Syracuse.com - Cortland meeting set for June 12 to discuss wild boar problem

[HuntingNY-News]

"Feral swine are known to inhabit northern Cortland and southwestern Onondaga counties, southeastern Cayuga, northeastern Tompkins and Tioga counties," according to a 2011 DEC press release. About four weeks ago, I was driving up Route 41 through the town of Scott just after sunset. I glanced off the road and spotted something odd, way off in the back corner of a field. I immediately pulled over.I saw more than a dozen, solid black dots — some bigger than others — in a group. The bigger dots were in one place, while the smaller ones were scurrying back and forth. They were too dark to be deer, and they sure didn’t look or act like wild turkeys or coyotes.I stared at them for a good 15 minutes. I didn’t have my binoculars. After talking to state Department of Environmental Conservation staff and others, I’m convinced I was viewing a group of feral hogs — mostly likely Russian wild boar, which have established themselves on the local landscape. “Feral swine are known to inhabit northern Cortland and southwestern Onondaga counties, southeastern Cayuga, northeastern Tompkins and Tioga counties,” according to a 2011 DEC press release, which noted that they’re escapees from a local private hunting preserve. “These aggressive invasive species cause serious agriculture and environmental damage and can degrade water quality and threaten human health.”They procreate like crazy, having litters of six to eight piglets two to three times a year. I have run photos during the past several years of hunters who’ve bagged them — some in the 350- to 400-pound range.The American Wildlife Conservation Foundation has scheduled an informational meeting at 1 p.m. June 12 at the N.Y.S. Grange headquarters, 100 Grange Place, Cortland. The topic is “Feral Swine Management and Disease Surveillance,” and the speaker is Justin Gansowski, an official from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.The idea is to raise awareness about feral swine in our area. Bob Chambers, a board member for the Conservation Foundation, told me this week he’s contacting farmers, sportsmen’s clubs and others who may have a stake in this issue.“They’ve already done a lot of damage to farms and landscape locally,” he said, noting that southern states and other parts of the country are over-run with them.In New York, all that’s needed to hunt them is a small-game license. There’s no season, daily limits or prescribed methods. They can be baited, hunted at night or hunted with dogs.Simply hunting them, however, isn’t the solution. Killing some results in the others scattering over greater distances. The most effective way to deal with them is to catch them in large, corral-type traps that capture most of the group at the same time.However, that can get expensive and DEC wildlife staff has found in recent years that it’s easier said than done.For more on the June 12 meeting, call 625-4416 or see the American Wildlife Conservation Foundation website at awcf1911.org. Meanwhile, I’m looking to talk to hunters who have harvested wild boar locally during the past year. Give me a call at 470-6066 or email me at [email protected].

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