Out of Control Swine

According to Zerohedge the US feral swine population is exploding, with an estimated 1.5 wild hogs in Texas alone.

The pigs weigh between 75 and 250 pounds on average and can run up to 30 miles an hour. They're fast. Of course some pigs are larger, like this 300 pounder shot by a churchman's nephew a couple of nights ago.

But out of control swine aren't limited to Texas. They're advancing across the country at a rate of around 35,000 square miles a year. My old pal GWB shot this one in Georgia the other evening.

The ferocious tuskers cause more than $2 billion worth of damage every year. And no wonder, have you seen a field that's been attacked by pigs? Looks like an exploded minefield.

America's out of control swine are hybrids, a cross between the European wild boar and domestic pigs, creating a new breed of super-pig, with all the genetic advantages of the Euro Boar and its domestic US cousin.

Here at the Compound we remind all readers that there's no bag limit on these savage, diseased predators. Remember, too, to pray for POTUS' speedy recovery.

The number of feral swine living within DC's infamous Beltway is currently unknown.

Root and Branch,

LSP

Hog Poem

Pig

Thanks, GWB, for this New Year Hog Poem - with apologies to the Confederate dead:

There is no crying allowed here past midnight,
But only hogs,
Flying, plunge and expire,
Here by the sagging gate,
Stopped by the wall.

Good hunting,

LSP

Wild Evil Hogs

Outrageously Huge Hog

The picture above was tagged 'white trash.' Here's Mr. Auden's comment on that:

The wild evil hogs draw near;

The weather smells of their hate

And the houses smell of our fear;

Death has opened his white eye

And the black hole calls the thief

As the wild evil hogs draw near.

Ravens alight on the wall,

Our plans have all gone awry,

The rains will arrive too late,

Our resourceful general

Fell down dead as he drank

And his horses died of grief,

Our navy sailed away and sank;

The wild evil hogs draw near.

Just a bit of hog poetry, innit. Thanks, GWB, for the insight. In the meanwhile local swine are lying low(ish), but the fight's not over, not by any means.

Doves in a few weeks.

LSP

Hog Poem, Innit.

Photograph: Niall Benvie/Corbis

My good friend GWB, philosopher, theologian, shooter, fisherman and fowler, has been branching out into verse and turned in this number about the tuskers. With apologies to The Cause and Mr. Tate:

You know who have waited by the wall

The twilight certainty of an animal,

Those midnight restitutions of the blood

You know--the immitigable pines, the smoky frieze

Of the sky, the sudden call: you know the rage,

The cold pool left by the mounting flood,

Of muted Zeno and Parmenides.

You who have waited for the angry resolution

Of those desires that should be yours tomorrow,

You know the unimportant shrift of death

And praise the vision

And praise the arrogant circumstance

Of those who fall

Rank upon rank, hurried beyond decision--

Here by the sagging gate, stopped by the wall.

Seeing, seeing only the hogs

Flying, plunge and expire

Well, one word's original and that makes all the difference. Thanks, GWB, for the line and Mr. Tate for genius.

God bless,

LSP

PS. Go to Virtual Mirage for an amusing Cell Phone Karma video. Thanks LL.

Pig Sticker

Pig sticking, from The Graphic, 1891

“The loss of India would be final and fatal to us. It could not fail to be part of a process that would reduce us to the scale of a minor power”

WINSTON CHURCHILL

Smart man, Winston Churchill, and in that vein, I've been given some good advice on the hogs, namely: CHANGE METHOD. Forget rifles, bait, stalking, dogs, trucks etc. No, the ghosts of Cawnpore and The Mutiny suggest a different approach, horses and spears. Here's what Harper's, 1880, had to say about it:

"For pig-sticking there are two requisites in addition to the pig - a fast, steady horse, and a good hog spear."

Well said Harper's, simple and direct, quite unlike the useless Ro-Babble that pours out of Lambeth Palace. And with that in mind, good incentive to improve riding skills and learn spearmanship.

Off to the range tomorrow with a great deal of weaponry.

LSP

PS. Many thanks to Albert Rasch for pointing out the Horse/Spear/Hog/Raj connection; see his great blog for a neat post on breeding Razorbacks.

Hog Hunt Pt. 2

http://www.thejump.net/wild-hogs/1-wild-hog-picture-1/hog-9.htm

I wish I could say that the red pick up, the dog and the two hogs were mine, but they're not. They belong to a successful hunter who actually manages to shoot wild pigs, probably because he sees them, gets them in his sights, fires and kills them. That wasn't me on Tuesday, despite the best intentions.

Thanks to last week's reconnaisence in force we had a pretty good idea of where the pigs were active and moved off at a little past first light, adreniline up. The hogs had been spotted most mornings rooting about on some flat land next to a creek, which is where we went. I figured there was a good chance of success, because we were stealthy and prepared. There were no pigs on the flat.

Next we worked the brush and thickets where they'd broken cover on Friday. Nothing. Undaunted, one team of shooters scouted down a creek bed favored by the swine, while I went through the woods that overlooked it. I saw a young buck and a doe, very beautiful, and a skunk, but no hogs - for either group.

Spurious picture of my hogless pick up and some guns

Chances are we walked right by them, hunkered down and sleeping - or they've moved on to better things. But I doubt it, the signs are that they're still there; we'll probably have to bait them - beer corn is the plan.

As it turns out, a great walk in the country with rifles and sidearms, which is fine by me; would've been even better to have come face to face with the opposition. Still, you know what they say, "its not over till its over" and I don't think we've reached that point...

More on summer hog hunts as they come.

LSP

Greed

Thompson Center Warlord http://www.tcarms.com/store/icon-warlord-in-308-win.html

Picture from Sniper's Hide Forum:

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=459350

I know this is shameless advertising for Thompson Center firearms - but, I'd like to own one of their "Warlord" tactical rifles, chambered in .308. The problem is, they cost around $3000, which I don't have... So I guess I'll have to add it to my L1A1, M14, Mforgery etc. wish list of useful and important things to get.

In the meanwhile, had a pleasant armed excursion into the country yesterday to fight off the perennial porcine menace. More of that later; off to GWB's to collect a Winchester Mod. 70 Featherweight for sighting in at a range on Friday. GWB's too lazy to do this, for some reason. He claims this is because of "relationship issues" and spends most of his time writing poetry about shooting hogs. I'll post some for your amusement & edification.

Excuse what SBW calls "Gun Pron".

Cheers,

LSP

European Death Wish

Arc de la Defense, Paris http://www.digitalbreizh.net

One of the interesting bylines of the dismally failing, alien driven, Ubuntuist secular humanist project, is European demographic suicide.

2.1 children per woman are needed to replace the existing population. In 2004 Germany's birthrate was 1.3, Italy's 1.2, Spain's 1.1, Italy's 1.2, France's 1.7 and so one, with 18 countries in the E.U. failing to reproduce at replacement rate. This will mean, amongst other things, that over 50% of the European populace will be will be at, or over, retirement age by mid-century, supported by a shrinking workforce. Pundits, such as Mark Steyn, predict the collapse of current social programs and the advent of "Eurabia".

Perhaps Steyn is right, but one thing's certain, we're witnessing a crisis of Western civilisational morale - the demographics listed above represent a greater population decline than at any time since the Black Death. Why has this come about?

George Weigel, in the fortunately easy to read "The Cube and the Cathedral" (see picture of neo-brutalist 'Cube' above), believes World War One acted as a sort of catalyst for various destructive currents of thought - he lists Comte, Fuerbach, Nietzche, and others, while quoting Solzhenitsyn:

"That war (WWI)... took place when Europe, bursting with health and abundance, fell into a rage of self-mutilation that could not but sap its strength for a century or more, perhaps forever. The only possible explanation for this is a mental eclipse among the leaders of Europe due to their lost awareness of a Supreme Power over them... Only the loss of that higher intuition which comes from God could have allowed the West to accept calmly, after World War I, the protracted agony of Russia as she was being torn apart by a band of cannibals."

Powerful words and, I think, true. What's needed, according to Weigel and Benedictus XVI, is a recovery of the value posited by the authour of Gulag Archepeligo et al. I would agree, but what do I know? I'm just a country LSP.

Anyway, off to make a dent in the hog demographic tomorrow - setting up at first light with enough weaponry to take on what's left of the British Army.

More anon,

LSP

Good Time Had By All

Had a great time at a parishioner's place the other evening, there was plenty of land and an interestingly twisted tree.

A cacophany of pick-ups

Delicious BBQ and an all round good time thanks to the hospitality of Bud & Jimmie Monroe both of whom are one time rodeo champs (bronc & barrel riding) but now do something with cattle and, happily for me, support the Church. They're also supporting a colony of hogs who're swinishly breaking into the acreage to root about along a creek bed, so they'll be baited and brought to BBQ justice - but first I have to go to Anaheim to write about the General Convention of The Episcopal Church (TEC). Nightmarish prospect and an unwelcome hiatus from the riding and shooting regimen, still, duty calls.

More anon.

LSP

PS. Check out the excellent Rabbit Stew for a good riff on the perniciously Manichean PETA.