I get up just before daylight and take a short hike around the yard with a cup of corn. I have 4 rabbits living out there and toss a bit to them…near each patch of “wildlife habitat” (brush piles), the rest goes down by the turkey feeder for the turkey, rabbits, squirrels and raccoons…if any is left by the time they come in.
After my walk a few mornings ago… I took my coffee ….climbed the ladder to the boat and sat down to enjoy the sunrise and to see if I could hear the Eastern Phoebe I had seen a few days before.
While I enjoyed my coffee I spotted a big black critter come strolling out of the woods. My heart jumped…it was still dark and at first I thought we had a nice black bear stopping by….bummer…it wasn’t!! It was a nice big black hog, though. Unfortunately, I had no camera that morning….but today I got lucky….
I was able to get a short video…but it was too dark for snapshots. Don’t know why…but my camera can do video when it’s somewhat dark, but not pictures.
She looks as if she’s had a litter of piglets…a bit thin…I was sorry I scared her off.
A few minutes later my husband said she was back…but it wasn’t her…it was a different one.
I didn’t want to scare him before I got a photo…so I went out the front door and snuck around back. He didn’t hear me because the central heat was on. I managed to get two fairly good pictures before he spotted me and ran off.
This must be the one I saw a few days ago…it’s much fatter.
Those plants in the background, with the yellow flowers, are very invasive and hard to get rid of. I had a momma hog and 6 young ones coming in a few years ago and I put them to work. I would toss corn into all the big patches of weeds at night, and by morning they would be rolled up into big balls. Unfortunately my yard was a mess when they got done. But it has taken a few years for the weed to start taking over again. So …maybe I’ll put Momma to work once they quit blooming. There isn’t much for the bees and butterflies to feed on at the moment.
Wow! This is exciting! Great shots of these wild hogs. While in the Smoky Mountains recently, we noticed several grassy areas near the road (in Cades Cove) where it looke as if wild hogs or something had rooted up the ground! We never found out if it was hogs that was doing this.
ReplyDeleteI hope they don't ruin you flowere come next spring. Those things are dangerous also. Helen
ReplyDeleteWow, thats cool. Be careful, they can get aggressive--especially during breeding season.
ReplyDeleteWow - can't say as I'd want to encounter one of those. Nice pix though.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good way to get rid of weeds. Are they just ferrel pigs? Don't look like javelinas. Nice shots.
ReplyDeleteNot something I'd expect to come across here. What a great encounter, despite the danger.
ReplyDeleteOh, my! She's BIG! And, yes, we have javelinas out here in the west.
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