# Is there any time or place in the history of mankind that wild pigs have been caught like this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-time-or-place-in-the-history-of-mankind-that-wild-pigs-have-been-caught-like-this/609363 "2012-01-13T03:09:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-time-or-place-in-the-history-of-mankind-that-wild-pigs-have-been-caught-like-this/609363/21 "2012-01-14T06:31:42Z")
Where do you get the corn from? Presumably in your pre-industrialized society you aren’t trucking it in from another country so you would actually have to grow it fairly close by. If you are growing it close by the pigs will find your cornfield anyway. I understand this is actually the reason why wild pigs are pests in agricultural communities in the southern US today. I don’t think this is a thing that happens “in the woods”. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-time-or-place-in-the-history-of-mankind-that-wild-pigs-have-been-caught-like-this/609363/22 "2012-01-14T07:31:03Z")
I’ve heard of the same process in a non-political context for sheep. It’s basically long-term shepherding - take advantage of something like a cliff or lake, put an obstruction in the way of one of the other natural thoroughfares to it. Ambush tactics, basically. If you do it all at once the animals will get spooked and run away, so you slowly make them think that the area, and you with your fence stakes, are safe. Have you never tried to catch an ant or a money spider in your hand? Try to cup it and pick it up, and it’ll avoid your hand. Give a gentle promontory to climb, wait patiently, and it’ll climb it. But, as an analogy, that applies to many kind of politics, but not libertarianism. Libertarianism is lying your palm flat. The ant falls off. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-time-or-place-in-the-history-of-mankind-that-wild-pigs-have-been-caught-like-this/609363/23 "2012-01-14T07:42:21Z")
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**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-time-or-place-in-the-history-of-mankind-that-wild-pigs-have-been-caught-like-this/609363/24 "2012-01-14T11:49:39Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Is anyone saying that trapping pigs, in general is inefficient compared to hunting? Certainly not me. Nor I! Trapping is _ **way** _ more efficient than hunting. Although, hunting them _ **is** _ more fun. 😃 Posted by **njtt** > [@](#): > > However, the method of trapping pigs described in the OP (which, as I read it, we are supposed to understand as taking a lot longer than 3 days - all that “getting used to it” is supposed to be important) would be highly inefficient. (And I do not know why you get to help yourself to the assumption that you would get twenty at a time.) > _**Anyway, the whole thing is just a silly made up analogy supposed to show how the gubimint is evil and provides services only so it can take away your freedom™ (and then, I guess, eat you). It is not about pig hunting at all**_. (bolding mine) I agree, besides… the OP’s method is usually reserved for “sheople”. 😉 > [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > It seems terribly inefficient. So you trap the one group of pigs, but now you have a big, useless fence that you spent a long time and a lot of money building. Once you’ve sold this group of pigs, you would have to tear down the fence and start all over if you wanted any more. Perhaps a better explanation, would be a description of how my kinfolk in North Central Louisiana have been trapping hogs for decades. 🆒 First of all, the hogs in that part of the country are all ‘feral’ hogs, domestic hogs that have gone ‘wild’, and have been that way for many generations. People don’t ‘keep’ hogs, “per se”. My uncle for example, usually has 15 to 25 (or more) hogs at any one time, that are ‘marked’ as belonging to him. The hogs roam the woods and aren’t kept penned up in any way. He has a couple of different places that he regularly goes to and feeds them, as do others. He pulls up in his truck, gets out and ‘calls’ them a few times, for about a half hour to 45 minutes. This is done by blowing a cows horn and loudly hollering, “Suuuuuue pig! Suuuuuuuuuuuue pig!” (I swear, I’m _ **not** _ making any of this up.) As others have pointed out, hogs are _ **very** _ intelligent and soon learn to recognize his ‘particular’ call, and what day and the time of day he comes to put out feed. This is **not** a daily thing, the frequency of feedings is determined by the breeding season. Once or twice a week during breeding, once every 4-6 weeks (or more) when they’re not. This accomplishes a number of different things: The hogs get/stay used to ‘humans’, and it allows him to monitor the sows, to see when they’ve ‘thrown’ a litter. After the sows have had their litters, he’ll set up a temporary trap (that’s checked daily) close to where he’s been feeding them. This consists of ‘hog wire’ that’s formed into a circle of sorts, approx. 15’-20’ in diameter, utilizing some convenient trees for posts. Where he intends to put the gate/trap door, a couple of fence posts are set to hold the ends of the hog wire. The trap door is a pretty simple affair, it’s a door that’s held up by a rope strung thru a pulley, the rope is tied to a stick with an ear of corn wired to it. The stick/ear of corn is placed behind a couple of short ‘stobs’ or posts at the far side of the trap. The sow goes into the trap enclosure, (and of course all of her litter follows along close beside “Momma”) she ‘roots’ the ear of corn up from behind the stobs, the door falls and there ya’ go, you got yourself some hogs! (Pretty damn efficient, IMHO! :D) AND… (Now comes the “fun” part! :dubious:) It gives him an opportunity to ‘mark’\* the _unmarked_ shoats, with the boar shoats getting castrated, as well as marked. (Which is _ **part** _ of the way they keep the overall hog population “in check”.) And also, to “cut out” those that he wants to fatten up for slaughter and butchering. \*Marking in this instance, refers to the ‘notching’ of their ears. Everyone that practices this, has their own ‘mark’ or series of notches. My uncle cuts a small (1" x 1") half-circle in one ear, with a triangle shaped (1" x 1") notch in the other ear. Some put two notches in just one ear, etc. Everyone has their own different combination of notches. That way, if you happen to catch a sow with somebody elses mark, you know to mark her piglets with the same mark. If somebody catches yours, they’re supposed to do the same. It works pretty well. (For the most part. ;)) > [@voltaire](#): > > Sure sounds a heck of a lot more complicated and time consuming than hunting or trapping by more conventional means. Well, when you live out in “the country”, people tend to have a little more time to devote to this sort of thing. But it’s really not all _ **that** _ time consuming or complicated, once you’ve learned how. Plus, it’s generally a group/local community endeavor. Everybody else that lives close by that has hogs “in the woods”, is doing the same thing at about the same time, so they generally help each other. Posted by **voltaire** > [@](#): > > Plus, I’m no hog expert, but do they typically move in herds? If you want to count 20-30 or more as a “herd”, yes sir, they most certainly do. :eek: ::nitpick:: Personally, I’ve never heard 'em referred to as a “herd”. That’s a term that’s most commonly associated with cattle, around these parts.😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-time-or-place-in-the-history-of-mankind-that-wild-pigs-have-been-caught-like-this/609363.md?page=1)