Yamadori pests_part two

In the first part I have got even with the first group of potential yamadori pests. In this second part I am going to deal with the second group - wild boars.

WILD BOARS 

     When it comes to the wild boars my oldest recollections go well back to my early childhood.  The first one is linked to the tragic accident - a local hunter has by mistake shot dead his son while they were hunting for wild boars.   The second one is a moral often repeated by my parents and grandparents - never ever touch the youngs of wild animals  especially small piglets - their mother can kill you.  So since that time I remember. Wild pig = Danger.  But is that really so?

     I have met a herd of wild pigs many times.   Well to be honest, most of the times I have only smelled their typical odour while they were laying in the cover or they were sneaking away from me.  Quite often I can hear only a rattle of broken branches or rolling stones and sometimes I can spot  black tail ends disappearing in the bushes.  Then there were just a few opportunities to see the wild boars from a short distance  watching each other face to face.  At that time I was not sure at all who is the alpha predator there...  The latest one - two years ago we were on the way to the forest when a group of wild pigs crossed our path.  There were also some piglets from the spring. No strips any more but still small. The leading sow  stopped in the middle of the track  and turned her body into our direction.  Front legs apart firmly attached to the ground.  I knew this was a signal: I am ready to go and fight!  Don't try to make anything silly...   She stayed in the same position until the rest of the heard disappeared in the near undergrowth.  Then she turned back and slowly followed the others.  I still do have this situation clearly in my mind.  Wild boars could be extremaly dangerous if they are injured or protecting their piglets.

     OK, the wild boars are here and they are overpopulated.  You can meet them even at the outskirts of Prague.  So you can be sure that quite often they know the place with your yamadori even better than you. And as the curiosity is one of their characteristics you should do your best to prevent them to push their snout into your business.

 Funny - the wild boars  were nearly eradicated in the 18th century in this country  because of hunting.  Nowadays the gamekeepers are not able to keep the wild boars population on a decent level. And they blame the mild weather conditions, absence of predators and learning ability of boars for that.   I guess the European wild boars are pretty much the same as they were 100 years ago, it is just the European human beings that have gotten  more comfortable and lost some of their capabilities that made them the leaders of the world in the Dark Ages... 

Asterix! Obelix!  Where is your fighting spirit , good humour and everlasting hunger for wild boars game...?

Yamadori protection:

     In most places the level of threat is reasonably low.  In general I do not make any special physical protection there.  Avoidance of the over the counter organic fertilizers that contain smelly items  is enough.  As a substitute I use the Osmocote or wild animal droppings.

     Then there are locations with  heavy traffic.   The majority of these places are at locations with difficult terrain such as slopes covered with dense, prickly undergrowth etc .   As the danger from the first category of pests is quite small there I use local material to build a kind of a barrier that protects the yamadori.   Then I also hang a few  CD discs in the close vicinity of the barrier to shine off unwanted visitors.    I guess neither of these measures  could stop them if they decide to test it but so far it works.
     Needless to say that after the collection the barrier/CDs are removed and the location set in a status as close as possible to the original one.   Any other visitor of such place should not recognize your activity there.