pig fishin' the mississippi

nutria are an introduced rodent from south america for the fur trade in the 30's.  they are responsible for damaging wetlands by eating plant roots across the world from scandanavia to africa and asia.  when i worked down on the mississippi river with the bp oil spill we would see them scurrying across the marsh.  they were always eye-balling me with their little beady eyes, buck-toothed grins, tiny tyrannosaurus rex ugly hands, and ratty tails.

when i heard about a Nutria Rodeo i thought this was my chance for revenge for all those dirty looks they were cutting me.

what you lookin at boy?

southeast louisiana

map of the damage in se louisiana

global spread of nutria

we launched our death mission around 7am headed across the river to the mudflats in 2 airboats.

meet our team

teams rats ass: me, nicole mitchell, james mitchell, walker rosenberg

team sissy britches: matt moe, tim o'connor, jess barksdale, garrett landry

running from the storm

walker, nicole, james

everyone knows that every good team needs a dedicated nerd... er... waterboy... er... support staff. this assignment couldnt have happened without ms barksdale and her skillful shooting (of pictures).

locked and loaded

before the shooting began we were crossing a small ditch as we climbed the bank i started the bloodshed with a river cane to the eye

the other boat had two nutria in the boat and shot another as tim went to pick up the body and hold it up.  the 'deadish' rat in one last gasp, swung around and chomped through three layers of jackets and into his arm.   i wish i had a picture of everyones face: tims was of shock (maybe bc he pooped his pants), matt moe was laughing hysterically, james' covering his face in terror (ive never seen a mitchell scared).  luckily the nutria missed arteries and was dispatched.

mama always said id make something out of myself


after 2 hours we had 20 nutria in the boats and decided to supplement our diet with feral hogs.  we saw a group of 3 small pigs and ran them down.

the days totals 25 nutria and 4 hogs.  the perfect saturday. 

matt and his sow