The latest from popularmechanics.com is a list of “5 Invasive Species You Should be Eating.” Turns out you can help save the planet by dining on some tasty critters. As long as you don’t mind one of them being a giant rat. But not all the listees are exotic invaders. In fact, it probably won’t surprise most of you that PopMech’s big five includes wild boar and feral pigs. Who’s not down for some baby back boar ribs? We know it won’t take much convincing to get Tyler and Nick out there, doing their part to help save the crops in Texas hill country. Not to mention South Georgia. And if you’re gonna bag you some bacon . . .

You’ll want to be well-equipped. In fact, you might want to consider a state of the art thermal scope from ATN. Yeah, that’s a lot of shekels to plunk down (almost twelve grand for the 640 – but their base model’s only $5,500!), but you didn’t really want that bass boat anyway, right?

So you can make darned sure one of their ThOR scopes is just the ticket for your nocturnal predatory activity, they’ve set up a cool simulator that lets you, well, simulate exactly what the 640 2.5X scope can do when the sun don’t shine. If you need to rationalize the purchase, tell yourself it’s your duty maximize your invasive species eradication capacity. For the good of the planet. For the children. Or for the farmers. And to fill your freezer.

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25 COMMENTS

  1. LMAO a 12k scope on top of a $500 dollar rifle nice!
    Course you said the magic word BACON!!!
    lets see 4 to 1 on the shekel about, so it is 48,000 NIS wow.. that is one nice toy to have lol

  2. As long as registered M16’s can be had for 12k I would never buy a scope in that price range.

    • Good luck with that.

      I’ve been watching prices, and it looks like Colt RR M16’s have been going for ~18,000-22,000, lately, while non-colt or converted/slabsided colt guns are going for 12,500-16,000.

      Hell, I just saw someone looking to get 15,000 for a lightning link.

  6. There’s supposedly an outbreak of wild boars / feral pig around where I am (Boise, Idaho) because some idiots thought they’d be fun to hunt.

    For the life of me I can’t figure out if it’s true. For ther farmer’s sake, I hope not.

    But secretly, in that part of me that loves BBQ ribs…I hope so.

    • The only time I’ve had it, it was great. It came from an animal that had been eating an alfalfa field.

      Apparently they can be really gamey or the meat can smell terrible and a lot of that depends on what they’ve been eating.

      • Adult male pigs have much more “gamey” flavor than supermarket pork. Supermarket pork are castrated before puberty to keep the flavor more mild.

        • Any pork no matter the flavor can be saved with vinegar. Let the meat rest in it for about 15-20 mins and you wouldn’t know it ever smelled bad. Season and cook as planned afterward.

  8. A lot of buck venison tastes pretty handy too. Bacon, jerky and sausage can taste like whatever you want it to, but they all cost you more shrinkage at the butcher shop.

  9. Where is it legal–besides Georgia–to hunt with a night scope? Infrared devices and lights are disallowed in California.

    • The thing is that this isn’t officially hunting, as they are not game animals. Thus, regulations that apply for hunting, like use of suppressors, or night vision/thermal optics, often don’t apply.

      • Yep. In areas where feral hogs are designated as a public nuisance, it’s not hunting, it’s pest control…. which means you operate under a very different set of rules.

    • Yeah, you need enough cash to pay for it.

      Possession of night vision is pretty much unrestricted in the US. There are places you’re not allowed to hunt with it, but owning it is fine.

  11. MEAT IS MURDER!!! TASTY, TASTY MURDER. Learned that at my first PETA (People for Eating Tasty Animals) meeting.

  12. In some places, going after feral hogs and wild boars isn’t “hunting” like for a deer, or moose or elk. It’s treated as varmit control like shooting ground hogs or rats. So no daily bag limit, no fixed or limited season, and may other normal “hunting” regulations may not apply to killing wild boars. Of course, check your state’s regulation on this as your milage may vary. In my state (PA) wild boars are protected from any hunting, and I’m not sure why.

    • Most likely for the same reason that they a protected here in Nebraska. The State has a vested intrest in keeping them out of the state, occasionally small populations show up as they migrate in from surounding states. When that happens the state goes out and destory the entire population, and the monitor closely for new sightings. A small number of feral hogs can decimate farmland in a hurry, their population can expload quickly, and they are very smart. If the methods used to control them are not changed up regularly they learn to avoid whatever means is being used to go after them.

      Here the State rotates between professional ground hunts during the day, at night, from the air ect. so it becomes dificult for the hogs to get a chance to learn where the danger may come from.

  13. In Georgia and Florida hogs (even feral ones) are considered as domestic livestock and the property of the land owner. To be harvested at anytime of the day/year, without a hunting license, and not considered as game. The only issue could be if the land owner is selling the hunts for a profit, then a hunting license may be required. If farmer Brown wants me to cull his piggies for him, just to be rid of the nuisance then it’s not considered a ‘hunt’. It may be best for him to notify the local game wardens just to keep them from swooping down on you in the middle of a field at night if you are jack-lighting them though. Or have the land owner let his neighbors in on the situation in case some newly arrived city folk get their panties in a wad over shots being fired in the middle of the night.

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