The Other White Meat

The feral pig trap on our property finally caught one!

A pretty big one, actually. My friend Paul, who set up the trap and monitors it, said that Wednesday evening there was a 210 pound boar in it. He quickly sent it to the great wallow in the sky.

To be fair, the trap has caught animals two other times, but they were white-tailed deer. Which is pretty amazing because the deer have to crouch down to enter the cage. It's not tall enough for an adult deer to walk in. I guess they're really hungry or just can't resist the bait corn.

In the photo, the trap is sprung and the doors are closed. You can see the springs that hold the doors shut. The trap is set by propping the doors open with a branch attached to a rope which is tied to the far end of the trap. When the animal enters, it brushes against the rope which pulls the branch out and the doors spring shut.

With this first trapped pig, we've taken a small step forward in controlling their population on our land and minimizing the environmental damage they do.