"Super pigs" is a term used to describe a hybrid breed of wild boars and domestic pigs that have become a growing concern, particularly in North America. These animals are the result of crossbreeding between Eurasian wild boars (introduced for hunting purposes) and feral domestic pigs. The term "super" refers to their enhanced traits, which make them particularly challenging to manage or control.

Here’s what makes super pigs notable:

Size and Strength: They are larger and more robust than typical feral pigs, often weighing hundreds of pounds (some exceeding 600 lbs or 270 kg). Their wild boar ancestry gives them greater muscle mass and resilience.

Adaptability: Super pigs are highly adaptable to harsh environments, including extreme cold. For example, they’ve been known to thrive in Canada’s prairies by digging tunnels in the snow for shelter and using their thick fur (inherited from wild boars) to survive frigid winters.

Reproductive Capacity: Like domestic pigs, they reproduce rapidly, with sows capable of producing large litters (up to 12 piglets at a time), leading to booming populations.

Destructiveness: They are omnivorous and voracious, rooting up crops, damaging ecosystems, and preying on small animals. Their foraging habits can devastate farmland and native habitats, costing millions in agricultural losses.

Intelligence: These hybrids are considered highly intelligent, making them difficult to trap or hunt. They’ve been observed learning to avoid human efforts to control their populations.

The issue has gained attention particularly in Canada and parts of the northern United States (like Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana), where escaped or released pigs from farms have bred with wild populations. Efforts to curb their spread include hunting, trapping, and research into population control methods, but their resilience and numbers make this a tough challenge.


https://x.com/KarluskaP/status/1898424057709928639

I'm averse to killing living things I'm not going to eat, but aggressive 700 pound feral pigs are an exception. I hear that the meat is gamey-tasting, not like your average docile farm hog.

.308, 12 gauge and 10mm

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:...

I tended one kind of "Super Pig.


And another Super Pig, "tended" me.


Both were "christened" "Wicked Wanda" neither let me down. (nor did I)

Ironic how thigs happen, and at the time we never had a clue.

Crew Chief to one, IO to another.

Only the dead know peace.

One day, I will too.

After aging and smoking, it might taste good, hopefully.

Interesting these hybrids are related to European stock. I remember the German boars that we would encounter on military training areas like Grafenwohr could be very aggressive, even chasing and trying to attack tracked vehicles. One story I recall involved some young soldiers in a different unit who somehow captured a piglet and the furious mother rammed their vehicle, I think a M577. The men were scared to lower the ramp or open the rear hatch to release the piglet since the mother was so agitated she might launch herself into the track. It all sounded amusing back then, but looking back, not so much anymore. I don't recall how it all got resolved.

Solid brass bullets. Lots of them. Night vision and suppressors too.

Very destructive with their rooting stream beds that add grit into the stream that impacts salmon, steelhead and trout. Hard to find them on public land for hunting. Permission to hunt on private land can be hard to obtain. Fly fishing on a river asked the local guide about trying to get permission to hunt on the adjacent woods. His reply was "good luck, the land is an investment by some guy in Columbus, Ohio 2,500 miles East of here, who has zero connection to the community."

The young boars and piglets are delicious! The sows and old boars are usually best left for wildlife.

That is the weight of some Akaskan brown bears. .454 Casull out to 100 yards. Beyond that, .338-.378 Weatherby magnum would drop them hard.

Living in northern Minnesota I have never heard of this before now. Our summer cabin is only 100 miles from the Canadian border. I guess slugs will be replacing the shot for small animals up there in the 12 gauge from now on. Judging from the helicopter clip these bastards can cover some ground pretty quickly!

The only way to stop is to trap entire sounders and do it aggressively. I hunt feral hogs every year and hunting will never work. You normally get 1 out of a dozen and they move on when they hear the shot. With sows that can have two litters per year with up to a dozen each, they multiply fast.

They can destroy large areas overnight. They root which equals digging like a machine.

They have been around since the day of the North American explorers, looks like they are going to be around for a while.

I personally do not like the taste so I always give my kills away if someone wants it. They are filthy animals that will eat anything. But, they are fun to hunt. I hope they do not make it to the northern ranchers, they are a pain to deal with.

Cue Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake..

So, they were a problem many years ago in TX.

Unfortunately, with the land chopped up into useless sizes, it may be difficult to implement.

What they did was hold round ups of hogs, similar to how they rounded up the feral cattle.

It can be done - might be an issue to find skilled enough riders, these days/lining up the land owners could be very challenging unless some kind of state action was used to force permission. (Part of the pig problem stems from jackasses who released them for hunting purposes.)

Here's one my son shot in Tennessee a couple of years ago--he is 6'3" and this gives a perspective of how large these really are. We didn't weigh him, but processed, the meat filled a large chest freezer.


Tim

The Canadian Geographic had an article about the wild boar spread last year.

https://canadiangeographic.ca/...-pigs-across-canada/

The wild pig problem began in the 1980s when European wild boars were imported by a few Canadian farmers to raise for meat and then set free or escaped. In Canada, they have since been found from Quebec to Alberta. Wild pigs destroy crops, spread disease, devastate woodlands and prey on ground-nesting birds and newborn deer. “They’re the most dangerous invasive animal on the planet,” says Ryan Brook, head of the Canadian Wild Pig Research Project.

https://canadiangeographic.ca/...ost-impressive-tree/


Canada is the last frontier and a canoeist dream with some rivers in the north un-named.

There is a program on DEFY TV on Wednesdays called American Hoggers:

https://www.defytvnet.com/schedule

They are akin to an invasive species and need to be culled out. I was on a helicopter in Northern TX a few years ago and there were hundreds of these pigs running amuck through the fields.

The threat is real.
You tube gas many vids of
Night hunts with night vision optics,
And
Helicopter hunts with them taking out 12-15 pigs in 20 minutes with .semi auto rifles.
Pew, Pew, Pew.

I guess people stand in line for their turn to strap in and knockem down from the air craft. And
They pay big bucks to do so.

Theres a whole TV show on about it,

I served on pig boat…

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
The wild pig problem began in the 1980s when European wild boars were imported by a few Canadian farmers ....

Another fine example of being ignorant of history or deliberately choosing to ignore it.