# Tyrrell Park Hogs Made The News



## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

My barn manager/riding buddy called me awhile ago and said the hogs from Tyrrell Park where we ride made the 6 o'clock news. We caught the tail end of the broadcast and I found this on their website.

Wild hogs destroy grounds at Tyrrell Park - 12 News KBMT and K-JAC. News, Weather and Sports for SE Texas

Hoping the city will remove some of them - they are so many it is crazy
:shock:


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## garlicbunny (Apr 30, 2009)

I LOVE seeing all the deer we have, but wild hogs?? I would worry that they would attack, I thought they were kind of vicious?? sounds like you don't worry about that though.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Folks who ride thru alligators while big squishy spiders leap on them aren't going to worry about some bacon on the hoof! I saw the title and thought it was a sports thread, as in "The Tyrrell Park Hogs won their second state championship..."


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

LOL BSMS you are too funny!! :lol:

Garlicbunny we see more wildlife this park than anywhere else and it is in the city limits. When I first started riding way out in the back we would see them but they were always in the distance and running away from us. Then we started seeing evidence up in the front wooded trails. Then we were seeing them all over the back, running across the trails in front of us, running into them coming around a corner. Then we started seeing them up front. A few months ago we were tacking up and 3 yes 3 little pigs came out of the woods out onto the park area. I saw them a few weeks later on the trail right next to the stable, rolling in the dirt and a little piglet was looking at me and The Biscuit from the underbrush about 8 feet away. Two weeks ago we saw 2 sows about knee high with 11 little bitty piglets. 

They are tearing up the groomed grounds of the park, the golf course greens and the botanical gardens. Maybe NOW they will do something about it! I don't want them all gone - it is actually good despooking for the horses. They generally hear them before we do. 

And BSMS - you so need to come ride in the park when all of the wildlife is running around. We have seen deer, otter, owls, eagles, hawks, waterbirds of all kinds, birds of all kinds, alligators, turtles, huge gar fish, hogs, coyotes, racoons, opposums and bobcat out there. I haven't seen the deer or the bobcat myself but others have. I have seen way more wildlife in there than when we have been in the forests. It is not that big - maybe 300-400 acres I think but it is bordered by wide open areas and bayous on two sides.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

If they are tearing up the golf course, somebody will probably remove them. I can't imagine my horse if she saw them. I guess that they get used to them. My horse used to go psycho over chickens; now she is used to them.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Celeste,
My cousin's horse, Elan, used to just be totally terrified of Chickens. He would cut them a VERY wide berth. He has since got a little better about it as there are quiet a few at the stables at Tyrrell Park. They hop up in the trailer and scatter the droppings looking for grain. Elan had to get over it!

Biscuit doesn't mind when hogs are at the side of him. He gets a little upset when they are in front of him but he doesn't freak out. Biscuit became "my" horse the day about 3 little small pigs exploded out from about 2 feet from us in dense underbrush in Louisiana. Sarge jumped about 4 feet to the right - Biscuit maybe a foot and didn't dump my butt. That is the day is said Biscuit could stay at Plum Nearly - I had had him for 7 months. Some of the horses get really upset at hogs and some don't even pay attention to them. I am not bothered by them but one of my riding buddies is terrified of them and it really makes her nervous when they run in front of us and they are close! As long as Biscuit doesn't dump me I am ok with it!


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## Inga (Sep 11, 2012)

Geesh with all the hungry people out there one would think the hog problem would be taken care of in short order.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Inga, the park is like a sanctuary and there is no hunting at all. It is a bird watching haven, etc. ect. ect. 

We wouldn't want them to open hunting up in there as it would interfere with our riding but it wouldn't hurt our feelings if the city went in and "forcibly" removed them!!!


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

My son was telling me about some guys in south Georgia that make a lot of money off of hogs. They have a two fold plan. First, they get large estates to hire them to remove the hogs. Then, they charge people large sums of money to go on a "Hog Hunting Safari". They make money from both angles. Sounds like a profitable business.


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

UGH!! You Texas people were supposed to get rid of them for us! LOL!
They have made their way back up here and are starting to get established again.
Went to a big party the other night and guess what was on the menu?? 24 hour roasted wild hog! I've never had anything so delicious!

Still haven't seen one on the trails, we ride on 1.5 million acres and they aren't used to people, still spooky. Did hear a large group on my hillside but didn't get a chance to look cause the dogs had them off their territory asap!
Saw a HUGE boar killed in the middle of the road, got a picture to share but it's kind of graphic...


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## Inga (Sep 11, 2012)

QOS said:


> Inga, the park is like a sanctuary and there is no hunting at all. It is a bird watching haven, etc. ect. ect.
> 
> We wouldn't want them to open hunting up in there as it would interfere with our riding but it wouldn't hurt our feelings if the city went in and "forcibly" removed them!!!


 
I know what you mean. There is a state forest where we ride as well which is no hunting but... I have seen people out there with bow and arrow. Certain nationalities seem to not follow the no hunting rules around this area. Maybe I should tell them about your hog problem as it would be worth it for them to poach on your land. ha ha Bacon is expensive right now.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Flygap, after Hurricane Rita we had hogs running EVERYWHERE. Huge @$$ hogs - hogzilla size. They were running out in the salt grass and the storm drove them inward. I delivered a wedding cake one day and the man there told me the week before his daughter hit one out on Hwy 73 - she said it just appeared running along the Dodge Durango and ran it front of her. She said it looked as tall as the Durango! It totaled her brand new vehicle. We have seen some big ones killed on the roads. There is a huge sow out at the park that is solid black except for a saucer sized white spot on her left flank. Always has young pigs with her. 

they have oinked at me up in the front of the park in the woods. I was riding by myself. LOL a few months ago we were going down Willow Bayou to get into the woods and we heard growling. Kellie yelled GO FASTER IT IS GROWLING hahahah we hauled butt! We didn't know they growled. 

It has gotten to the point where I wouldn't advise walking/hiking out there. I can't say they have ever acted aggressively but we are on horses not on the ground.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Inga, I think the city should have a "private hunt" for their employees and give the meat to families in need. That would be a win win.

Tyrrell Park is part of the Gulf Coast Bird Trail and is considered a prime bird watching site. There are so many different birds out there that even I haven't seen and I have lived here all my life. We saw some really funny looking birds the last time we rode 2 weeks ago. (didn't get out last weekend) Hubby knows some of them - pool doos (I may not be spelling that anywhere near right), Mexican Squeeler Ducks, these cute spoonbills with rose on their wings. And regular things like cardinals, blue jays...some really cute little neon green finch looking birds in the winter, herons and cranes of all kinds. 

Hahahaha Maybe we need to start an equine/birdwatching trail ride. 

Celeste, there are companies that do that - I say more power to them!!!


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

I would think that the hogs would be wreaking havoc on any ground nesting bird populations. We have turkey and quail here, and I don't think that their nests would survive hogs.


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## DrumRunner (Jan 26, 2011)

They're awful here.. Georgia is (regretfully) the wild hog *capitol* of the U.S... "Hogzilla" was killed less than 2 hours from my house. I have many friends, myself included, that hog hunt.. We run dogs, trap, shoot out of stands.. If we see a hog, it's dead. They are still over running everything.. It's gotten so out of hand that farmers are digging big trenches around their fields, a large herd of hogs can wipe out MANY acres of crops overnight. Hog hunting is a big thing where I live, especially being so close to Abbeville and Hawkinsville.. My family has 5,000 acres of trophy managed hunting land and as I said earlier, hogs are killed on sight.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

They are over running us too!!! Most of them are at least that size or bigger that we have seen. Most I would say would be in the 300-400 lb range.


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## DrumRunner (Jan 26, 2011)

If they're on a WMA, they're definitely going to get huge, just can't hunt them and they have no predators. Just eat, sleep, and breed... Are y'all able to kill others that aren't on the WMA?


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Yes..lots of people hunt them...just can't hunt in Tyrrell. They have placed out traps but I have yet to see a hog in one of them. One of the county landfills is on the other side of the bayou and we can see it from certain parts. YooooHaaaaa....They have a major food supply there too. There is another golf course not too far from the landfill. Hubby plays there all the time. I will have to ask him if the hogs tear up that course!


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

I had Javelina running through my place in AZ. Kept finding my cans of grain dumped out on the ground and kept seeing black & tan butts running away, I thought it was local dogs. One day I saw a black and tan behind going into my feed shed (I moved the grain to the tack room) and thought it was the *%($ dog returned. I ran into the shed and r'ared back to kick that dog right in his butt and hollered for my gun so I could shoot him. About the time my foot connected, my hubby yells, "PIIIIIIIIG" and I FLEW up the hay stack to get away from a very p*ssed off mamma piggy and then I saw her babies........OOOOPS! I got very good at spotting them before they spotted me, because everyone in AZ is crazy and you can't shoot the dam* things......or you couldn't when we left. 

I knew it was time to leave for good when I found Gila Monsters living under the water softener and got told they had to stay because they're protected.......SAY WHAT?


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Dream Catcher glad Momma Pig didn't rip your legs off. They get all ****y over getting a boot in the ham hock!!! The first time I saw and not just heard them, we were at the big bridge and one of the ladies was answering the call of nature. I was on Biscuit in an area where I could see over the pipeline and all of a sudden the hog with the white spot came out of the woods with about 4 or 5 younger pigs. She was HUGE and the others looked a little taller than knee high. LOL we yelled get on your horse!!! One of the other ladies was just off of her horse and bless her heart she is terrified of the hogs. She was saying the other day that she actually jumped on her horse without the aid of her stirrup. That is too funny because we are not kids - we are chunky bunky 50+ year old ladies who for the most part use a mounting block to get on!!!


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

When I was in vet school, I had a near death experience involving a mother pig. I was attempting to give her sick baby an injection. She got loose and came after me so ferociously that I literally jumped/climbed a 6 foot high fence, accompanied by one of my classmates. We both landed in a big pile of manure.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

QOS said:


> One of the other ladies was just off of her horse and bless her heart she is terrified of the hogs. She was saying the other day that she actually jumped on her horse without the aid of her stirrup. That is too funny because we are not kids - we are chunky bunky 50+ year old ladies who for the most part use a mounting block to get on!!!


I am very terrified of those feral things, good thing the Javelina don't get quite that big, they're a little bit less scary than those hogzilla types. 

I'm with that lady, I FLEW to the top of 4T of Alfalfa bales, they were stacked up HIGH. I have absolutely no recollection of touching a single one in my hurry to get away from momma piggy! 

I'm like you guys, 50+, no longer svelte and a little beat up, so the mounting block and a very steady horse is the only way I get to keep riding. My husband could NOT figure out how I got up to the top of the hay at all, let alone so fast! LOL! Adrenaline is amazing stuff!


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Celeste said:


> When I was in vet school, I had a near death experience involving a mother pig. I was attempting to give her sick baby an injection. She got loose and came after me so ferociously that I literally jumped/climbed a 6 foot high fence, accompanied by one of my classmates. We both landed in a big pile of manure.



And at that moment, that pile beat the fire out of a down quilt at the Ritz, didn't it? :lol:


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Hahahahhahahahahaha you girls have just cracked me up!!!! Celeste....one can move like a wild thing if properly motivated!!! When I was 14 I spent 2 weeks at my real father's parent's hog farm in Missouri and the hogs were having their litters while I was there. The little piglets were so dang cute but the hogs weren't ****y...they were sweet. When I was a kid there was a slaughter house down from my mom's parents and it was in some ways like a farm...all kinds of animals out in a barn yard. We played among the pigs, goats, sheep and cattle and never did we have the pigs get nasty. The owner's grandkids were a little younger than me and I'd go down there and play. 

I knew that wild hogs like on Old Yeller were ****y so I don't want to have an Travis and Old Yeller moment EVER. We cut them a wide berth!!!


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## SueNH (Nov 7, 2011)

The city should hold a hunting lottery. Allow the lottery winners to hunt on several very specific days and post it well so riders and bird watchers stay clear.

Kind of like the state of NH does with our Moose hunting lottery. It's a money making deal with animal control thrown in. The hunters pay to get in the lotterydrawing. Pay for the hunting license, pay for the moose tag. Then they pay some local to pull the beast out of the woods because you can't just flop a deer the size of a Clydesdale over your shoulders and go.

When I had my drafts every year somebody would ask me if I'd pull out a moose should they get one. The agreed price was usually meat. Never did get the opp. though. 

I have to say our Fish and Game Dept. does an awesome job of getting unwanted game meat to the food pantries and families in need.

There are occasional sightings of genuine wild boar up here. There used to be a game farm that had them many years ago in the southern part of the state. Not feral domestic pigs but descendants of Russian wild boar that got loose from the shooting park. A few years back a man that lives in town was charged by one out in the woods. It attacked out of the blue. Fortunately the man was armed. There aren't many, the snow pack is hard on them but we have been having warm winters (for here) and the population is growing.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

Unfortunately, I think a lottery would give plenty of people the idea they could hunt in there whenever they felt like it. So many people totally disregard the laws! Don't know what their plans will be - we will have to see but the hogs are getting to be a pain in the butt!


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