Karl Hungus]

Fortunately we have had a few russians show up in La recently. I personally bagged one around 500 lbs that was straight out of an illustration of pleistocene mammals.

You bagged a 500lb. Russian? My last Russian was about 5'4" and 110lbs.

Lucky you!

[Ex Nihilo]

You bagged a 500lb. Russian? My last Russian was about 5'4" and 110lbs.

Lucky you!

No, Lucky you.

[Karl Hungus]

No, Lucky you.

Yes, that was an extremely gratifying weekend, the kind you look back on with a smile. And get this - I didn't shoot and butcher her at the end.

[Bardas Phocas]

Kids these days. They just don't understand the importance of a proper denouement.

[Karl Hungus]

Your "proper denouement" would be a wrong move for me. I don't have the savvy to get away with something like that. Plus, I'm too pretty for prison. Also, I hope to see her again sometime soon.

[db]

Do you need a license to hunt hogs in LA and MS? I will be down that way for work in a few months. Also, are sound suppressors permitted for said hunting?

[R C Dean]

Jeebus, db, you've invested in a silencer?

I'd love one, but even my flexible standards won't allow me to drop a grand on one.

[db]

They're not that much. I have several and I haven't paid more than $600 apiece. Plus the tax stamp. Find a group buy deal online-you can get good discounts that way. Check http://www.uzitalk.com there used to be a couple of dealers on there who would do group buys once or twice a year.

[db]

Plus the smaller manufacturers that dont spend tons on advertising offer the same quality at lower price. Try SRT out of Arizona, for example.

[Suthenboy]

Yes you have to have a license, but out of state weekenders are cheap. No, dont even bring a suppressor to La., your stay may end up being longer than you anticipated.

[db]

Silencer Research says suppressors are legal in Louisiana. Do you have to have a special state permit or is registration under NFA enough?

[Raston Bot]

500 lbs? holy crap. i wouldn't know how to begin to tie it to the ATV to tow it out without tearing it to pieces.

[R C Dean]

My biggest feral hog was probably around 300 lbs, at a guess.

I shot three that day. Let them lay (logistics, really - no good way to get them out, and was shooting them as varmints at the rancher's request, not Dean chow).

The next day, we shot so many coyotes off the carcasses we literally ran out of bullets.

Great trip. That was the same trip that, for a variety of reasons that will cost you a fine bottle of single malt to recount, that I shot the world record* mule deer.

*Smallest.

[Karl Hungus]

Practicing for the dogs.

[ant1sthenes]

"Does Anyone Know What It Feels Like to Open Fire on 20 Baby Piglets?"

Umm... Ted Nugent?

[o3]

piglets not presidents nuge

[Gindjurra]

Simple solution: Raise domestic pigs, of the same breed used in big pig farms to survive in the wild then "forget" to close the gate. Come back in a year. If the pigs are still alive, then it proves they can survive in the wild.

Suddenly, Big Pig farms are no longer exempt, and turnabout occurs forthwith.