Red Wing Nature Notes

There is an intense debate going on. I should make it clear this debate is taking place exclusively in my head. The experts agree that feral pigs have moved in and are laying waste to certain areas. “laying waste” is my description in this case. The reason I have more than a passing interest in this is that one of the areas affected is the field outside my house.

In areas near Frontenac State park and in our fields something has been expending a considerable amount of energy turning over sod. Bare dirt is exposed in large areas. If I had stumbled upon one of these scenes of destruction just walking I would be at a total loss as to the cause. If presented with the idea that a herd of pigs came during the night to do the destruction I would raise my eyebrows and accept it as one of those strange things that happens in this world.

A google search for “feral pigs minnesota” or the same search for Wisconsin area shows that there are wild pigs in Wisconsin and even some sightings in Minnesota. The wisconsin DNR has a map showing that feral pigs live in Pierce County just across the Mississippi river from us. A person who I’ve been told knows about trapping and tracking animals has observed the damage in Frontenac and in our fields and he is certain it is the work of pigs.

Why would I be a non believer?  The damage started a few weeks ago while I was mowing CRP land with a brushog pulled behind a tractor. When I was mowing I noted large soft areas in the fields filled with rodents that would scatter into the grass when the tractor wheels sunk into them. Also this year I have noted many badger holes in the fields. It takes several days to mow the fields. When I resumed mowing one morning I came upon an area that had been filled with rodents the night before. The ground was bare, the sod torn out in patches about a foot square in an area that covered 200 square feet. A short distance away was a fresh badger hole. As the mowing continued over the next couple of days there was more torn up ground. I was so impressed I asked a couple friends who get outside alot over to take a look. Neither had seen anything like this before. A couple of days later I got a call from one of them who said he’d been over near Frontenac State Park and seen the same kind of damage there. This is how I was put in touch with the trapper guy.

When he told me it was pigs I had already formed an opinion. I’ve had a hard time changing. Maybe because it’s because I don’t want pigs. So even though the experts say “Pig” I am clinging to “Badger”.
For the time being the massive destruction has stopped. The pig theory is that the pigs are eating acorns now and have left the fields alone.

Last night I looked for pig rubs and trails in the woods surrounding the fields. I went to two possible water sources in the area to look for pig wallows and found a few deer tracks. I went in the nearby woods where there are mature oaks and jumped two whitetails feasting on acorns. I stood and listened to the squirrels chatter and heard acorns fall around me when the wind blew. I saw deer tracks and little holes made by squirrels. The most apparant thing out of place was how dry everthing was.  No pig sign – that I could identify.

This morning I walked in the fields, not as if I was out for a walk, but more like somone looking for a lost watch. I found little holes in the grass like a skunk would make. There was a trail in the dew and followed it to more holes that were bigger, then there was one piece of sod that probably weighed as much as a skunk torn from the ground, then more little holes. This pattern repeats itself all over in the fields, less noticable than the dramatic destruction.  

video:  Maybe badger/Maybe pig

Before we had pigs on the radar the following badger theory was offered up. Right now everything is very dry and our clay soil is as hard as a rock. Voles seem to be living between the sod and the soil. They would be an easy target for a badger with big digging claws. It would be easier for a badger to scrape the sod off to get abundant voles than it would be to pursue pocket gophers in the hard clay. The unusual destruction would then be the result of dry weather and abundant vole populations.

Here are some questions I have of anyone who knows about feral pigs.
1. How can an animal that weighs over 100 lbs, doesn’t hibernate, doesent hunt, doesn’t store food sustain itself in Minnesota winter?
2. How can pigs move into an area, do all of this damage without leaving tracks or droppings?*
3. How come no one has seen a pig?
4. Why is there no sign of wallowing in the only two water sources for miles around?
I realize it is likely the experts are right, but I will still hope the badger theory is correct. Here is a video showing some of the evidence.

video: ferral pig or badger?

 *There are lots of droppings, but I think they have been identified as badger.