Wild boar

steddyeddy

Hey all due to the reintroduction of wild boar in ireland I was wondering if any of you saw one in your travels? I saw two and was wondering did anyone else saw one?


(apologies mods if this is in the wrong section I just need feedback!)

garv123

steddyeddy wrote: »

Hey all due to the reintroduction of wild boar in ireland I was wondering if any of you saw one in your travels? I saw two and was wondering did anyone else saw one?


(apologies mods if this is in the wrong section I just need feedback!)

one of the lads was up the vee there in waterford and was there parked in the car and looked in his rear view mirror and nearly got a heart attack when he saw it. he got out of the car and was looking at it. he reckined if he ran at the car he would have turned it over:rolleyes:
he also reckoned if he had the .243 with him it would have only pissed him off. couldnt get over the size of it. was like a bull with tusks. he rang a friend from mellary who told him that he'd heard about it and that someone relesed it there a few years ago

poulo6.5

garv123 wrote: »

one of the lads was up the vee there in waterford and was there parked in the car and looked in his rear view mirror and nearly got a heart attack when he saw it. he got out of the car and was looking at it. he reckined if he ran at the car he would have turned it over:rolleyes:
he also reckoned if he had the .243 with him it would have only pissed him off. couldnt get over the size of it. was like a bull with tusks. he rang a friend from mellary who told him that he'd heard about it and that someone relesed it there a few years ago

Hi garv. When did your friend spot the boar. Just wondering because I know of a boar that wa shot just a few miles from the vee. They were apparently released up there. I haven't heard of any more out there since then

steddyeddy

Theres about 36 loose far more than one or two, garv I have no doubt that the boar could have knocked over the car these things can reach 400 pounds. I dont work with a government agency but am a zoologist and am quite interested in how this will develop thanks for your answers!

They are aprantly quite hard (well relative to other fauna) to take down.

garv123

poulo6.5 wrote: »

Hi garv. When did your friend spot the boar. Just wondering because I know of a boar that wa shot just a few miles from the vee. They were apparently released up there. I haven't heard of any more out there since then

ah he was telling me about it 4 months ago nearly but it was a good bit before that ( he taught he rang me and told me straight away:rolleyes:)
but it was maybe 3 months later he mentioned it in passing convo. so 7-8 months ago ish.
whats the crack with shooting them. is there even irish law about them?
what kinda gun did they use?

steddyeddy

garv123 wrote: »

ah he was telling me about it 4 months ago nearly but it was a good bit before that ( he taught he rang me and told me straight away:rolleyes:)
but it was maybe 3 months later he mentioned it in passing convo. so 7-8 months ago ish.
whats the crack with shooting them. is there even irish law about them?
what kinda gun did they use?

well the official action when spotting one is to report it to the the nearest wildlife agency, your advised not to shoot as garv was saying it would indeed likely just piss it off. Think bear shooting one will make it charge. There is no law against killing them but they will exist in the most remote areas in the country.

garv123

36 of them across the country? why was this?

Cass

garv123 wrote: »

...............he also reckoned if he had the .243 with him it would have only pissed him off.............

steddyeddy wrote:

your advised not to shoot as garv was saying it would indeed likely just piss it off.

Hornady, 180 gr SST in 30-06 = Bacon for dinner.

poulo6.5

garv123 wrote: »

ah he was telling me about it 4 months ago nearly but it was a good bit before that ( he taught he rang me and told me straight away:rolleyes:)
but it was maybe 3 months later he mentioned it in passing convo. so 7-8 months ago ish.
whats the crack with shooting them. is there even irish law about them?
what kinda gun did they use?

Are you sure it was only 7/8 months ago. The one that was shot was 1.5/2 years ago. I shoot the land it was shot on and I know the farmer that called in the hit so to speak. I'll ask him who the shooter was and what he used.as far as shooting them is conserned I think a minimum caliber used on continent is .270 or .308. But I'm sure one of the lads on here that has bin shooting boar would be able to answer that for sure.
I know steyrman2 has bin on boar hunting trips maybe he could answer that question.

I would say my self you would be safe enough with a 300 win mag.:D

It wasn't me!

ezridax wrote: »

Hornady, 180 gr SST in 30-06 = Bacon for dinner.

Norma load a 200 gr Oryx if I recall correctly. Now that is pig-smashing medicine right there. Comes out about 2600-odd fps. Proper thumper.

jap gt

heard a few weeks ago that a small holder in the tralee area bought 3 sows and a boar, he had them in a shed for two days when they got out, i think one sow was killed on the road but the others were spotted about 5 miles from the small holders place

steddyeddy

jap gt wrote: »

heard a few weeks ago that a small holder in the tralee area bought 3 sows and a boar, he had them in a shed for two days when they got out, i think one sow was killed on the road but the others were spotted about 5 miles from the small holders place

were not talking domesticated sows but specifically breed wild boars.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1214/1224260654181.html

garv123

poulo6.5 wrote: »

Are you sure it was only 7/8 months ago. The one that was shot was 1.5/2 years ago. I shoot the land it was shot on and I know the farmer that called in the hit so to speak. I'll ask him who the shooter was and what he used.as far as shooting them is conserned I think a minimum caliber used on continent is .270 or .308. But I'm sure one of the lads on here that has bin shooting boar would be able to answer that for sure.
I know steyrman2 has bin on boar hunting trips maybe he could answer that question.

I would say my self you would be safe enough with a 300 win mag.:D

nope i dont think it was that long ago but il find out for sure, to be sure.
he said it was crazy to be so close to it. he got back into the car and it walked straight past the car.

jap gt

steddyeddy wrote: »

were not talking domesticated sows but specifically breed wild boars.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1214/1224260654181.html

no these where the 'real' deal, brought them down from some man in carlow as far as im told, they wer meant to have been pure mental

poulo6.5

garv123 wrote: »

nope i dont think it was that long ago but il find out for sure, to be sure.
he said it was crazy to be so close to it. he got back into the car and it walked straight past the car.

Ok sounds like there might be more out there so. I'll do some homework on this tomorrow. If you can ask your friend for more details we might get to the bottom of this.

poulo6.5

steddyeddy wrote: »

were not talking domesticated sows but specifically breed wild boars.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1214/1224260654181.html

The most startling of their reports revealed a 396lb boar “was shot near a school playground in south Tipperary” earlier this year.


This is the one I'm on about. It was in a field across the road from a primary school when it was shot. The farmer said it was fairly tame and just stood there waiting to be shot. Not at all wild. Which would suggest a released animal.

meathstevie

Unfortunately hard to come by in Ireland but about the best means to hunt them is the good old 12g slug. And lacking that any of the usual .30 hunting calibers will do the trick.

Grizzly 45

Or at a pinch 00 buckshot will drop them as well.Thats the NINE ball load.
Best to have a pump or semi to do it though,as you might need all three plus shots.:eek:

It wasn't me!

Boar ranges are short, so something heavy and relatively slow moving is perfect. One of the European classics is the 9.3x62 (9.3x74R in double rifles, combinations and drillings) which is a very interesting all-rounder.

Cass

steddyeddy wrote: »

Hey all due to the reintroduction of wild boar in ireland I was wondering if any of you saw one in your travels?

On a more serious note from my last post, i have to wonder at the validity of the term "Wild Boar".

To import these truely wild animals and release them must be done "outside legal routes" as i cannot see the Irish Gov. giving permits to re-introduce another species, and if they did it would be done on a planned and worked out schedule. Now i'm not accusing anyone of anything illegal activities, and of course i have no experience with importing, breeding or releasing boar so if i'm wrong on that point, my apologies.

I remember reading here about a boar that was shot (could be the one mentioned above), and i read that 70% or so of the make of the animla was directly linked to the domestic pig. To have a truely "Wild" animal surely there must be some criteria that must be met before it can be declared wild. Such as X generations descended from the originally released animal, more pronounced characteristics (tusks, etc), more able to forage and evade hunters/capture. In other words it won't stand there and get shot.

What do ya'll reckon. Am i off base or is this currently happening and i'm simply not aware of it?

sako75 hunter

poulo6.5 wrote: »

The most startling of their reports revealed a 396lb boar “was shot near a school playground in south Tipperary” earlier this year.


This is the one I'm on about. It was in a field across the road from a primary school when it was shot. The farmer said it was fairly tame and just stood there waiting to be shot. Not at all wild. Which would suggest a released animal.

I think the boar you are talking about was shot in clogheen, the guy that shot it used a 243, from what ive been told it was an escapee. Not at all wild. There was a big write up about it in the shooters digest.

It wasn't me!

Lads mentioning the "wild boar" all seem to agree that they were effectively tame. I reckon it'll never really take off here unless we allow proper wild boar to breed long term. Never going to be much fun shooting a domesticated animal.

garv123

poulo6.5 wrote: »

Ok sounds like there might be more out there so. I'll do some homework on this tomorrow. If you can ask your friend for more details we might get to the bottom of this.

i gave him a text there and he said it was more than a year ago he reckoned so that must be the fella ye were on about.

he just txt me back this second and said he was shot in clogheen so must be they fella ye were on bout so.

meathstevie

Aside from the whole issue relating to how much domesticated pig and how much wild boar there is in an animal's genitical make up it is quite astonishing how quickly and how easily a pig reverts to living wild and thrives while at it.

MarkD.

First Ive heard of a new generation of wild boar in Ireland.

Its known that the town of Kanturk where I live in North Co Cork was where the last wild boar in Ireland was killed. A monument marks the spot in the town. Is there any documents or facts to back this up? I dont know. I doubt someone could have just made it up, as there was a group of hunters after this boar for months as they knew he was the last so the story goes.
Kanturk in Irish is Ceann Toirc which translated means Head of the wild Boar. The coat of arms for Kanturk is a picture of a boar.
Is this all fiction, fantasy and stuff of legends. Who knows.

poulo6.5

garv123 wrote: »

i gave him a text there and he said it was more than a year ago he reckoned so that must be the fella ye were on about.

he just txt me back this second and said he was shot in clogheen so must be they fella ye were on bout so.

That's the same one so. I'm on my way out to meet the farmer now that owns the field he was shot in. As it happens he rang me. He is having trouble with some deer eating his feed

Double Barrel

Poulo6.5
The cattle/deer feeder thing brought back something I posted a few years ago.
What NOT to do to deer around cattle feeders...

This story has been bouncing around the web for the better part of a year. A few years by now.

Actual Letter from someone who writes, and farms. ** Emphasis Mine. I do not think so.

Enjoy
***********
"I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that since they congregated at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away) that it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.

I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope.. The cattle, which had seen the roping thing before, stayed well back.. They were not having any of it. After about 20 minutes my deer showed up, 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope.

The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it. .It took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and received an education.

The first thing that I learned is that while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope. That deer EXPLODED.

The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope with some dignity. A deer, no chance. That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it.

As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I originally imagined. The only up side is that they do not have as much stamina as many animals. A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head.

At that point I had lost my taste for corn fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope. I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual.

Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in, so I didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow death. I managed to get it lined up to back in between my truck and the feeder, a little trap I had set beforehand. Kind of like a squeeze chute. I got it to back in there and started moving up so I could get my rope back..

Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody so I was very surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head, almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.

The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective. It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds. I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now) tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the hound out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose.

That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day. Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp.. I learned a long time ago that when an animal like a horse strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal.

This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape. This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond I devised a different strategy. I screamed like woman and tried to turn and run. The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and three times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.

Now when a deer paws at you and knocks you down it doesn't immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head. I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.

Now for the local legend. I was pretty beat up. My scalp was split open, I had several large goose eggs, my wrist was bleeding pretty good and felt broken (it turned out to be just badly bruised) and my back was bleeding in a few places, though my insulated canvas jacket had protected me from most of the worst of it. I drove to the nearest place, which was the co-op. I got out of the truck, covered in blood and dust and looking like I’d just come from a bar-room brawl. The guy who ran the place saw me through the window and came running out yelling "what happened"

I have never seen any law in the state of Kansas that would prohibit an individual from roping a deer. I suspect that this is an area that they have overlooked entirely. Knowing, as I do, the lengths to which law enforcement personnel will go to exercise their power, I was concerned that they may find a way to twist the existing laws to paint my actions as criminal.

I swear, not wanting to admit that I had done something monumentally stupid played no part in my response. I told him "I was attacked by a deer." I did not mention that at the time I had a rope on it. The evidence was all over my body. Deer prints on the back of my jacket where it had stomped all over me and a large deer print on my face where it had struck me there. I asked him to call somebody to come get me. I didn't think I could make it home on my own. He did.

Later that afternoon, a game warden showed up at my house and wanted to know about the deer attack. Surprisingly, deer attacks are a rare thing and wildlife and parks was interested in the event.. I tried to describe the attack as completely and accurately as I could. I was filling the grain hopper and this deer came out of nowhere and just started kicking the hell out of me and BIT me.

It was obviously rabid or insane or something. EVERYBODY for miles around knows about the deer attack (the guy at the co-op has a big mouth). For several weeks people dragged their kids in the house when they saw deer around and the local ranchers carried rifles when they filled their feeders. I have told several people the story, but NEVER anybody around here. I have to see these people every day and as an outsider, a "city folk," I have enough trouble fitting in without them snickering behind my back and whispering "there is the dumb-butt” that tried to rope the deer."

steddyeddy

ezridax wrote: »

On a more serious note from my last post, i have to wonder at the validity of the term "Wild Boar".

To import these truely wild animals and release them must be done "outside legal routes" as i cannot see the Irish Gov. giving permits to re-introduce another species, and if they did it would be done on a planned and worked out schedule. Now i'm not accusing anyone of anything illegal activities, and of course i have no experience with importing, breeding or releasing boar so if i'm wrong on that point, my apologies.

I remember reading here about a boar that was shot (could be the one mentioned above), and i read that 70% or so of the make of the animla was directly linked to the domestic pig. To have a truely "Wild" animal surely there must be some criteria that must be met before it can be declared wild. Such as X generations descended from the originally released animal, more pronounced characteristics (tusks, etc), more able to forage and evade hunters/capture. In other words it won't stand there and get shot.

What do ya'll reckon. Am i off base or is this currently happening and i'm simply not aware of it?

well your right the term wild boar isnt quite accurate but still swine are the exception to the rule. The term feral boar might be more apt, pigs are extremely intelligent animals far more so than the average dog. Release a pig into the wild and it will go feral far quicker than most animals. A feral pig will even start growing tusks in a few generations.

This is currently happening right now in ireland in fact the irish wildlife trust require people to notify them of wildboar sightings. A adaptation in the wild would be to become more elusive to evade capture. A group of chimps in rwanda for example are now nocturnal as opposed to diurnal after the civil war left them skittish!

EDIT: by the way these were no doubt released by illegal means. like the wild cats aparantly stalking ireland and britian they were either released for a laugh or the owner was keeping them illegally and in danger of being found out

Grizzly 45

[

Release a pig into the wild and it will go feral far quicker than most animals. A feral pig will even start growing tusks in a few generations.

A few generations??? Within one litter the piglets wil have tusks! The only reason domestic swine dont have tusks is they are clipped at appx six weeks by the breeder.
That litter will be feral no trouble within its life,and seeing as the pig can be a prolific breeder,within two generations you wil have wild PIGS.
BUT they will not be what we call wild boar.
European Wild pigs are a breed called in Latin Scrous scoufla.Which has its own distinctive genetic makeup.Totally different to a feral wild pig.Which would be pigs like the
Argentinan wild pig,or the Aussie razorback or the American wild pig.

However our trouble here is,we DID have some people breeding European
Wild boar,which either escaped by accident or design.Wether they have bred and multiplied or have been helped along by humankind is another question.
As to why the clogheen pig was so tame,Wild boar if they arent hunted are not totally shy of humans either.In some European cities they have lost their fear of humans and are quite happy to forage in kitchen gardens for food.
Wild European pigs,can be raised to be quite tame as well,and can be kept more or less like free range pigs.Which was how the UK and proably Ireland got their pouplation,courtsey of ALF!!


.

like the wild cats aparantly stalking ireland and britian they were either released for a laugh or the owner was keeping them illegally and in danger of being found out

Ah ! The mysterious wild cats of Ireland.....Is that including the Celtic Tiger???:D:D:D.
Amazing that these kitties have been very quiet over the last three years,and that the dept of Ag is still trying to figure out if the kitty litter found in Donegal was from whatever big cat??:rolleyes:
Would think in the last Winter they would have chowed down on somthing like a deer or sheep or cow...Maybe they hibrinate until Summer silly season in the newspapers??:pac::D

Birdnuts

Anyone know what type of dog would be suiteable to hunt Wild Boar with??:)

Grizzly 45

German hunting Terrier,Will bark and alarm and flush wild boar,best works in pack of two plus

Jack Russell terrier,Dachshunds.Small ,agile,loud,ankle biters.Will in pack numbers of 5 or more flush "black game"[translated term for wild boar] from cover,and harrass.Are mental enough, as all terriers seemingly are, to do this as individuals too.

Pitbull Terrier, and crosses..Will bark,alarm and in pack numbers or if tenacious/crazy enough as an individual,attack and hold boar.

Dogo Argentino,Argerntine boar hunting dog,very large/giant breed,used in packs,will hold a wild pig and will not release if there is no movement from the pig.Closest to what the orginal Great Dane was bred for,GD's were orginally known as Boar hounds.

Cane Corso,Canary island dog,bigger, squatter and blockier,than a Rottweiler and extremly strong,exellent gaurd dog.Has been used for boar hunting as well.

By and large it is better I think to use a pack of smaller dogs,than one or two large ones.As if a small dog gets tossed by a boar,there is a good chance it will survive or suffer less injury than a large breed as the boars tusks will eviscerate a dog with a good strike.:eek:Large dog,large target.Multiple small dogs moving fast,harder for the boar to zero in on one.As they are short sighted.But have exellent sense of smell and hearing.

steddyeddy

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

[

A few generations??? Within one litter the piglets wil have tusks! The only reason domestic swine dont have tusks is they are clipped at appx six weeks by the breeder.
That litter will be feral no trouble within its life,and seeing as the pig can be a prolific breeder,within two generations you wil have wild PIGS.
BUT they will not be what we call wild boar.
European Wild pigs are a breed called in Latin Scrous scoufla.Which has its own distinctive genetic makeup.Totally different to a feral wild pig.Which would be pigs like the
Argentinan wild pig,or the Aussie razorback or the American wild pig.

However our trouble here is,we DID have some people breeding European
Wild boar,which either escaped by accident or design.Wether they have bred and multiplied or have been helped along by humankind is another question.
As to why the clogheen pig was so tame,Wild boar if they arent hunted are not totally shy of humans either.In some European cities they have lost their fear of humans and are quite happy to forage in kitchen gardens for food.
Wild European pigs,can be raised to be quite tame as well,and can be kept more or less like free range pigs.Which was how the UK and proably Ireland got their pouplation,courtsey of ALF!!


.

Ah ! The mysterious wild cats of Ireland.....Is that including the Celtic Tiger???:D:D:D.
Amazing that these kitties have been very quiet over the last three years,and that the dept of Ag is still trying to figure out if the kitty litter found in Donegal was from whatever big cat??:rolleyes:
Would think in the last Winter they would have chowed down on somthing like a deer or sheep or cow...Maybe they hibrinate until Summer silly season in the newspapers??:pac::D

A pigs tusks will not develop to the extent of a wild boars unless feral for a few generations. Wild boar were indeed breed here and have been released one way or the other. A point to note the term boar is not exclusive to european wild pigs. The term boar has its own taxonomic rank, these swine being sighted in ireland are wild boar (actually feral boar is more accurate).

I have no idea were big cats are to be found in ireland I wasnt in the country at the time. I remember reading an article in nature magazine about big cats in ireland.Never heard the donegal thing I heard antrim and the wicklow mountains. I dont contest it because it is entireley possible a lot of big cats are nocturnal. As regards your arguement that they havent been found, zoology doesnt work like that animals dont sit around waiting to be seen. Paticularly big cats. There may or may not be big cats in ireland but the witness accounts certainly stretch far beyond donegal. The reports have been mostly made by farmers and reported by nature magazine. There are very few rules in zoology but one of the most relevant is that animals avoid humans. The person in charge of preserving the endangered sumatran tiger has seen three in her 15 years working there.

Whatever about ireland there at least at ine stage has definatly been big cats in england at one time.

"A Eurasian lynx was shot in summer 1991 near norwich, norfolk . It had killed around 15 sheep within two weeks. The story was only reported in 2003, and the lynx is apparently now in the possession (as taxidermy) of a collector in suffolk. For many years this incident was considered to have been a hoax, particularly by the hunting community, But in March 2006 a police report confirmed that the case was true. It was probably an escapee from a facility in the area that bred animals including Eurasian lynxes.One other lynx and one puma have been captured alive."

If they did exist undetected for years then no reason whatsoever they didnt exist here.

steddyeddy

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

German hunting Terrier,Will bark and alarm and flush wild boar,best works in pack of two plus

Jack Russell terrier,Dachshunds.Small ,agile,loud,ankle biters.Will in pack numbers of 5 or more flush "black game"[translated term for wild boar] from cover,and harrass.Are mental enough, as all terriers seemingly are, to do this as individuals too.

Pitbull Terrier, and crosses..Will bark,alarm and in pack numbers or if tenacious/crazy enough as an individual,attack and hold boar.

Dogo Argentino,Argerntine boar hunting dog,very large/giant breed,used in packs,will hold a wild pig and will not release if there is no movement from the pig.Closest to what the orginal Great Dane was bred for,GD's were orginally known as Boar hounds.

Cane Corso,Canary island dog,bigger, squatter and blockier,than a Rottweiler and extremly strong,exellent gaurd dog.Has been used for boar hunting as well.

By and large it is better I think to use a pack of smaller dogs,than one or two large ones.As if a small dog gets tossed by a boar,there is a good chance it will survive or suffer less injury than a large breed as the boars tusks will eviscerate a dog with a good strike.:eek:Large dog,large target.Multiple small dogs moving fast,harder for the boar to zero in on one.As they are short sighted.But have exellent sense of smell and hearing.

I would agree with going with smaller dogs, a wild boar will make mince meat of a rottwieller.

meathstevie

Nothing like a pack of small mongrel terriers mixed with a hound or two to flush those lads and as an added advantage that combination is brilliant to flush out deer as well.

Grizzly 45

A pigs tusks will not develop to the extent of a wild boars unless feral for a few generations. Wild boar were indeed breed here and have been released one way or the other. A point to note the term boar is not exclusive to european wild pigs. The term boar has its own taxonomic rank, these swine being sighted in ireland are wild boar (actually feral boar is more accurate).

I beg to differ..After growing up on a pig farm, and hunted wild European boar,not feral wild pigs,so I do know the difference...I can assure you that if the eye teeth are not clipped,your domestic swine will grow a respectable tusk within 12 months.
Granted,it wont look anything like its hairy wild cousin,or a gone native domestic swine but it will have tusks.Feral boar is only confusing the issue.Are they scrous scoufla Yes/No ? If YES then they are genuine imported European Wild boar.If NO then they are feral pigs.

I have no idea were big cats are to be found in ireland I wasnt in the country at the time. I remember reading an article in nature magazine about big cats in ireland.Never heard the donegal thing I heard antrim and the wicklow mountains. I dont contest it because it is entireley possible a lot of big cats are nocturnal.

Well,they were supposedly sighted in Cavan,Clones,Newbliss,Monaghan town,and Portrush in NI.Hell of a travelling nocturnal kitty...Monaghan to Portrush,is appx 150 klicks as the Crow flies.Big question is..where are they now??

As regards your arguement that they havent been found, zoology doesnt work like that animals dont sit around waiting to be seen.

Ya think???:rolleyes::rolleyes:

QUOTE] Paticularly big cats. There may or may not be big cats in ireland but the witness accounts certainly stretch far beyond donegal. The reports have been mostly made by farmers and reported by nature magazine. There are very few rules in zoology but one of the most relevant is that animals avoid humans.[/QUOTE]

Thats kind of like saying there may or may not be UFOs.ONE of the most important rules of suspecting there is wild cats in the area,is finding carcass remains!!!Has anyone found half eaten remains of or bones of kills from these cats???Has anyone reported unusual stock loss??? WTF are these cats eating during their non apperarnce in the media???They surely arent living of Whiskas cat food!Animals irrespective wether they are wild cats or whatever leave traces.Has anyone spotted a paw print and/or taken a cast???If as at the time three years ago the Dept of Agriculture was sent some cat poo,why are they taking so long in IDing it??If they cant do it I'm sure there are enough zoololgists out ther who could??Three years,some heavy snowfall in the last two in Ireland,and no one has spotted unusual tracks??Or come across a kill??ASSuming that as ther media reports put it as a black panther/mountain lion size.It is going to need to eat at least once a week somthing about the size of a sheep.
Anyone missing a few sheep in very odd circumstances???
All in all the hard evidence says it is a media myth.

The person in charge of preserving the endangered sumatran tiger has seen three in her 15 years working there

.

BUT she would know that they are there!!There is a constant there ,that there is a good chance that there are still a few tigers in the area.Here we dont even have that quantifiable entity.

Whatever about ireland there at least at ine stage has definatly been big cats in england at one time.

Thats the UK ,we are in the ROI...So not very revelant as a comparision.

"A Eurasian lynx was shot in summer 1991 near norwich, norfolk . It had killed around 15 sheep within two weeks. The story was only reported in 2003, and the lynx is apparently now in the possession (as taxidermy) of a collector in suffolk. For many years this incident was considered to have been a hoax, particularly by the hunting community, But in March 2006 a police report confirmed that the case was true. It was probably an escapee from a facility in the area that bred animals including Eurasian lynxes.One other lynx and one puma have been captured alive."

If they did exist undetected for years then no reason whatsoever they didnt exist here.

Er..Hello??Geographical size of the two countries for a start,as well as more isolated terrain in the UK in parts??
Also that paragraph also kind of proves my point Re the kills for food..Nor do we have ASFIK any big cat breeders here.Until somone starts reporting very odd kils or provides a photo of a track mark ,with a corrospondeing Irish identification..or the DOA comes up with a decision on the kitty poo,I'll stay in the unconvinced camp.

Dupont

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Well,they were supposedly sighted in Cavan,Clones,Newbliss,Monaghan town,and Portrush in NI.Hell of a travelling nocturnal kitty...Monaghan to Portrush,is appx 150 klicks as the Crow flies.Big question is..where are they now??

.

yeah i remember dat.farmer up de road had a calf attacked :eek:we would be out in de fields and setting off de traps de had set out to catch it;):D those were de days:D any wonder they didnt catch it cos it didnt exist

Anto...

the deer story that paulo has posted had me and the cousin laughing for 10 minutes nearly crying... absolutely hilarious

Anto...

i find that when someone starts talking about something very rare in ireland like a wild boar, that a lot of people start raving on about for example: eurasian lynx, irish wolves, puma's etc... what next a bear, no wait a lion! haha!

poulo6.5

Anto... wrote: »

the deer story that paulo has posted had me and the cousin laughing for 10 minutes nearly crying... absolutely hilarious

hi anto i cant claim that story i was just quoted at the start of it
double barrel was the lad that posted the story

it had me laughing out loud as i read it. great story:D

Bullseye1

Recommend a pack of Rhodesian Ridgebacks.

Anto...

poulo6.5 wrote: »

hi anto i cant claim that story i was just quoted at the start of it
double barrel was the lad that posted the story

it had me laughing out loud as i read it. great story:D

haha! ya hell of a story if its true!:p but extremely doubting it:rolleyes:

terminator2

dont forget the wallabys in wexford

Grizzly 45

Oh! "Hoppit" Will ya?? Sorry,couldnt resist.:D