Ponte Vedra porkfest

[Big Bend Brian]

With only two pigs left in this sounder and these two having been educated a bit I was thinking it was gonna be tough to get the last two pigs. The pregnant sow looks like she’s gonna download any day…………
Hog snares and sniping were the next tactics in mind if trapping didn’t work.

Not to mention the coons have been relentless …………


For different blocks of 25 to 55 minutes at a time these two just circled the trap but would not enter.

No pigs trapped Monday night……

Thinking that maybe an enticer would help motivate them to enter the trap I sprinkled Gatorade powder inside the trap and mixed it in with the corn under the rootstick. When I use Gatorade powder on new stands to attract hogs it’s well received and they tear up the area to get to it.


Gatorade powder….it’s not just for Gators


Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm….something smells good


But still not willing to enter


Unlike the night before the pregnant sow goes in


She’s about to pop!


The boar wants nothing to do with entering just yet…..

At some point during the night the boar does enter and he gets trapped by himself.


This boar went 106 lbs and was Mean Mean Mean!
I’m constantly amazed the spot welds on the bed frames to the hog panels hold up under their hitting the panels HARD!




106 lbs


Cutters and whetters (top)


It’s just amazing the amount of parasites they have…..it’s tough being an animal in Florida!


Bad ticks


My neighborhood still has a couple of lots for sale……

Gotta step up the sausage making with 6 pigs in the coolers……….
The trapping continues …………
Brian

[Big Bend Brian]

Final Update:
After a few days of no pigs on camera we’ve suspended our hog trapping. Over that last few days the coons were tripping the trap and it’s been hard keeping the trap corned up with all the raccoons devouring it (I’d note that even soaking the corn in diesel the coons still ate all the corn). The final tally after 45 days of trapping were 14 hogs captured out of the sounder of 15 (5 boars & 9 sows –with one pregnant sow that had 7 piglets that were almost full term). Only one hog was not captured out of this sounder and this hog, a pregnant sow, has not come to the trap for a few days. In the game camera photos you can see her abdomen has dropped and her nipples are extended so I suspect she’s gone off to drop her litter of piglets.


Lone pregnant sow not captured. Note the coons already tripped the trap…..

Trapping has been a fun family activity and teaching my kids how to make sausages has been just as much fun. The last few pigs were worked up as bratwurst and they far exceeded how I thought they would taste.






Trimming & cutting


Initial grinding with 3/16” plate


Sampling the bulk sausage to see if it needs any additional spices before stuffing into sausages


Linking


Sausagemeisters




Beer brats simmering as we continue to grind & stuff


Pretty darn tasty neighborhood-friendly bratwurst

Here’s hoping for a hogless summer for the neighborhood………..

Hoo Yah!!
Brian

[Hit-n-Miss]

Nice brats. You all are doing it up right.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Big Bend Brian]

Their B A C K…………………………… !!!


Two neighbors have emailed me in the last two days that their backyards have been once again hit by hogs. Both backyards seem to have the attention of a lone boar (not much damage but it’s deep rooting).

Over the last two days I’ve restarted baiting………….










Not trap shy at all…..






It’s a ZOO in Palm Valley………

One more night of getting them used to entering the trap and we’ll set the rootstick………….

Brian

[bman]

Crazy to see the gobblers in there!
How many pounds of pork have you harvested this year?

[Big Bend Brian]

How many pounds of pork have you harvested this year?

I have 2 freezers full and am PORKED OUT!
And I just set the rootstick tonight. Have been giving away the piggies lately....
Brian

[Big Bend Brian]

Pre-baiting the trap over the last few days with the door tied up the two boars have now become acclimated to entering the trap to get to the bait.






With their acclimation to the trap it’s time now to set the rootstake to catch em. With a front coming through and an anticipated good fishing window I broke the cycle of baiting to take the kids to Cedar Key to chase some grouper so we didn’t bait the trap Tuesday and Wednesday. That didn’t stop one of the 2 boars from entering the trap however looking for remnants of bait.


Root stake set

The first customer is not what we’re hoping for…………….


Fortunately she didn’t stay in there for over a minute, became uncomfortable and backed out.


One of the two customers we’re looking for….the door is about to fall at 0438 hours.


Door down at 0439 hours. This boar will go 140 lbs.
Hog # 20 for the year





These trapped feral hogs are NOT happy campers and they FEROCIOUSLYram the hog panels hard as heck to get at you and it’s amazing that almost all of the welds hold.

After ramming the panel this boar got its cutters momentarily hung up in a panel square so I took a couple close-ups of his pointy end……


These guys can definitely hurt you



A boar hog this large (and stinky) I didn’t want to kill & eat so I called my friend Justin over to help catch it and remove it alive.


A noose starts the process……..


Justin on the noose

With the head roped up and under control you raise the door and grab a hind leg and the tail to pull it out. This time before I could pull it out and flip it I lost my grip on the tail but fortunately Justin still had tension on the line so it didn’t rear around on me. Grabbing the tail again I pulled it out of the trap and flipped it then you quickly put your knee on it’s neck to keep it down while it get’s hawg tied. They are NEVER happy and are quite boisterous.




Two happy kampers (daughter Kaitlyn)……the third not so


Glock for reference




If anyone is looking to move into a nice neighborhood there are still a few lots left………………….


plus free pets

The trapping continues………………..
Brian

[MudDucker]

Ain't no way I'm going to wrestle no boar hogs no mo!

You need to be charging the neighbors a pest removal fee to pay for you other sporting activities!

[rocket]

Tight work Triple B!