News of The Abacos
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Abaco Goes Hog Wild - or - Getting Boared in the Abacos!
Like most things in the Abacos, it all began with the original settlers years ago. Along with bottles of rum and medicine, chests of household articles, seeds and infant plants, the first settlers brought with them a modicum of livestock. Among these were horses, chickens, cats, dogs and of course, pigs. There are also stories of shipwrecks in which every man, woman, child and pig had to fend for themselves in making it safely to shore. Luckily for the pigs, Abaco was more than a safe haven it was a veritable oasis of wild berries, sugarcane, sapodillas, guavas, bananas and the occasional fallen coconut. There were also acres and acres of thick forests where they could roam, play and make dozens of babies. Unfortunately for these pigs, civilization has always had those members who feel the need to venture out into the wilderness and hunt.
In Abaco, people like Philip Albury can recall accounts of his great grandfather returning from the hunt, lugging a wild boar on his back. As a newcomer to the Abacos, this all seems reminiscent of stories one reads in National Geographic magazine. Philip, himself has been hunting since he was a boy and still enjoys occasional trek into the bush when he can spare time away from work.
He told me that there were once countless boars roaming the Abacos before the time the Owens-Illinois logging company cut roads into the bush in the 1950's. The boars at that time were much smaller in size due to the extreme competition for food. With the advent of better roads, hunting dogs, trucks and guns, the wild hogs are becoming fewer in number but sometimes grow to impressive and sometimes, dangerous proportions. The heaviest boar which Philip has brought to ground weighed in at some 200 lbs.
Philip mentioned remote areas around Northern Abaco where he likes to hunt - places lake Sayles Cay off Crown Haven, Norman's Castle, also in the north and Cross Harbour between Sandy Point and Hole-in-the-Wall, South Abaco.
I had a long and colourful conversation with Roderick Strachan of Roderick's Convenience Store in Dundastown. He explained that there are two types of boar-hunting "watching", which is usually done in the summer months and which, as the word implies, involves the hunter sitting in an open area frequented by wild hogs areas where wild sapodillas or other edible fruit and plants flourish or where there might be a waterhole. As the boars come out to partake of some refreshment, the hunters, armed and ready, launch a surprise attack. The second practice is to hunt with dogs. Roderick assured me that if he were to collect his piece and head for his truck that minute, his dogs, Bobby and Sarah would take off at breakneck speed to join him.
Ears perked up, tails wagging and with excited yelps, they would climb onto the back of his pickup truck. When in the wilds, the dogs are the ones who give an indication that the boars are at large. With the first scent, the hunters who have been closely watching their dogs, obey the animals' command to stop the truck.
Then, the dogs fly from the back of the truck, hot on the trail of wild boar. At this point, all the hunters have to do is to wait and watch. The dogs chase the boars throughout the bush. As the hunters listen to the tone of the barking, they can discern where the action is going. Eventually, the chase will lead the boars to the open road, where the hunters will be anticipating their arrival, guns at the ready. Roderick warned that these hunts are not without their unpleasant surprises. He remembers losing at least one dog to a cornered boar. An experience Philip Albury also described to us. Boar-hunting is usually done in the very early morning at about 4:00 a.m., because the thermal drafts allow for the scent of the boars to be caught on the dew of shrubbery much more easily. Another popular time is at twilight. The trek into the bush can take 6-7 hours before a boar is spotted.
Roderick sells wild boar meat a this store ready to cook. The meat can be cut into chunks, seasoned, boiled and steamed with onions, thyme and vegetables in a tomato sauce, then served over rice. It can be "soused" with Irish potatoes the way one prepares chicken or sheep tongue. It can also be scalded and prepared in a baking bag to ensure tenderness. For those who have tried it and like pork, it is unarguable the best meat they have ever tasted.
With all this talk about wild boar I really wanted to see one, hopefully in its natural element. So I was fortunate in meeting Mr. Ricky Albury who cordially invited me to see his wild boar farm near Spring City. Boars have much more character in their appearance than their tamer relatives, the domestic pig. They have a pronounced jaw evolved after years of grinding roots and husks for their survival. They are also much more lean which accounts for their tremendous speed. The snout is very long and they grow tusks up to 6" long sharp and deadly, which many a dog can attest to. Apart from self-defense, these tusks are used to forage and dig roots out of the ground. The hairy covering of gray and brown camouflage the boars in their natural setting. Ricky assured me that the boars are prolific breeders. However, the actions of poachers and irresponsible hunters are the biggest threats to his efforts to ensuring a self-sustaining wild boar population.
It turns out that Ricky is a home-grown conservationist in sync with the ecotourism ideals of our time. Ricky was aware of the rapidly diminishing stock of wild boar throughout Abaco because of the popular sport of hunting. This led him to decide to breed the boars on his farm where they would have a place of relative safety while their numbers increased. After 5 years of hard work, he is able to raise up to 300 boars a year, 200 of which he release into the wild. He sells 100 annually to Nipper's on Great Guana Cay for their weekly pig roast and uses the money to buy feed for the following year.
The boars which breed on his property are fed and protected up until the time he releases them. Boars are generally weaned after 11 weeks of age when they are ready to feed on imported grain pellets. The pigs wills also eat discarded banana plants, wild grass, sugarcane and anything else they can find. As long as they are infants the boars are kept caged, but after a few months are allowed to roam free within the confines of the farm.
Rick Albury, Philip Albury, Roderick Strachan, Rory Russell and others all agree that there is a need for a Wild Boar Hunters Association whose aim would include protectionist measures like setting aside a hunting season during the winter months and declaring selected areas in the wild as "hunt-free" zones, which would be rotated every two or there seasons. These measures would allow the wild boar an opportunity to breed and flourish without becoming virtually extinct in any one area of the Island.
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