Mike Barkley

Haven't owned or watched tv in about 20 years. Maybe more. Don't miss it one bit. Not even a little.

As Anne was saying ...

I highly recommend Kate's book featured in today's dailyish. It is very informative & loaded with many excellent recipes.

The first part of this video is basically a tomatillo based salsa. But why stop there? Go for the gold. You won't regret it!!!

Great view. I don't really need external electric hookups but it's nice to have. Right next to a giant hugelkultur. Usually much cooler than TX in summer.  What's not to like? My bags are 1/2 way packed.

We have piles of disparate logs where they like to lay low.

That's where to put the trap. Another suggestion with that type of trap is to open only one door. Put the bait in the back of the trap so they have to cross over the plate  on the bottom that activates the trap door(s).

but if folks down south would kill and sell these animals, first, is it legal? second, how much would they go for?  I wonder how large they get... but I'd love to try and get one.

In general it is not legal to sell them. There might be some very special exceptions though. Meat processors need a special permit to process wild game for the hunter/trapper's consumption. We had so many we usually didn't dress them out ourselves. We took them by the truckload to a professional processor. I don't know what they might sell for if that were an option. We gave away all we couldn't eat.

Some get huge if they avoid traps long enough. I caught some that were in the 400 pound range. Maybe more. Huge. Mostly they were in the 50-200 lb range because we set traps constantly to try to keep the population down. They breed young & fast so it's almost an impossible task.

About the Havahart trap ... try baiting the desired trap location for a while without the trap. Then keep baiting a while longer with the trap close by but not set. Gradually leave the bait closer & closer to the trap. Then put the bait inside the trap.

I agree checking with your local wildlife agency is the perfect place to start. Most states require checking the traps every day but I suggest at least twice per day, especially in hot weather.

Cooking the meat thoroughly will eliminate many potential problems. A diseased animal is sometime fairly obvious. Sometimes not. I think avoiding the organs might minimize risk from disease.

I have trapped probably more than 1000 wild pigs. All except one became food. That one obviously had problems so it was composted. I am not aware of anyone ever getting sick from any those pigs.

Good chance I will be in that neck of the woods next summer. Would enjoy spending some time there in my camper van.