Free New Hampshire Blog

The UL has a pretty good article about wild pigs in New Hampshire. This is related to the Corbin Park Hunting Preserve I covered in another blog entry a while back.

New Hampshire has a documented wild boar population in the southwestern part of the state and wildlife biologists are becoming increasingly concerned.

Brought to America by Spanish settlers in the 1500s as a meat source and imported again in the 1800s to be hunted in gated, private parks, some have escaped over the years and are eating everything in sight, including threatened and endangered species, biologists say.

Nationally there are more than 20 million wild pigs. In the Granite State, feral and free-ranging swine number in the hundreds, but they have adapted well and reproduce quickly, according to New Hampshire Fish and Game Wildlife biologist Mark Ellingwood. 

Many people are unaware of how amazingly destructive wild boars can be to native species and the land itself. They can do enormous amounts of damage and breed like flies. New Hampshire’s seem to be mostly in the southwestern part of the state…so far. But that may change as they breed and more and more of them are born.

Wild Boars in New Hampshire

Helenette Silver’s “A History of New Hampshire Game and Furbearers,” published by Fish and Game in 1957, and considered by many to be the authoritative source on animals in New Hampshire during the past century, states that perhaps 25 to 30 animals escaped from the park soon after Corbin imported the two types of boars. She wrote they established a range in the towns of Croydon, Plainfield, Grantham and Cornish.

“A few have been spotted as far as Alexandria in Grafton County,” she wrote. A large fire on Blue Mountain in the 1950s was also believed to have led to the escape of some animals.

Ellingwood said there have also been sightings along the Connecticut River Valley as far away as Littleton and Lancaster, but most of the nuisance and reported damage is centered near Grantham and Cornish. Bryant agrees.

“They (Blue Mountain) won’t claim ownership for obvious reasons, but it’s pretty coincidental that they populate that area,” he said.

Still, Ellingwood said he can understand the park’s contention that they should not be singled out as the sole source of the problem. 

New Hampshire Fish and Game has not set up a hunting season for these critters due to the fear of encouraging people to introduce more of them to increase hunting potential. I don’t blame Fish and Game, the last thing they want to do is to have more of these things running around the state. If you want to hunt them you will have to ask for permission to do so.

Wild Boar Tracks in New Hampshire

In 1949, the legislature passed the boar damage law, requiring “persons responsible for their introduction with their ownership” to be responsible for all damage of escaped boars. Since then, the state considers New Hampshire boars as the property of the park. The park itself does not claim ownership. But because of the law related to ownership, there can be no regulated hunt, Bryant said.

The animals are considered escaped property of Blue Mountain Forest Association, also known as Corbin Park. Gerald Merrill, manager of the park, did not return calls for comment.

Bryant said hunters must ask for permission to shoot a boar. While park officials do not claim animals outside the fence are theirs, they readily give permission to those who want to shoot the animals. “You still have to call them for permission,” he said.

He added that boars can be taken by hunters with a valid hunting license; the hours for hunting during daylight hours also apply.

Here’s what the NH Fish and Game FAQ page has to say about hunting them in New Hampshire:

Can I hunt feral wild boar in New Hampshire?
In New Hampshire, feral wild boar are considered private property. In southwest New Hampshire, where the vast majority of our feral boar exist, they are considered property of Blue Mountain Forest Association, a privately owned preserve located in Croydon, N.H. Permission is required to hunt free-ranging wild boar that escape from their property. If granted permission (which typically is granted), you need to have a current regular N.H. hunting license, and you must hunt within legal hunting hours. Note that feral wild boar are limited in number and are difficult to locate without local knowledge.

Let’s hope that the problem does not become significantly worse over time. If you want to contact Corbin Park for permission to hunt wild boar in New Hampshire, here’s the contact information:

Blue Mountain Forest Association
PO Box 487, 
Newport, NH 03773
(603) 526-4379

I suspect that we are going to see the number of wild pigs grow in New Hampshire over time. Texas and other states have had a horrendously difficult time controlling their population. They are not easy to hunt and they are quite formidable if you are on the ground with them. They are not to be taken lightly.

There’s also a feral swine page on Fish and Game’s site for additional information:

Since their introduction to North America, wild pigs have become one of the more serious wildlife problems in the United States. A confirmed feral swine population in New Hampshire, primarily in Grafton, Sullivan and Cheshire Counties, presents a unique management challenge.

Natural range expansion and illegal introductions, coupled with the extreme adaptability of feral swine, fuel the continued spread of this destructive animal.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture/APHIS-Wildlife Services (WS) is a good resource for landowners who may be experiencing property and or agricultural  damage.  WS provides partnership-based Federal leadership to help resolve wildlife conflicts through an integrated wildlife damage management (IWDM) approach. The WS New Hampshire Program also participates in the WS National Wildlife Disease Program’s feral swine disease surveillance and monitoring efforts. 

Feral swine have no legal game status in New Hampshire, but are considered escaped private property and may only be hunted with permission of the property owner.

Feral Swine in New Hampshire

What’s your take on wild boar in New Hampshire? Should there be a hunting season? Would you hunt them? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Looks like the geese are not willing to move along.  

Though efforts to harass a group of about a dozen geese settled at Hedgehog Park seem to be disturbing the birds, Salem Recreation Director Chris Dillon said the flock could stay put until the end of the month while they finish molting their feathers.

“Generally, they are startled,” Dillon said. “You can see at different times that they want to fly, but unfortunately, they molted their flying feathers and can’t.”

A wildlife specialist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture met with Dillon earlier this week, arming him with a few tools to get the geese out.

Now two plastic balls with “scary eyes” are strategically placed around Hedgehog Pond, meant to scare the geese away from the water. Dillon also stretched a strip of reflective Mylar tape along the left-hand side of the pond, where the geese are most active.

Droppings from the dozen birds are at least part of what has caused elevated E. coli levels at the pond for the last 2 1/2 weeks, said Salem Health Officer Brian Lockhard.

But, he says, the birds are not the only culprits.

“You could call it the perfect storm for poor water quality,” Lockhard said yesterday. “The hot weather, lack of precipitation and the geese all probably are factors.”

A routine water sample of Hedgehog Pond on July 6 showed high concentrations of E. coli bacteria, nearly five times greater than the state standard, Lockhard said. The beach has remained closed since then.

At this point, perhaps it’s best to bring in some hunters who enjoy the taste of geese? These other efforts don’t really seem to be working. I know there are people out there who hate the idea of killing these birds. But there are so many of them, and they crap up a storm. It’s better for their flesh to be consumed rather than have them overrunning an area like this.

Looks like he’s been moved to Washington State. You have to admit, he’s cute. I had no idea horses could be so small.

A tiny New Hampshire horse that garnered international media attention after its birth in April has moved out of state.

Einstein could be the smallest horse in the world, born at just 6 pounds and measuring 14 inches in height.

The horse’s co-owner, Charlie Cantrell, said Einstein was moved to Washington state about a month ago to live at a boarding facility. Einstein is not expected to return to New Hampshire unless his owners want to do out-of-state events.

Einstein Slideshow

Sad story about a police dog in New Hampshire named Mica. Apparently she has passed away from cancer. My condolences to the Weare Police Department. RIP Mica.

The Weare Police Department issued a statement Thursday night saying its police dog, Mica, died of cancer Wednesday.

Despite her illness, the 4-year-old Belgian Malinois completed a K-9 demonstration only three days before her death at the town’s Patriotic Celebration.

Here’s another story with more background about her.

Since November, the police department’s K-9 has undergone many chemotherapy treatments to slow down her lymphoma.

Despite a grim prognosis and a plan to retire her from police service by the end of the year, the Belgian Malinois named Mica continues to win awards and assist in making arrests.

“I’m really surprised she’s done as well as she did,” said Mica’s handler, Sgt. Joe Kelly said.

This month, Mica won five awards at the U.S. Police K-9 Association’s Police Dog Competition in Portsmouth. She won first place in a team competition with police dogs from Methuen and Wilmington, Mass.; second place in a suspect-search competition; and third place in article searches, agility and obedience.

The tasks were not exactly easy. Among other things, Mica had to conduct evidence searches in which several different scents were used; jump over obstacles; and obey verbal and visual commands from Kelly at 50 yards away, her handler said.

“It’s a tough test. Not all dogs make it through there,” he said.

This didn’t happen in New Hampshire, but I found it on WMUR’s site. Talk about stupid!

This woman and her friend were watching a buffalo from a distance. They then decided to go through some trees to “get a closer look” at the buffalo. As soon as they walked through the trees, the buffalo became agitated and…you guessed it…charged them. The woman got nailed in the legs, and was lucky to walk away alive. This was one pissed off buffalo.

Why do people do this? The buffalo was perfectly fine as long as they remained at a distance. And yet, they just had to push it and get closer and closer.

Duh.

And people wonder why bad things happen to them when they are around wild animals.

Here’s a link to the full video, I can’t embed it so you’ll have to watch it on WMUR’s site.

This is the first I’ve heard that we have a surplus.

New Hampshire’s budget surplus has grown to $63 million, thanks to the receipt of some additional business taxes.

Colin Manning, spokesman for Gov. John Lynch, said Wednesday that business taxes filed late bumped up the $25 million surplus announced three weeks ago. The surplus is for the fiscal year that ended June 30. The surplus doesn’t include another $9 million in the state’s savings account.

The Legislature met in special session June 9 to close a projected $295 million shortfall for the two-year budget cycle ending July 2011. Lawmakers counted on receiving $48 million in federal Medicaid funding that Congress has not approved.

I’m somewhat skeptical about this. If there is s surplus, I wonder how long before it will be spent. And if it’s coming from more business taxes, how is that going to help businesses hire people in New Hampshire?

I think the best thing that could happen for New Hampshire in November is for Governor Lynch to get a Republican legislature. That will push him to the right in terms of spending, and might help the state restructure its priorities and spending habits. If he gets another Democratic legislature, I see nothing happening to stop some of the ridiculous spending in Concord.

And no, the Republicans are not all peaches and cream either. But divided government does have its advantages.

Wow. What do you do with a bunch of pumpkins that are two months too early? Pumpkin pie anybody?

Dimond Hill Farm has its best pumpkin crop yet, rows and rows of large and orange gourds with strong vines. The problem is, the pumpkins matured about two months too early.

“It’s one of those bizarre years where everything seems to be going haywire for no apparent reason. All the pumpkins are ready to be harvested now,” farm manager Don Grandmason said.

Although this year’s pumpkin crop is beautiful, he said, there isn’t a large market for pumpkins in July, and come

September and October, the pumpkins will be months old and dried up. Grandmason said the farmers at the Concord farm planted the pumpkins May 1 as usual. This schedule normally allows the pumpkins to be fully grown and ready for harvest between Sept. 1 and Oct. 15.

So Grandmason was surprised when a large batch of the pumpkins ripened about mid-July. Many others are about a month away from being fully grown. The farmers at Dimond Hill have picked 10 pumpkins so far and sold five of them.

“It’s kind of bizarre actually that we were able to sell any,” he said.

Dimond Hill plants about 1,000 pumpkins every season, and about 250 of those are ready for harvest now, and many others will be maturing soon. Grandmason said he is researching the best way to store the pumpkins until people flock to the farm in the fall to buy them. The interior of the pumpkin will probably dry out, making them very light to carry. The pumpkins that usually cost about $10 will cost about $2, he said.

Austin Plummer, left, tosses a ripe pie pumpkin to Jane Presby, owner of Dimond Hill Farm in Concord, as Garrett Furnari, center left, and Joe Rice, center right, search for more ripe pumpkins to pick at a Dimond Hill Farm squash field on Wednesday, July 21, 2010. Presby said that this is very early to have squash ripening. "I've seen hot summers, cold summers, and wet summers, and I've never seen anything like this. Not in July," said Presby.

Ugh. It must have REALLY sucked being in the water with this freaking thing!

A large, dead, jellyfish caused mayhem at Wallis Sands beach yesterday when it stung about 150 people in the water.
Five people were hospitalized, park manager Ken Loughlin said. The jellyfish, about 50 pounds and the diameter of a large hubcap, came near shore around 2 p.m. A lifeguard used a pitchfork to snag it and take it from the water, Loughlin said.

About 10 to 15 minutes later, chaos broke out, he said.

“All of a sudden people just started pouring up here,” he said of the beach’s main building. “All the little kids were crying. It was quite the disaster scene, like something out of a movie.”

It’s likely the jellyfish’s bell, or head, was removed, but its stinging tentacles remained in the water and got snagged on beach-goers.

Rye firefighter paramedics and lifeguards at Wallis Sands State Park treat people who were stung by a large dead jellyfish yesterday.

I remember this happening when I was a kid on the cape, after a storm. Somebody got stung badly by a jellyfish, it made me be very careful about going into the water. Those things are nasty!

The lion’s mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) is the largest known species of jellyfish. Its range is confined to cold, boreal waters of the Arctic, northern Atlantic, and northern Pacific Oceans, seldom found farther south than 42°N latitude. Similar jellyfish (which may be the same species) are known from the seas off Australia and New Zealand. The largest recorded specimen, found washed up on the shore of Massachusetts Bay in 1870, had a bell (body) with a diameter of 2.3 m (7 feet 6 inches) and tentacles 36.5 m (120 feet) long.

They think it was a Lion’s Mane Jellyfish.

How would you like to be in the water with one of these suckers? I think I’d have a heart attack if I could actually see it in the water before I swam into its tentacles. Must hurt like hell.

WMUR also has a slideshow about the jellyfish attack.

Edit: Looks like the lifeguard who removed the jellyfish might have goofed. Well you can’t really blame him, he did the best he could to get it out of the water and away from the swimmers.

A lifeguard’s disposal of a jellyfish at Wallis Sands beach Wednesday likely contributed to the creature’s tentacles stinging more than 100 people, a University of New Hampshire marine biologist said Thursday.

The jellyfish, the size of a large hubcap and likely of the lion’s mane variety, came ashore close to 2 p.m. Wednesday when a lifeguard used a pitchfork to snatch it and throw it away, park manager Ken Loughlin said.

Within 15 minutes, dozens of people poured from the water complaining of stings, likely from the tentacles that remained behind.

“The worst thing that lifeguard could have done was pick it up with a pitchfork, because pieces would have gone everywhere,” said Larry Harris, a professor of marine biology at UNH. “It was a recipe for disaster.”

There is one Republican that I am happy to endorse, and that’s my friend Bruce MacMahon.

He is for marriage equality, small government and he’s pro-gun. In short, he’s the perfect candidate! Alas, I don’t live in his district.

But I have made a donation to his campaign and I urge you to donate too. He’s a great guy and will make a fine state representative.

It amuses me, to a certain degree, to see this sort of thing going on.

The state is suing two more businesses that let customers roll their own cigarettes, avoiding paying a two-cent per cigarette fee.

The retailers, East-West Distributors d/b/a Smoke N Discounts of Epsom and Tobacco Depot of Seabrook, recently installed cigarette-making machines capable of making a carton of cigarettes in about eight minutes, according to Attorney General Michael A. Delaney.

Richard Rigazio, owner of Tobacco Depot, declined comment. UnionLeader.com was unable to reach anyone from Smoke N Discounts.

The stores sell pipe tobacco and materials needed to make the cigarettes, and then provide customers with access to the machines which, the state claims, makes the stores cigarette manufacturers that must comply with the Non-Participating Manufacturers Act and the Directory Act.

At issue is the $50 million a year the state gets from a 1998 settlement with tobacco companies over Medicaid costs incurred by patients suffering from tobacco-related illnesses. The fear is if the state does not enforce the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) of 1998, that the tobacco companies will stop paying the annual $50 million.

Why are people even buying this stuff any more? Ecigarettes are a much better, cheaper and healthier alternative.

Click the Green Smoke link in the sidebar to get more info about Green Smoke products (I’m an affiilate for them BTW).

Tobacco based cigarettes are a disgusting way to get nicotine. Who would smoke them in 2010? Ecigs are a viable alternative. I enjoy puffing on my ecig with a cup of tea or coffee, and I don’t have to pay the ridiculous tobacco taxes. Nor do I stink like tobacco or have a nasty cough. I get my nicotine, with the flavor I enjoy and without the crap the tobacco companies put into tobacco cigarettes.

It boggles the mind that there’s even a controversy here to speak of at this point. Although I do understand where the government is coming from, they feed off the tobacco industry like a tick off a deer’s ass. So they want every cent they can get from cigarette sales.