brooks

Ramblings: Wild Pigs near Brooks in the Capay Valley

"America is like one of those old-fashioned six-cylinder truck engines that can be missing two sparkplugs and have a broken flywheel and have a crankshaft that's 5000 millimeters off fitting properly, and two bad ball-bearings, and still runs."

Thomas McGuane, novelist

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        Unofficial (Feral) Pig Hotline—UPIG Bulletin #1
            Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 19:25:04 -0700
       Organization: XXXX Farm

A few feral pigs returned this week from their months-long
absence to the Wyatt walnut orchard on the East side of Cache Creek. Local lore predicted this return during the July hot weather by stating that when it dries out over on the Dunnigan side of California’s great Central Valley and/or favorite crops get harvested, the pigs return over the ridges westward back to the secluded Capay Valley. Some say these are the descendants of 15 imported wild Russian boars and dams which escaped in the 1970’s. Others say these are just the progeny of ordinary domesticated escapees from earlier in the 20^th century. I don’t know for sure.

        The feral pigs have not formed wallows as yet in the Wyatt
sprinkler-irrigated orchard. Instead, they seemed only to "roto-till" small 6'-diameter areas around select walnut trees in the orchard areas nearest the hills, presumably after grubs, worms, et al.   I know very little about feral pigs, but am learning a bit after smoothing up after them for the past year so that we can efficiently harvest walnuts off the orchard floor this October without "falling" into holes of assorted sizes and shapes and also “losing” walnuts in the holes.

        I have volunteered to run this ad-hoc hotline for now on a very casual basis. Please be assured that your e-mail will be kept 100% private in the UPIG e-mail directory.

    1) If you have an item for the next UPIG Bulletin, just e-mail it;

    2) and if you wish your name removed from this UPIG list, just let me know;

    3) and the raison d'etre for this UPIG Bulletin is so that we
farmers can warn each other about the location of the pigs as they tend to move from one place to the nearest neighbors' places; in short, cooperation builds community or some such nice and laudable phrase.

    4) Finally, I'm told if you want to deal with feral pigs, you can
count on quietly sitting downwind in the dark for some time, hopefully on the night that they are there! However, watch out for sneak attacks!

                    ---   End of UPIG Bulletin #1   ---

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---Start of my transmitted e-mail about a request to hunt pigs---

Paul, ---> Saturday, July 24, 2004 <---
Yes, I believe in hunting those roto-tilling feral pigs now to
nonexistence, but...my orchard owner who lives in Sacramento, decides who hunts the feral pigs, or hunts anything else for that matter. She also has one tenant-in-law there who hunts pigs now and then. He shot a couple last year for us.

        I will be meeting with the owner on Sunday morning, August 1. We need to hunt those pigs NOW...ASAP, on at least two nights each and every week, waiting hours in the dark for their noises, currently limited to the wetter east side of the orchard where they love to root.

        The previous pig hunters' group seemed to be there only during deer or turkey season and drove all over the place instead of walking in, so perhaps the orchard owner will be willing at this time to change to a new A+ pig hunter (and scuba diver who has shared his abalone with others), provided he takes no deer nor turkey and leaves no mess at all. Your location in nearby Guinda here in the Capay Valley makes you quite accessible (a good point) and I hear that you are an accomplished hunter. Your position as head honcho of our Capay Valley Science Club and your active participation in many valley meetings and events is also a plus. Can you mail me a "hunting resume" that I can show to the owner?

    Why don't you come by the orchard some a.m. about 11:30 or so and I'll show you where the wild pigs have been this week. Bring your daughter if she's around. The best days for me, tied down by farming matters, are Saturday and Sunday. On another related matter, I feel very attached to certain of the deer there in the orchard as two fawns, a brother with 2 spikes and his quiet sister, now both having grown up to be almost full-sized deer, join me and sometimes Claire for lunch each Sunday, eating walnut leaves up to the 5' level (which is fine with me as it saves pruning time) while we munch sandwiches. I call them Dick & Jane, and as yet no Spot is present at our lunches. I spend more time with these deer than I do with people each morning of the week!

    Finally, the Wyatt orchard is where you cross a tall steel bridge over Cache Creek, turn sharply right, let yourself through the gate, closing it behind you to keep the cows out, and go back a mile or so (on dry peripheral roads only as we irrigate 24/7 and are now in the 5th month without turning the pump off), meanwhile carefully looking for my dark Ford Explorer or a Kubota tractor on the move.
    Cordially, Jim

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         ----- Original Message -----
         From: Paul
         To: Jim
         Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2004 3:26 PM
         Subject: Re: UPIG--Unofficial (Feral) Pig Hotline--Bulletin #1

         Hi Jim,
         I have a selfish interest in feral pigs. I would like to hunt
one for my freezer. I don't know how you feel about that but I feel that there are some situations where it may be a “them or me ‘ situation for the farmers. I would have to get the permission of any farmer involved so if there is a possibility of that, please inform me how or who. I would also, for curiosity’s sake, like to look at the places they are rooting. Thanks and I appreciate the information.
         Best regards, Paul

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Welcome--UPIG Bulletin #2 of the "Unofficial (Feral) PIG" Hotline.

(Add yourself to e-mail list with word SUBSCRIBE sent via e-mail)

        Brooks Pigknocker of the Month--Dan in the past week scores 3 for S's freezer while Brooks current herd scores 20 minus 3. Some others in the Capay Valley report misses...albeit at least one organic vegetable farm further up the valley reports a nice neighbor driving in with a feral pig recumbent in his pickup now and again for well-received fresh food for the workers..

        Reports from Rumsey to Brooks correspondents--Pig herds are destructively active this week at least at these approximate reported Cache Creek locations: Road 43, Road 61, and near Rumsey Rancheria not far from the Cache Creek Casino Resort.

        Herds are now eating grubs and worms by roto-tilling muddy
orchards, also munching melons, and some wallow-building. Followed some new well-traveled foot-wide paths back
in and under some damnable tamarisk groves which indeed shelter some pig traffic as there's no competing vegetation to impede pig travel in the lower 3 feet in those tangled tamarisk groves I crawled through. Thank heavens for my ROTC machine-gun training decades ago! Learned to keep my head and fanny down and wiggle forward silently on my elbows.

        Since these three sighted Cache Creek pig groups represent almost 100 feral pigs presently (estimate) and we now know of only perhaps 25% of the active herds, once can estimate a rough total of 400 pigs at up to maybe 300 pounds at eat and play along Cache Creek and up on its ridges and down some on the other sides (Visit the main bar in Arbuckle for learning where
their pig herds were last night   Hope those local morning coffee
drinkers at the Casino Mini-mart come through too for us in the Capay Valley!) as a very rough starting estimate...yes, economic damage is occurring!   Please e-mail your sightings here or leave a UPIG message on our hotline.

    In our next Bulletin #3--Our Ag Commissioner has a very
helpful suggestion for handling pig predation problems...with a county service tip and special help at no charge to you.

    Thanks--to ad hoc correspondents Trini, Paul, Jason, Stephie,

Rick, and Sonny for input. How's your own community
spirit re helping out farmers suffering economic losses?

Unsubscribe--If you would prefer not to receive future bulletin
issues of UPIG, especially some concerning violent behavior or bloody scenes, simply e-mail the word UNSUBSCRIBE
to this address via a REPLY or otherwise.

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Welcome--UPIG Bulletin #3 of the "Unofficial (Feral) PIG" Hotline.

(Add yourself to the e-mail list with word SUBSCRIBE sent to me.)

Pigfool of the Month--With a bright "Blue Moon" aftermath, it was time for some serious nighttime pig "watching" on Sunday night, especially given the quality of summer TV. I placed my folding sports chair (the same one I use Saturday evenings at Rumsey for movies) near Cache Creek at the center of a dark
wet walnut orchard right next to a nice round strong tree trunk at
my back and facing Southeast towards the soon-to-be rising moon. Moonrise: 9:30 p.m. My mistake was forgetting that, due to the Capay Valley ridges, the moon needs to climb much
higher, thus you see it later, and must patiently wait, wait...

My right hand was gripping the night vision monocular with one finger on the amplification button and one finger on the
flash-illuminate button. My left hand held a bright flashlight, finger poised over the switch. No mosquitoes were out at all as the bats were doing their job...being the best bet available as nature's West Nile virus preventers. At any rate, as I spend my
days in walnuts orchards, my shoes pick up orchard mud and my
clothes and hair smell like tannins and walnut hulls (my wife would sometimes delete "like tannins and walnut hulls.") Speculation: wild animals don't smell "person" when
they're near me; often, I have deer feeding nearby when I work. Anyway, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30 p.m. came and no moon as
yet; perhaps I semi-dozed. My head rested back on the cozy walnut tree trunk. All was silent except for the nearby owl "Hoo, hoo...whoo, who, who."

        Next thing I knew, a huge startled "Oink" rumbled very near and behind my left elbow, causing me to drop the flashlight. I replied with a startled "Ooops." A big 150 to 200 pounds of rut-building pork rapidly did a 180-degree turn and accelerated so fast that in the two seconds before the light was recovered and illuminated, it showed that only the trees and I remained to watch the moonrise alone. Didn't even see his rear end. Trust I didn't dream this whole thing...and no, I was not drinking. No other pigs came by midnight. Went home. Another day...the smart feral pigs win again.

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        Report from Jane, a Lamb Valley old-timer so young
in spirit--"In comparison, the deer & wild turkeys in adjacent Lamb Valley seem desirable!"

        Our Ag Commissioner e-mails--"Jim, Just a note. Mike, the county trapper, is available to help growers with feral pig problems. Interested growers should call our office.
    Thanks, Rick"

        Guinda hunter Paul e-mails--"The tags do require a Hunting
License. They cost $15.75 each at Big Five. The same at other retail outlets that have them. I bought two...people can give game to others, unless things have changed. I spent some time looking at the regulations and I could not find anything that indicates changes in that area. I am still carrying around your $20. No I didn't go wild at the casino.
Beat regards, P.”

        Finally, Brooks landowner Joanne writes—“The
Depredation Permit that I thought was good for a year, was only good for 6 months. I renewed it today. According to Fish and Game, the hunters who want to take a pig home, should have a license and pig tags and should hunt during the day. The person with whom I spoke, said he thought the pig tags were about $10. The pigs killed with the Depredation Permit should be tagged and buried on the property. A duplicate tag should be sent to Fish & Game. The hunters with licenses and tags can take their pigs home.”

        Now for some pig scat examination results: This week the pig scat in the orchard showed that they were feasting on Manzanita berries and the presumably hard-to-digest rusty or reddish brown berry skins often passed through their digestive system and comprised, at a "guesstimate", 25% or more by volume of the scat. Any corroboration out there? Scat exams are valid science! Farm adviser Rachel, one of Yolo County's bat experts, says, to paraphrase: "How on earth can you verify the diet of an animal without dissecting its scat?" By the way, she'll
tell you where to wisely locate your home or farm bat house which Esparto High School students will build for you if you telephone.

    In our next Bulletin #4--Prudently & promptly preventing pig
predation--PPPPP.

    Thanks--to our correspondents and please help keep this hotline going...

    Unsubscribe--If you would prefer not to receive future bulletin
issues of UPIG, especially some concerning violent behavior or even bloody scenes, simply e-mail the word
UNSUBSCRIBE to this address via a REPLY or otherwise.

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     Welcome to UPIG Bulletin #4 of the "Unofficial (feral) PIG"
Hotline. (Add yourself to the e-mail list with word SUBSCRIBE sent via e-mail.

        Note on previous bulletin from a fellow Capay Valley Science Club member: "so glad that some brave people in our community are gathering, analyzing, and reporting on feral pig s***. It makes me feel all warm and cuddly inside."—David.

     Bulletin #4 Main Topic on Sus scrofa --Prudently & promptly
preventing (feral) pig predation--PPPPP--Three approaches below.

     a) Exclusion Methods:

         1) Mechanical fences: Successful results exist in the Capay Valley from well-braced woven wire fencing such that the so-called "hog fence" rectangles decrease in vertical dimension as one looks down the 4' fence to the bottom where an added single strand of barbed wire prevents fence uprooting by the feral pigs.

         One satisfied fence builder is grower D. of Rumsey who gave me a tour: "note that the fence has been constructed over a period of three years. The first fence we built had a barbed
wire on top. We no longer have one. It provided no pig benefit
but was a detriment to deer movement."   (Ed: Possible shortcoming? Fence excludes pigs OK, thereby possibly concentrating them in other nearby places, maybe your neighbors.)

         2) Electrical fences: Success appears to be mixed with common 2- or 3-strand high voltage electrical fences. One satisfied customer is A. who, paraphrased, says "Our 15-acre
melon patch has been well-protected from pigs with this purchased fence." I understand, 2nd-hand, that G.’s Ranch (just north of S.’s Orchards) electric fence approach was NOT a successful one. (Ed: Several conversations with P. and D., etc. seems to indicate that electrical grounding is the BIG problem with these fences.

        Pigs are indeed heavy and conduct electricity but not on dry ground so wet ground such as from a single irrigation drip line along the fence is often needed and, apparently, peanut butter smeared on the electric wires help to complete the circuit 100%. Zzz...Zap! Possible shortcoming? Kids or absent-minded workers can get a big shock on a dewy morning or a foggy day.)

     b) Termination Methods:

         1) Australian approach (noway legal in the U.S.): Feral pigs
are shot by the hundreds from helicopters wherever live trapping and poisoning cannot keep up with their depredation. It seems pigs can breed their two litters per year almost as successfully as Australia's rabbits can do their thing. Anyway...try Google for
some Sus scrofa facts.

         2) Hunting: California Dept. of Fish & Game regulations for
Sus scofa, wild pig, are available on the Internet at
www.DFG.ca.gov/hunting and primarily require licensed daylight hunting without dogs and with tagging. (Ed: Depredation permits with mandatory tags are also available for troubled property owners.) Yolo County residents had ZERO pig tags officially reported, note we say officially, before 1998, but are now reporting two dozen each year reflecting the reality (only partially) of an apparently rapidly growing pig population! I
understand pigs really enjoy rooting and feeding under a full
moon. As Sus scrofa is primarily a nighttime-feeding omnivore with keen hearing and smelling abilities, good luck hunting in the daytime!

         Here's the story of a Sacramento Bee reporter, Ed Migale, on 8/11/04: "I had crept to just 13 yards from some wild hogs...asleep under some manzanita bushes, the hogs were lying tight to one another. I knelt, placed the crosshairs atop my 30-06 on the hog's ribs and squeezed the trigger...I found the dead hog--a 150-pound sow--less than 75 yards away. This prime wild hog, whose flesh would provide my wife and me with many delicious meals, had died quickly and humanely." (Ed: Think how tasty nut- and melon-fed meat is!)

     c) Reduction in pig attractants:

         It's been my personal observation that pigs are attracted by
freshly wet soil, especially extensive puddles of water such as at the low point in an orchard (it seems they lack sweat glands so must drink daily and like to build wallows in deep mud); they also like manzanita and other berries and yummy melons and fallen fruit, of course, while preferring dense tamarisk groves for their access paths, although also using deer paths when convenient or their own steep up-and-down paths. Final note: Personal observation reveals that barbed wire fences are much used by Sus scrofa for scratching its back. The barbs at pig path entrances to a field or orchard wear down almost flat; I assume from frequent happy nighttime use!

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        Final outdoor adventure story: "Saw a rabbit racing to the
west as fast as he could go with his ears flying. Hot in pursuit
was a tannish body outstretched in full pursuit. Toby (my dog) and I stopped and watched quite curious to see what the critter might be. They came to a fence bordering the creek; the bunny disappeared and the tan varmint stopped, sat down, turned and looked at us." Pat, Capay.
(Ed: Pat volunteered subsequently that the "feral" in question was, yes indeed, a feral cat.)

     Thanks--to our correspondents and please help keep this bulletin going with your own contribution (a one-sentence e-mail will suffice...)

     Unsubscribe--If you would prefer not to receive future bulletin
issues of UPIG, especially some concerning unpleasant behavior or even bloody scenes, simply e-mail the word UNSUBSCRIBE to this address via a REPLY or otherwise.

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Recipe: Roasted vegetables with chicken drumettes

Ingredients

1 package fresh chicken drumettes, 2-3 lbs

6 small red potatoes

1 medium yellow onion, halved or quartered

1 medium Bermuda red onion, halved or quartered

½ sweet red pepper, cut in chunks

1 package small baby carrots

1 sm. zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 2-4 pieces

¼ can Jumbo California black olives

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon oregano or marjoram (or half and half)

Procedure

Heat olive oil up in a medium-hot cast iron frying pan. Brown drumettes for 3 minutes on one side and 2 minutes on the other side. Remove to a large open cast iron roasting pan which has been sprayed lightly with cooking oil. Preheat oven for a 375-degree roast. Heat both the red pepper and the baby carrots for 5 minutes in the frying pan while placing the potatoes, onions, zucchini, and olives in around the chicken drumettes. Pour the red pepper/carrot mixture over the contents of the roasting pan and sprinkle on the oregano or marjoram, dripping balsamic vinegar and then soy sauce to taste over all. Salt and pepper to taste. Roast for about 45 minutes, or longer if you want blacker roasted vegetables. Feel free to add other types of vegetables to this dish or to make substitutions. My wife and I can eat the above in one sitting, with a bit left over for lunch the next day, warmed in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes in a plastic container with lid, perhaps additional soy sauce added.

Reflection:

“It's Thanksgiving Day and all is well with the spacecraft #65533 (Cassini); and a handful of people who needed to come in to support commanding today. Flying a spacecraft is a 24-7 operation! Uplink Operations, Mission Support and Services Office Personnel, and team personnel from RADAR, the Magnetometer Subsystem (MAG), and the Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) supported the uplink of commands for a RADAR Instrument Expanded Block trigger for Rhea (Ed: One of Saturn’s 42 moons), a change of MAG housekeeping mode, a CDA setup mini-sequence…”

Cassini Significant Events for 11/22/05 - 11/30/05, NASA.

Excerpted from “Ramblings, Recipes, & Reflections”