Blood on the Corn

Yesterday morning as drove the girls to school I thought I saw a little black shadow inside the trap so I checked on my way back home after dropping the girls off at school.  This guy perked right up when he heard the car door slam, and by the time I got up to the cage he was slamming from side to side trying to get out.  I was going to go in the house and grab the .410 to shuffle him off this mortal coil, but decided to wait so the girls could see him when they got back from school. 

By the time they got home one of the other guys who hunts out here had solved the pig problem and the girls were very disappointed.  I wanted to show them the black pig because these come from the truly wild pigs that have been here for ages.  The pink pig that was killed a while back came from domestic pigs that have been released.  Apparently at one time here people would trap the hogs, notch there ears to claim them and then let them go again.    I guess it was common courtesy not to kill a hog someone else had notched. 

When me and the girls walked out there all that was left was a splattering of blood on the corn which the pig had been continuing to eat even as I watched it try to bang it's way out.  They didn't seem to be bothered by the blood although I wouldn't shoot one when they are around I don't think they are ready for that yet, but death is just part of country life.