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Roar of the Boar
Sightings become fairly common
Friday, January 06, 2006
By J. Michael Kelly
Staff writer
Central New York residents who see a Russian boar for the first time often don't know whether to run away, reach for a gun or rub their eyes in disbelief.
But when John Angyal spotted one of the big, hairy critters near his tree stand in the Cortland County town of Scott on Nov. 19, the first day of the Southern Zone deer season, he didn't hesitate.
Being a retired state trooper, Angyal knew boar are not protected by state game laws and can be hunted at any time of the year. And as a former restaurant owner Johnny Angel's in Skaneateles he realized he was looking at a heaping helping of free pork chops.
The beast he shot weighed 240 pounds, field-dressed. It was even heavier than the handsome 8-point buck with 22-inch-wide antlers he bagged in the same location a few minutes later.
"It was my best opening day in a long while," said Angyal.
Although the boarwas a bonus, it wasn't exactly a surprise. Sightings of boars have become fairly common in Cortland and southern Onondaga counties. Angyal, of Skaneateles, has pictures of several killed by his hunting buddies or local farmers.
"They're here to stay," he said. "They're reproducing and spreading out. One day last year I was fly-fishing in my pond in Scott and I saw a sow with eight little ones walk by. And I'm told they can have two or three litters a year."
Russian boars are the same species as domestic hogs, Sus scrofa, but have more hair, longer snouts and bigger teeth or tusks than their barnyard brethren. They are also reputed to have nasty tempers when cornered.
Angyal feels certain the wild ones he's seen are escapees or offspring of escapees from licensed hunting preserves or farms that raise boars for such operations. He cited the Cold Brook Hunts preserve, near his deer camp on Cold Brook Road, as a likely source.
But Jerry Contento of Homer, who owns Cold Brook Hunts, said the roaming boars are "absolutely not" his, although he offers hunts for that species as well as for elk, axis deer and other non-native game animals.
Contento said his boars are all marked with ear tags.
"We've lost hogs over the years, but we've recovered them," Contento said. "There are many people in the area who raise hogs and several other places that put on hunts, too."
He added,"We certainly don't want them out there. If people can shoot them for free, why would they pay us to hunt them?"
Department of Environmental Conservation Region 7 big-game biologist Dave Riehlman said pinpointing the source of a local boar population may be impossible.
"Most likely, the beasts somehow managed to dig their way under a fence or otherwise escaped from one of the preserves or farms in the area," he said. "But nobody wants to admit to it, probably because there are potential liability issues."
Although boars are generally shy animals that use their keen senses of smell and hearing to steer clear of humans, those living in other states have been known to collide with automobiles as they scurry across highways, Riehlman explained. Another problem is the species' penchant for pigging out on farm crops.
Regardless of where the area boars originated, it's clear where they're headed north, south, east and west.
On the first day of the 2004 deer season, a year before Angyal slew his boar, another hunter showed up at the DEC deer check station in Tully with a 200-pound porker from Scott.
Through the remainder of that season, people reported seeing wild boars in the Spafford Creek valley, between Otisco Lake and Preble.
According to Donald "Hap" Sherwood, the proprietor of the Sportsmen's Den gun and tackle shop in Whitney Point, hunters have killed several boars in northern Broome County in recent years.
While allowing that runaway boars are a real concern for farmers and motorists, Angyal sees them as a boon for hunters, as long as state officials resist scratching the regulatory itch.
"The DEC has ignored them so far, thank God," he said.
Riehlman said heknows of no state plans to put any restrictions on boar hunting.
New York isn't the only place where wild hogs are throwing their weight around. At least 19 states have confirmed breeding populations, and that range may be increasing.
Boars set free by vandals from a ranch near Bay City, Mich., in August 2004 have since been involved in several highway accidents.
After an unknown number of boars escaped from a game farm in western Pennsylvania in 2002, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported at least two died in automobile collisions.
Some boars are big enough to put a hurt on cars, instead of the other way around. A really heavy boar or hog brings to mind a National Football League defensive tackle in a four-point stance, or maybe a tipped-over grain silo.
Last summer,a wild hog shot in Arkansas was widely reported as weighing half a ton and measuring 12 feet from tail to snout. After much Internet publicity, National Geographic experts analyzed pictures of the animal and estimated it was closer to 7feet long than 12 feet and probably weighed a dainty 800 pounds, rather than 1,000-plus.
What does one do with such a behemoth?
First you shoot it, Angyal suggested. Then you eat it.
Although admittedly no expert on boar hunting, Angyal thinks waiting in ambush near a bait pile would work as well as any other method. He has dabbled with the tactic himself, and he's had roving hogs tip over his corn-filled, perforated bait barrel when he was elsewhere.
The ex-restaurateur said he was pleasantly surprised when he bit into his own boar.
"It's quite good," he said. "Really, it's not bad at all."
Sightings become fairly common
Friday, January 06, 2006
By J. Michael Kelly
Staff writer
Central New York residents who see a Russian boar for the first time often don't know whether to run away, reach for a gun or rub their eyes in disbelief.
But when John Angyal spotted one of the big, hairy critters near his tree stand in the Cortland County town of Scott on Nov. 19, the first day of the Southern Zone deer season, he didn't hesitate.
Being a retired state trooper, Angyal knew boar are not protected by state game laws and can be hunted at any time of the year. And as a former restaurant owner Johnny Angel's in Skaneateles he realized he was looking at a heaping helping of free pork chops.
The beast he shot weighed 240 pounds, field-dressed. It was even heavier than the handsome 8-point buck with 22-inch-wide antlers he bagged in the same location a few minutes later.
"It was my best opening day in a long while," said Angyal.
Although the boarwas a bonus, it wasn't exactly a surprise. Sightings of boars have become fairly common in Cortland and southern Onondaga counties. Angyal, of Skaneateles, has pictures of several killed by his hunting buddies or local farmers.
"They're here to stay," he said. "They're reproducing and spreading out. One day last year I was fly-fishing in my pond in Scott and I saw a sow with eight little ones walk by. And I'm told they can have two or three litters a year."
Russian boars are the same species as domestic hogs, Sus scrofa, but have more hair, longer snouts and bigger teeth or tusks than their barnyard brethren. They are also reputed to have nasty tempers when cornered.
Angyal feels certain the wild ones he's seen are escapees or offspring of escapees from licensed hunting preserves or farms that raise boars for such operations. He cited the Cold Brook Hunts preserve, near his deer camp on Cold Brook Road, as a likely source.
But Jerry Contento of Homer, who owns Cold Brook Hunts, said the roaming boars are "absolutely not" his, although he offers hunts for that species as well as for elk, axis deer and other non-native game animals.
Contento said his boars are all marked with ear tags.
"We've lost hogs over the years, but we've recovered them," Contento said. "There are many people in the area who raise hogs and several other places that put on hunts, too."
He added,"We certainly don't want them out there. If people can shoot them for free, why would they pay us to hunt them?"
Department of Environmental Conservation Region 7 big-game biologist Dave Riehlman said pinpointing the source of a local boar population may be impossible.
"Most likely, the beasts somehow managed to dig their way under a fence or otherwise escaped from one of the preserves or farms in the area," he said. "But nobody wants to admit to it, probably because there are potential liability issues."
Although boars are generally shy animals that use their keen senses of smell and hearing to steer clear of humans, those living in other states have been known to collide with automobiles as they scurry across highways, Riehlman explained. Another problem is the species' penchant for pigging out on farm crops.
Regardless of where the area boars originated, it's clear where they're headed north, south, east and west.
On the first day of the 2004 deer season, a year before Angyal slew his boar, another hunter showed up at the DEC deer check station in Tully with a 200-pound porker from Scott.
Through the remainder of that season, people reported seeing wild boars in the Spafford Creek valley, between Otisco Lake and Preble.
According to Donald "Hap" Sherwood, the proprietor of the Sportsmen's Den gun and tackle shop in Whitney Point, hunters have killed several boars in northern Broome County in recent years.
While allowing that runaway boars are a real concern for farmers and motorists, Angyal sees them as a boon for hunters, as long as state officials resist scratching the regulatory itch.
"The DEC has ignored them so far, thank God," he said.
Riehlman said heknows of no state plans to put any restrictions on boar hunting.
New York isn't the only place where wild hogs are throwing their weight around. At least 19 states have confirmed breeding populations, and that range may be increasing.
Boars set free by vandals from a ranch near Bay City, Mich., in August 2004 have since been involved in several highway accidents.
After an unknown number of boars escaped from a game farm in western Pennsylvania in 2002, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported at least two died in automobile collisions.
Some boars are big enough to put a hurt on cars, instead of the other way around. A really heavy boar or hog brings to mind a National Football League defensive tackle in a four-point stance, or maybe a tipped-over grain silo.
Last summer,a wild hog shot in Arkansas was widely reported as weighing half a ton and measuring 12 feet from tail to snout. After much Internet publicity, National Geographic experts analyzed pictures of the animal and estimated it was closer to 7feet long than 12 feet and probably weighed a dainty 800 pounds, rather than 1,000-plus.
What does one do with such a behemoth?
First you shoot it, Angyal suggested. Then you eat it.
Although admittedly no expert on boar hunting, Angyal thinks waiting in ambush near a bait pile would work as well as any other method. He has dabbled with the tactic himself, and he's had roving hogs tip over his corn-filled, perforated bait barrel when he was elsewhere.
The ex-restaurateur said he was pleasantly surprised when he bit into his own boar.
"It's quite good," he said. "Really, it's not bad at all."
or at least wear a sweater :stretch:
