Experienced hunters say that wild boar can be even more dangerous to hunt than a bear. Equipped with thick, razor-sharp tusks, and a razor-sharp mind (hogs are the 4th most intelligent animal in the world) a wild boar can weigh a staggering 660 lbs and exhibit extremely aggressive and unpredictable behaviour.
Hunters be warned! After wounding a boar, give the animal plenty of time before you follow it in to the bush. Otherwise, you’ll go from being the hunter to the hunted. Boars will circle a human adversary, charge rampantly and attack from behind.
A survival tip: Pick your tree ahead of time so you can climb out of harm’s way if ever you’re being chased.
Seriously, though: wild hogs can be very dangerous, especially a sow with a litter. They definitely aren’t stupid animals, they can be very aggressive, they move faster than you expect, and they outweigh most humans by at least double.
I had encountered deer before but only in ones and twos. However I went jogging about 2 months ago and out of the woods came a pack of about 12-15 deer at stampede speed heading right towards me. I stood as still as I could as they whizzed by me on both sides, some close enough to touch if I would have dared.
That will get your adrenaline going.
Believe it or not, adult deer can kill people and so can moose - especially moose.
I once saw a video of an adult female moose who figured some lady got too close to her calf and she knocked the lady to the ground and stomped on her until she was dead.
The only interaction I want to have with any big animals is to shoot and kill them. There are all just too dangerous and too unpredictable.
In addition, I’ve been told by hunters that moose stink to high heaven. No other animal stinks as badly as a moose - with the exception of skunks.
Is it true that the U.S. has a big problem with the feral hog population? I watched some shows on Discovery and TLC, but I thought that was just a sensationalized reality show premise.
Our lake flooded one spring and a huge snapping turtle emerged. It’s shell was at least 18 inches long and it’s head extended about that far. So did the tail. It was one ugly SOB. And scary. Pretty sure it’s mouth (beak?) could have snapped my wrist or even ankle. And it looked like a dinosaur what with all the bony sticky out things on it’s shell and the spikes on it’s tail. It looked an awful lot like this but this was Vermont so I guess it must have been one of these. It hissed too. And smelled bad. (they release a musk odor when unhappy)
Wow. I’m sorry for you. Watching animals in the wild, as long as one is sensible and takes recommended precautions, is awesome. I grew up in tropical north Australia, my dad was a skipper and tour guide on rivers populated by big estuarine crocodiles. He taught us how to be safe, and we saw amazing natural behaviour - courtship, territorial battles, nesting females. Killing these animals is prohibited, and, for us, completely unthinkable.
Dude. I grew up in the middle of nowhere and have spent a lot of years all wild-child style out in the woods. Unpredictable is not a word I would use. If you get attacked by a deer it’s likely you are…not paying attention when it is telling you to get out of there/asking if you want to fight. I just watched a video the other day where some jackass is taking a video of another jackass out in the middle of the road trying to take a picture of a doe who is clearly telling him to fuck off. Guy kept inching closer, doe kept saying “Not today.”, until finally it had enough and charged him. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I side with the deer on that one.
(…but my first thought after reading “Just saw a boar” was EAT IT!)
There’s a fox in our neighborhood. It is pretty badass. Likes to come through our yard. A couple weeks ago it tried to bury a bird in one of our garden beds. I went out on the deck and said, “Hey! Don’t put that in there.” It looked at me and asked if we were going to fight. Pretty tough! I said, “No dude, just don’t put that in there. Go on!” He gave me an exasperated “GOD. Ok, fine.” and left. True story.
Around here, raccoons seem to be big fans of living down the storm drains in the streets. Sometimes at night I’ll see a handful of them pour out of one. One time I pulled into a parking lot later in the evening and there were like seven of them sitting there! I got out of the vehicle, and I swear they shook their little fists at me with a “Curse you, human!” and scurried back underground
An adult male can easily go 350 - 400lbs, and they have four BIG tusks. Their shoulders and neck are protected by a carapace of thick horny skin, making them difficult to dispatch. They are big and mean (particularly at certain times of the year) and they don’t give a shit.
Boars will charge you and slash you with the tusks, which curve outward for that very purpose.
I encountered one intentionally on Maui (doesn’t everyone go boar hunting on their Hawaiian vacation?). The three of us humans and three dogs prevailed, but it was a hell of a battle.
One can go to YouTube and search for attack deer (or whatever search term) videos. There are quite a few of deer attacking hunters, often quite viciously. Mind you I’m always rooting for the deer! I’m pro-hunting, but let’s face it, between hunting and vehicular death, deer don’t often prevail. So it seems only fair.
All my edible animals (chickens, geese, goats) with their hair and/or feathers standing on end, staring at the fence. Me: ‘huh? what?’ Then I see a brown piece of hill sliding silently past. That was our mountain lion, just passing by. Middle of the day two weeks ago. Two years ago he almost took my goat’s head off with one bite. That was the middle of the night. Dogs chased him off, surgery on a picnic table in the driveway, she lost one of her eyes but recovered.
Walking on a logging trail behind my house, my dog and I are surprised by a whole troupe of stripey piglets crossing our path. My dog, young and foolish thing, decided she would gift me with the last and smallest, cut it out of the herd and started working it towards me as it squealed and tried to get around her and I squealed and tried to get her to quit. Visions of mama, no doubt a few hundred pounds of black hairy rage, in my head. Luckily my dog obeyed, the piglets disappeared into the brush, no mama avenger appeared. Shaky legs ensued. Dog: I love hiking! So much to do!
I see bobcats, coyotes, skunks, coons, and possums as well as the dirt-common deer on a very regular basis. The lion is rarely seen but that’s not because he’s not around, it’s because he is very silent. He sees us.
I feel glad we don’t have bears here on the coast.
There was a bear in our neighborhood last week. He seems to have retreated to the large regional park across the street but the police are understandably still urging caution. Wonder what will happen if he comes across our neighboring coyotes.
I can’t speak for the rest of the US, but I have a big problem with them. They have been repeatedly damaging my pastures. They like to root up the grass for grubs and earthworms and their rooting destroys the grass root system. It also makes the pasture difficult to maintain and it’s causing erosion problems. It doesn’t help that I’m a weekend-only farmer and they have free reign during my absences. They’ve recently started rooting up near the house.
The problem with feral hogs in East Texas is that they are a prolific, hearty hybrid. Some bright-minded individuals got the idea to import European wild boars and raise them on their hunting leases. They didn’t build adequate fences.
I wouldn’t mind having a few around but they reproduce like crazy and they have no natural predators. I wish the coyotes would develop an appetite for tender little baby pigs. They are also competing for the same food supply as the deer and other wildlife.
Yeah, they rip the crap out forest and meadow lands around here. Pigs aren’t native at all; they are feral europeans. Land looks just like it was ploughed, and it takes a long time to recover. Hog hunter is a profession out here. Use big gnarly dogs to find and bay them up. I bet coyotes would chow down on the piglets if it wasn’t for the mamas. Nobody messes with a sow. They are not small.