Somewhat of a departure here
From PRX...
Audio is the below source.
Pigs
From:
Cam Marston
Series:
Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston - Short interstitial content.
Length:
03:55
Ahead of a Thanksgiving ham dinner at his father's Clarke County cabin, Cam traces Alabama's wild hog population back to pigs abandoned on islands by early explorers—then heads into the woods after the meal hoping to shoot a distant, ill-fated cousin of what he just ate.
This is about pigs. It’s timely since many of us pair Thanksgiving turkey with a ham.
Wild hogs roam the woods near my father’s camp in Clarke County — some possibly descendants of hogs early explorers left on islands as a future food source, later making their way to the mainland. Columbian pigs. Mayflower pigs.
Admiring wild hogs is taboo here — they’re hell on property. But they’re a remarkable species, surviving and propagating no matter the circumstances, dropping litters of up to ten piglets.
And they’re tasty. A blue cheese stuffed pork chop at K-Paul’s in New Orleans nearly made me faint in bliss.
Then there’s the Thanksgiving ham, magically cut in circles, iridescent in the light. Later that day, after a nap, I’ll step into the woods with a rifle, hoping to take down a distant cousin of the ham I just ate. It’s all a bit gross and weird and magical at the same time.
And that’s all I got to say about that.
I’m Cam Marston and I’m just trying to Keep It Real. Happy Thanksgiving.
0n a personal note, wild hogs are in Northwest Alabama as well. When I encounter them walking on a nearby trail, they are very scary, looking and acting! They just stand and stare. The dogs don't even move to interact with the hogs!