Under normal circumstances I, being a "strategic eater" (a vegetarian who eats meat in certain circumstances), don't promote killing sweet little wild boars such as the one pictured above. However, if you find yourself lost in the jungle and are sick of eating palm shoots, you may want to feast on roast pork.
Uh-oh, you forgot your gun.
No problem, you can catch yourself a wild boar with this nifty (all be it nasty) little trick I learned (but did not put into practice) while in the jungle. The fact that this uses only what is available in the jungle in ingenious ways is what is really fascinating about this. What follows gets a little violent and what might be considered graphic. If you don't like to read about dying boars, don't continue.
Basic principle: When scared, a wild boar will run straight ahead, regardless of what is in front of it. If there is something blocking the way, the boar will jump over it.
Step 1: Cut some bamboo
Bamboo is a wonderful thing. So is a parang, a sort of jungle machete. The most important thing I learned was never, NEVER go into the jungle without a parang. We used it for everything.
Anyway, back to the hunt. Once you have found an area showing signs of wild boars hanging out, you should start to collect some bamboo. Using your parang, chop the bamboo into pieces about five or six segments long. To cut, swing the parang on a forty-five degree angle, making sure you are always swinging away from yourself.
Step 2: Quarter the bamboo
Cut the bamboo poles into four sections length-wise. To do this you can chop it like you would wood. One hard swing and the parang enters the bamboo. Now you can put pressure on both the handle and the back of the blade as you gently tap the bamboo on a rock or log, letting physics do it's job.
BE CAREFUL though, the green edges of freshly cut bamboo is very SHARP. I had cuts all over my body after a few days. It hurts like a paper cut, but it is deep like a chain-saw cut.
Step 3: Carve spikes
Using your parang again, further chop the quartered bamboo slats into spikes. These spikes should be about two segments long, but you will want longer ones and shorter ones, so don't worry too much about this.
Two points to make note of.
1) The pointy part of the spike should be V shaped, as opposed to "half-v" shaped. This makes it slide into the boar flesh a little easier.
2) The point of the spike should be carved immediately after a joint in the bamboo. If there is too much space between the joint and the point, the spike is weaker and may break under the weight of the boar.
Step 4: bury spikes
bury the spikes in the ground. You will want to have enough spikes that you can cover a wide area. The spikes have to be anchored deep enough that they will not simply fall out when the boar lands on them, so it is good to use your parang to dig holes.
The spike field should be in the path that you expect the boars to follow as they run by.
Step 5: Create obstruction
Now it really starts to get interesting.
In front of your spike field, use your parang to chop down some small trees or palm branches. The idea is not to "hide" the spikes from the boar, rather, to create an obstruction in the path which the frightened boar will jump over. As the heavy boar comes back down to the ground, his/her own weight will help to impale him/her on the spikes.
Step 6: Make noise makers
"I can't wait." You think as you head down to the nearest waterfall for a bath. Later you build yourself a fire and comfortable bed as you dream of the roast pork you will be having by this time tomorrow.
The next morning you wake up early and eagerly stumble down the path to your nifty little creation only to find fresh boar tracks and... some of the spikes are still standing, some have been uprooted by curious boars, but there is no blood, and no pork.
What went wrong? Well, the boar ain't gonna jump over the obstruction and impale himself unless he is scared, really scared. Here's how we solve this little problem:
Cut down some more long bamboo poles. This time, instead of splitting them into quarters, you want to split it in half, but NOT ALL THE WAY. The split should only be about a meter or two long. The result will be that you can pull the two halves apart, but when you let go, the tension from the base of the cut will cause them to slap back together with enough force to make a loud "smacking" noise.
Cut a small stick or piece of bamboo to place in the mouth of your new noise maker, holding it open.
Find a strong creeper or rattan vine thin enough to tie around the small stick, and long enough to reach across the boar path where the other end is tied to a tree. This creates a trip wire. When the boar trips the wire, the small stick is pulled from the mouth of the bamboo and SMACK!, you have a scared pig.
Now, to really scare the pig, make several of these, placing them along the expected boar path every few meters. Remember, if the boar is scared, it will not stop to access the situation, it will simply run straight ahead -tripping the next wire, and the next and so on. Either it will have a heart attack and die right there, or it will be in a panic as it jumps over your obstruction, impaling itself on the spikes.
Step 7: Wait and listen
I have to admit that I am a little unclear about this step. On the one hand, we were told that we should scare the pig in the general direction of the elaborate trap we have set. On the other hand, we were told to lie in wait (downwind) behind a tree truck.
To make sure the pig doesn't see or ear you, just sit. Don't worry about watching for the boar. You can just listen for the noise makers you have set several meters up the path. SMACK SMACK SMACK... as they get closer get ready with your spear.
ooops. Did I forget to tell you about the spear? You should make a spear with a small hardwood tree, a piece of bamboo, and a rattan rope as shown in the drawing.
So, you wait for the pig to come, and then....
You spring. The pig will be impaled on the spikes, but scared wild boars are strong. Before it has a chance to get up and run, you jump out and drive your spear into it's wide open side. Don't try to pull it out and stab it again. Instead, you want to twist the spear to increase the size of the wound. Otherwise, let the thrashing of the pig do the work. The spear will gradually work it's way in and the pig will die.
Although it was not part of the lesson, I thought it would be good to have a big rock handy to smash the pigs skull, ending the suffering as soon as possible.
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Again, I don't intend to promote the killing of animals just trying to go about their lives. No animals were hurt in the production of this little how-to post. Especially not the boar in the photo which is cared for by a friend in Sweden who rescued after it had been hit by a car as a baby. Nor do I oppose the killing (in as humane a manner as possible) of an animal if the situation requires it. After all, there are animals that would kill me if they were hungry. (although I can't think of any animals that would lock me in a small cage pumping me full of drugs, treating me as though I am just an inanimate "commodity")
Just for the record, I myself am a "strategic eater", which is what I have decided to call my almost completely vegetarian lifestyle. I do eat meat in certain occasions. For example, if I am invited to dinner at someone's house and they have already prepared meat. It's better to eat it than to throw it away, but if given the option before it is prepared, I will usually decline.
The reason for this is three fold (there always has to be a moral to my posts):
1) I feel better physically when I don't eat meat. This may just be mental. Regardless, I feel better, and meat is expensive.
2) I don't see any real difference between people and animals in so far as animals feel pain and suffering as well as we do. Why should I contribute to that. I don't feel so bad eating meat that is raised responsibly, by people who care for the animal and do everything in their power to make it comfortable and happy until it's death.
3) Regardless of wether you think treating other living things like crap is OK or not, if you think it is our God given right, or even if you think that animals don't really have feelings, given the current population a meat based diet for everyone is just not feasible. The amount of energy it takes to feed us with meat, not to mention the environmental damage that results from the production methods, just doesn't make sense. Maybe some day we will invent some magic machine that changes that, but as far as I know, there is nothing like that on the near horizon.
There are also times when my curiosity gets the better of me... While in Sweden I tried reindeer simply because I wanted to see what it was like. While in France last year for a friend's wedding, I ate the most delicious raw beef tar-tar plate because there was no vegetarian option. I still fantasize about it. Ohhhhhh that was good. If I am starving in the jungle, I promise I will try to eat a boar. Just for the record.
Finally, I hope no one was offended by the post. I wanted to share it because I thought it was extremely interesting how materials available in nature can be used like that