Trad Gang

OPEN FOR YOUR DISCUSSION

(the following article taken from the wildlife management institute ...)

Hog-hunting Television Shows and Silver Bullets Won't Fix the Nation's Wild Pig Problem    

(http://www.tradgang.com/image-bin/wildpig.jpg)

Talk to any wildlife biologist in the southern United States about wild pigs, and you're likely to hear something akin to at least one of the following, "They're the four-legged equivalent of fire ants;" "If the average litter is six, typically eight survive;" "Only a fence that will hold water will hold feral hogs." Even the most rigorous scientists are reduced to using these tongue-in-cheek aphorisms to describe the harsh reality and seemingly apocalyptic future of North America's second-most harvested mammalian game species, reports the Wildlife Management Institute.

No other domesticated animal becomes feral so easily and survives more adaptively than the swine. Often labeled the "ultimate generalist," the pig's spread throughout North America via a biological trifecta of high reproductive potential, climate tolerance and ability to re-organize entire ecosystems has resulted in something not unlike a pandemic.  According to those who have witnessed the wild pig's march across the continent, the invasion is best characterized as an "ecological train wreck."

Forty-five states and four Canadian provinces are currently grappling with the environmental and financial calamity brought about by the feral, wild or hybrid pigs within their borders. Though population estimates are difficult to determine, most experts believe that North America is home to between three and six million wild pigs.

"They can live in just about any habitat; anywhere from the Canadian Prairie Provinces down to the deserts of Mexico and all parts in between," said Dr. Jack Mayer, research scientist and manager at the Savannah River National Laboratory. According to Mayer, three distinct types of wild pigs reside in North America.  First is the feral pig, originating from domesticated stock brought to Florida by Hernando de Soto in the mid-1500s.  Second is the pure Eurasian wild boar, introduced to the continent by hunters in the late 1800s.  Last is  the hearty, hybridized hog, resulting from crosses of the two parent strains.  Wildlife managers collectively refer to all three types of invasive swine simply as wild pigs.

The feral pig/wild boar hybrid is by far the most prolific of the three strains and likely the most adaptive. "Virtually every habitat in North America is represented in the wild boar's native range in Eurasia," notes Dr. Ben West, the western region director for the University of Tennessee Extension. "Thus, there is huge genetic potential in the hybrid pig." According to West and other wildlife biologists, the hybrid wild pig's ability to adapt and thrive in habitats of all major ecosystems in the United States is likely unlimited and largely unknown.

The wild pig's capacity to increase its numbers and expand its range is unparalleled among North America's invasive mammals. Females are capable of reproducing at six months of age and can produce up to three litters a year. Though the typical litter averages six, sows can give birth to as many as a dozen under good conditions. Surprisingly, female pigs can breed well into their teens; researchers have documented pregnant sows as old as 14. This reproductive proficiency combined with an absence of natural predators has allowed many wild pig populations to double in as little as four months.

According to data collected by the Southeast Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, wild pig populations in the U.S. have irrupted in the last 30 years. In 1982, 475 counties in 17 states contained wild pigs. By 2004, the number of counties reporting wild pigs had risen to 1,014. Based on current estimates, those numbers are on a fast track to double again in the near future. As prophesized by one Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden, "There's only two kinds of folks—those who have hogs and those who will have 'em."

Given the level of ecological and agricultural destruction currently being waged by hogs, the future cost of managing their swelling populations will pose a major challenge to already fiscally strapped state fish and wildlife agencies.

Recent estimates of the damage done to natural and agricultural resources by wild pigs approach $1.5 billion annually, with heavily infested states such as Texas suffering nearly $52 million of swine-caused wreckage every year. The bulk of the damage stems from the pigs rooting through vegetation and soil in search of roots, tubers, invertebrates and crops. The resulting tilling effect destroys agricultural land, disturbs native plant communities, causes erosion and, as is the case in Hawaii, creates standing water hollows that serve as breeding grounds for non-native mosquito species. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the explosion of disease harboring mosquito populations in Hawaii has had a devastating effect on the island's already declining native bird populations.

The wild pigs' destructive feeding behavior poses a particular threat to sensitive wildlife species and their habitats. According to studies by researchers at Texas A&M University, wetlands and riparian areas suffer the most damage from wild pigs. In some areas, nearly 50 percent of the habitat is significantly degraded by the hogs' rooting and wallowing. Additionally, these wet areas also are experiencing increased bacterial contamination in the form of E. coli and fecal coliform from the ever-present pigs.

"Hogs are deadly to anything that nests on the ground," stated West.  "One of the best examples is the depredation of sea turtle eggs on Ossabaw Island." Before the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR) began an intensive wild pig removal program on Ossabaw, a barrier island south of Savannah, sea turtle nests on the islands' sandy beaches suffered greater than 30 percent mortality. Today, as a result of the GDNR removing nearly 3,000 hogs from the island annually, those nests experience less than 5 percent mortality.

Interestingly, researchers also documented a significant increase in the body weight of Ossabaw's white-tailed deer following wild pig reduction efforts. This fact, along with other research conducted in southeastern hardwood forests, demonstrates that wild pigs present a formidable source of competition for dozens of native wildlife and plant species. Largely due to the pigs' habit of bulldozing seedlings and rooting for mast crops, such as acorns, these forested areas are experiencing dramatic change.  Hardwood regeneration has nearly halted and many wildlife species are outcompeted for critical resources.

Unfortunately, the wild pig's impact on native mammals is not restricted to increased competition or habitat destruction. Hogs harbor numerous diseases as well as internal and external parasites that are transmissible to wildlife, livestock and even humans. Many of these diseases, such as brucellosis, tuberculosis and the pseudorabies virus have been the target of national disease-eradication programs for livestock. As wild pig numbers continue to increase and spread to new areas, biologists are concerned that their efforts to eradicate or reduce the prevalence of these diseases in wild and domestic animals will be in vain. In addition, researchers at the USDA National Wildlife Disease Center note the possibly insurmountable challenge of controlling an "accidental or intentional outbreak of a foreign animal disease, such as foot and mouth, rinderpest, African swine fever or classical swine fever" if those diseases were ever to find their way into the wild pig population.

To date, no single technique used to control the spread or overall numbers of wild pigs has proven successful—a fact not lost on disease specialists and wildlife managers.  According to West, 50 to 70 percent of a wild pig population must be removed each year to stabilize or begin reducing it. Unfortunately, hunting and other lethal control methods account for only 20 percent a year on average. Even more frustrating to wildlife managers is the fact that hunters are the one's largely responsible for the viral spread of wild pigs to new geographic regions across the country.

Given that the wild pig is listed as an invasive animal in most states, hunters are presented with a nearly unlimited and often year-round season during which to harvest hogs. This, unfortunately, has led many individuals to shuttle and re-stock wild pigs illegally into new areas. In an interesting and somewhat contradictory move in 2009, several states, including Kansas and Nebraska, actually outlawed the hunting of wild pigs in an effort to halt their spread. By eliminating the opportunity to hunt, these states hope to remove the incentive to introduce wild pigs. Time will tell if the effort proves successful.

Currently, significant research is being conducted on swine-specific toxins to aid in the control of wild pigs. Ironically, the most promising of these new products, commercially known as Hog-Gone®, is a concentrated form of sodium nitrite, the most common pork preservative used worldwide. While initial results look promising, it is likely that no silver bullet exists to rid North America's diverse habitats of the wild pig. According to West and other wildlife biologists, only constant monitoring and unified efforts between hunters, landowners and wildlife management agencies can protect native ecosystems from the invasion of the wild pig. In the words of Michael Bodenchuk, State Director of the Texas USDA Wildlife Services, "We're not going to barbeque our way out of this problem."

Here in TN they outlawed hunting unless your the land owner or  a few select wma hunts. Everyone raised heck about it, but it is the first step in stopping the spread. They found here that hog populations would pop up in areas with hogs no where nearby. The hunters were releasing them to hunt.
It was already illegal to release them, but difficult to enforce. Where a hunting ban on them is easier to enforce.
Land owners can shot them and get assistance from the state with trapping.
Everyone wants to hunt pigs, I love to hunt them too and have taken 9. But I have seen what they do to the deer and turkey habitat. Not to mention what they do to other non game animals.
If you don't have em, you REALLY don't want em.

We have our share of them here in Louisiana. They are good eat'in if you don't mind cleaning them. I took one last season and have enjoyed it all year.
           Charlie

Well they (DNR) say they are hear in Wisconsin but I have yet to see one.  From what I hear its hard to get land owners permission to hunt the ones that are here.  I think the Crop Damage Subcities (spelling?) that the Farmers get help perpetuate the problem here.

Interesting stuff.  It's unfortunate that people have a lot to do with the spread of hogs into areas where they didn't exist before.  It's selfish and short sighted.  We should have learned by now that it's not smart to fool with mother nature. There are feral hogs/pigs in  southwestern Wisconsin now where they've never been before.  It's not known at this time whether they escaped local farming operations or were brought here from outside the state.

Thanks to "man's" actions, we also now have chronic wasting disease in deer in Wisconsin.  The disease was trucked in in the form of infected deer from Alberta to improve the gene pool by some Quality Deer Management zealots.  Of course, when it was done, Wisconsin had little regulation governing the importation of deer and even less enforcement, with jurisdictional/enforcement issues between the DNR and Department of Agriculture.  

And so it goes. Whether it's plants, fish, animals, etc., man's tinkering and efforts to control or improve on mother nature almost always make ithings worse.

NRA American Hunter just received did a number of articles, and some of the above cited data is included, but I sensed a far more "hunter friendly" view of "opportunity" in their articles.

What Red4arm writes is provocative and illuminating. I read about "outlawing hunting" and wondered "What the...?" but this makes sense...the culprit is hunters introducing them (hear all the time people wanting them closer to hunt off-season) and now I understand why they made hunting illegal: remove the incentive to do illegal stocking!

Amazing! WE've really fouled our nest with our own perverse interests at heart.

Thanks Rob for sharing.

Thanks Rob for they very informative update.

Have not encountered any wild hogs in my area as of yet. I am of the population of folks that will have them.

Ironic that they are plentiful in the adjacent county on ground which is leased to a private hunting organization.

KY does have year around hunting for wild hogs.

Ohio has taken a strong nosed approach to combat any chance of hog populations in this state. Maybe it's inevitable and I know there are some in the southern portion of the state but no closed season and no weapons restrictions is a good combative measure same with coyotes.

I love to hunt pigs and shoot several each year at my lease. I also see some of the destructive activity. As a hunter and land leaser I love the pigs. But I also understand that the land owners and farmers (the ones whose property/crops are being destroyed) want them eradicated. I also see the biologists views of why they need to be eradicated. As long as they are on the land I lease though I will continue to hunt them.

One more note: In the article it said "hunters" are partly responsible for the spread of the pigs because they illegally release them into areas where they had not previously existed. In my opinion that is a bad description of these people. They are actually criminals who happen to hunt! I would no more condone their activity then I would a poacher or bank robber.

See ya later,

Bisch

Bisch

I'd love to hunt hogs, but not at the cost of perpetuating their population due to demand. Outfitters, tradition, what have you, hogs should be treated like roughfish and other invasive species. Kill them on sight, no limits, and quit passing on the young. Shoot those little squelers! I never pass on a carp, gar, or dogfish because it is "too small". I like shooting fish, but I like improving the habitat for more desireable species even more. Of course, it is easy for this Michigan boy to say this, we don't have widespread hogs to hunt. Even so, if it meant less competetion for our whitetails and other animals....

Its amazing how much time and money goes into researching how it all came about. But how much time and money goes into solving the problem. Im sure the govt will find profit in the situation and hold off on a salution.JMHO

I hunt a 24,000 acre ranch in deep south Texas which pigs have inhabited for many years, despite inarguably harsh range conditions. This year we have killed over 300 (90 in one day out of a helicopter during a game survey) and have barely dented the population. Pigs are fun animals to hunt, especially with a bow. However, they can and will "take over" if given the chance. Liberal Harvesting of pigs by hunters does little but turn the survivors nocturnal.

Its like all things.

People Ruin it for themselves through selfishness and short sightedness.

I wouldnt hesitate to try and shoot a pig if I see one in NY but on an ecological standpoint, I hope I never have that opportunity.

As a side note, banning hunting for pigs with the exception of set "seasons" is lunacy. Certainly, banning the hunting of hogs is a dis-incentive to their introduction by hunting clubs. However, I can assure you that all restrictions should be removed when addressing the harvest of this species once they have a foothold. In Texas you can hunt wild hogs any time, day or night, without limitation or restriction. You can even shoot them from a helicopter or from a roadway. Spotlighting? Sure! Aside from providing quite a bit of fun and giving me a good reason to purchase an AR-15 with a high capacity magazine, the pigs are still winning in this state.

I was hunting this fall in the Gratiot-Saginaw SGA here in Michigan.  This is one of the areas where feral pigs were first discovered a few years ago, and a number(not many) have been killed.  Anyway this fall I found this notice tacked to a tree in one of the parking areas.
(http://i40.tinypic.com/znnfk6.jpg)

5 years ago a guy released 65 wildhogs on our hunt club, I begged him not to I told him it would ruin our deer  hunting. Now we have hogs everywhere but they mostly move at night so they hardly get shot..we now have a bunch of bears, you can see bears with 3 cubs..the  bears love to eat little hogs...We have less deer and turkeys now too. I shoot every hog I can, only 4 this year..

I don't want to see the hog population spread but I wish I could get in on the hunting without the long drive from Michigan.  They say they ruin the habitat and damage game populations so I wonder why south Texas is a go to destination for big whitetails?  Obviously the presence of hogs has not ruined the whitetail population in south Texas.
As for crop depredation payments made to farmers; I think farmers should be required to list their land as public hunting in order to receive payment for crop damage by wildlife.  Many farmers receive the payments but will not allow hunters to help control the populations and reduce the damage.

QuoteOriginally posted by Stick n' String:
As a side note, banning hunting for pigs with the exception of set "seasons" is lunacy. Certainly, banning the hunting of hogs is a dis-incentive to their introduction by hunting clubs. However, I can assure you that all restrictions should be removed when addressing the harvest of this species once they have a foothold. In Texas you can hunt wild hogs any time, day or night, without limitation or restriction. You can even shoot them from a helicopter or from a roadway. Spotlighting? Sure! Aside from providing quite a bit of fun and giving me a good reason to purchase an AR-15 with a high capacity magazine, the pigs are still winning in this state.

Which kind of proves the point. In Texas anyone & everyone can hunt hogs. It's a well publicised & advertised species to travel to hunt. If you want to hunt hogs, everyone knows that Texas is the place to go.
If I remember correctly, there are more hogs killed in Texas than any other State, yet Texas STILL has the highest population of feral hogs in the country.
There are ANNUAL hunts on single properties where hundreds of pigs are killed every year. Next year, people turn up & do the exact same thing, on the exact same property.

That's in itself is pretty much every ounce of proof you need to be able to say that encouraging hunting as a species control method, simply does not work.

QuoteOriginally posted by Flingblade:
I don't want to see the hog population spread but I wish I could get in on the hunting without the long drive from Michigan.  They say they ruin the habitat and damage game populations so I wonder why south Texas is a go to destination for big whitetails?  Obviously the presence of hogs has not ruined the whitetail population in south Texas.

Because a majority of Texas is Privately owned & fenced. Deer are bought in annually & released. I'm categorically NOT saying there is anything wrong with this, by the way & I'm NOT talking about 'canned' hunting.
Deer farming is very big business in Texas.
You've also got to consider the sheer size of the country. There's a heck of a lot room out there for hogs & deer to cohabit.

I would love to help out any rancher/farmer to get rid of some hogs! I have personally heard several crying about how much damage is being done to their land and crops. However when you approach them about helping them out by allowing you to come hunt the hogs, the answer is always, sure! $100.00 a day and you can hunt all you want. Some even want to charge a dollar a pound for any weighing over 150#s. They must not need the hogs gone too bad or they wouldn't be charging a healthy fee. I am on a very fixed income so I can't afford to "help" these poor farmers out.

QuoteOriginally posted by L. Harris:
I would love to help out any rancher/farmer to get rid of some hogs! I have personally heard several crying about how much damage is being done to their land and crops. However when you approach them about helping them out by allowing you to come hunt the hogs, the answer is always, sure! $100.00 a day and you can hunt all you want. Some even want to charge a dollar a pound for any weighing over 150#s. They must not need the hogs gone too bad or they wouldn't be charging a healthy fee. I am on a very fixed income so I can't afford to "help" these poor farmers out.

My guess would be if they are really causing property loss/income on those places charging to hunt would help offset it. Plus there are plenty of folks that are willing to pay to hunt to hunt and these property owners know that. Hunting is a billion dollar business in Texas. Knock on more doors,ask everyone you meet about hunting hogs, you'll find a place that will let you for free, I did. Most of the free hunts I found were from guys with deer leases who were fine with it when deer season wasn't in. Offering some free labor on the lease will open a lot of doors.

QuoteOriginally posted by L. Harris:
I would love to help out any rancher/farmer to get rid of some hogs! I have personally heard several crying about how much damage is being done to their land and crops. However when you approach them about helping them out by allowing you to come hunt the hogs, the answer is always, sure! $100.00 a day and you can hunt all you want. Some even want to charge a dollar a pound for any weighing over 150#s. They must not need the hogs gone too bad or they wouldn't be charging a healthy fee. I am on a very fixed income so I can't afford to "help" these poor farmers out.

Dead right. There ARE landowners who want hogs removed and there are hunters who would love to have access to hunting without having to pay a lease or trophy fee. Seems to me the game departments should be hooking the two up. For instance use hog hunting tag money for crop mitigation payments but only where free (and controlled/responsible) hunting is allowed. That would take the wind out of the hog hunting outfitters and reduce the incentive for relocating hogs.

I would love to go to Texas and hunt hogs.

I have a little bit of a problem with the thoughts that hunters are the main reason hogs are spreading.  I'm sure that hunters have done this plenty of times, but I believe the prolific breeding capabilities as well as the adaptability of hogs is the MAIN reason they are spreading.  I could be wrong though.
   On another note, I too find it interesting how landowners want them gone, yet many of them charge people to hunt hogs.  Seems to me if you were serious about getting rid of them, you would be begging for hunters to come and hunt.

Indiana has a thing where deer hunters sign up for counties they are willing to hunt and farmers get their info. then contact the hunter that would best meet they need.

I signed up for a couple of counties but never heard from a farmer. I'm wondering if the farmers know about the opportunity and I don't know if it is being effective or not. Sounds good in theory though and maybe it would work for hogs.

I too would like to hunt hogs but would never condone transplanting.

They say that there are alot of hungry people in America. Let's stock them up in pork! Except for the disease they tend to carry. What a mess!

Banning the hunting of hogs will do nothing but make the problem worse.  I understand the desire to stop folks from releaseing hogs to have something to hunt, but you really need to go back and read how prolific these things are.  You either hunt them with every means possible or they will outbreed every animal in the woods.  

Tennessee has seriously put their head in the sand on this one.


Rob, one of the reasons Texas has so many hogs is that absolutely nothing was done about them for years.  Now the population is far too widespread to eradicate.  Ranchers "managing" them for hunts surely doesn't help, but the problem is that they are already a part of the landscape.

I have the solution... We'll give you some of our wolves!    We've got plenty  :)

I can find their rooting along the road less than a mile from my house but almost impossible to get permission to hunt.

the ranch i used to hunt them on has mostly got rid of them cowboys on horses w dogs is a combination ahog cant win against .add in the next door neighbor growing pot and its next to impossible to find one.the ranch is in harris ca on the eel river.the best hog hunting is mostly on private land in ca.

QuoteOriginally posted by Montanawidower:
I have the solution... We'll give you some of our wolves!    We've got plenty   :)  

:biglaugh:    :biglaugh:    :biglaugh:

  :nono:

Wolves and pigs??  

Maybe the tx hog pop tracks with the loss of wolves?  Not saying wolves are the solution, but OTOH, Montana and Idaho may avoid the hog problem.  :biglaugh:  

I hear stories of them being seen here in CO.  A fenced hunting operation on the west slope got busted for bringing them in illegaly.  Ironically, they could have done it legally and had done so in the past but apparently they were trying to go around some of the disease checking requirements.

On my last (3rd) trip to the tx panhandle to hunt hogs we were skunked because the tx parks dept had shot them out from helicopters on any property the owners would allow it on.  From what I read here, they ought to be back in full force by now!  Honestly, the ranch we hunted on was far more damaged by overgrazing of the owners cattle than anything.  It looked like the ranchers cattle could be starving the hogs out!

I live in Ontario, Canada and was previously unaware that any Canadian Province had reported the presence of wild hogs.  Does anyone know which Provinces have reported wild hogs and the suggested population stats?

Well the Pig Gig is coming in 3 months and the Tx hog numbers are going to drop a fair amount. Arrows will fly and pigs will die.

First hand hog destruction will sober you quick! They'll eat anything from snakes to roots & vegs to other hogs. Most rooting in the forest looks rototilled over a large area & it's everywhere. Worse, they multiply like rabbits.

Study a few years ago said hogs were much smarter than dogs & other omnivores. No wonder they prefer the dark. Getting a daylight bowshot in dense public woods is lotto lucky. No baiting on public land here either. IMHO, they take too much from deer benefit. But, like coyotes, you can't stop them.

On the TV show they had a while back about pigs in Rhine Ga they said they were tearing up the place....they had interveiws with farmers the pigs were putting out of business.....pigs coming into town....
 Stop and ask one of these landowners if you can hunt pigs on their place and you will get a very quick...NO!!!. I`ve asked.
 A place like some of you Northern fellas have that have a few pigs and you don`t want them. All it takes is a couple of very good dog hunters and the pigs will be gone. Once they get locked in with a whole lot of them its a different story but a couple of groups of hogs can be wiped out. I`ve seen it done.They are not like foxes or deer...they will not get away from the dogs.RC

I don't know.   I love hunting hogs.  It is great to have more hunting opportunities and in this case year round.

Regarding them not being native, neither are Pheasants.

I get the concern about the environment, but as I traveled and hunted through states like Texas, Fla., Okla, Georgia, etc. I didn't exactly see mayhem.

Like most things a balance is good.

Just offering another view.

"This reproductive proficiency combined with an absence of natural predators has allowed many wild pig populations to double in as little as four months."

Forgive my ignorance, my home state does not have a hog problem.  I hear so much about the coyote population explosion....wouldn't they prey on piglets???

We have had wild hogs inhabiting most of southern Texas for as long as I have been hunting, dating back to the late seventies. However, the population "seemed" contained to what is referred to as the South Texas Brush Country until the 80's. It seems the population reached as tipping point and began gradually spreading north and east where there was actually agriculture, more prevalent surface water and better overall range conditions. this exacerbated the spread of feral swine like pouring gasoline on a campfire...

The notion that hunters are responsible for the spread of feral hogs is just silly. Sure, I would imagine some isolated populations resulted from transplantation for hunting purposes - maybe even large local populations. However, I think the head of the task force on feral hogs in Texas said it best: "There are two types of landowners in Texas and the rest of the South below the so-called frost line. Those who have wild hogs on their properties and those who are about to."

Where I live, wild hogs are not really viewed as much of a problem. Sure, they root up hay fields and gobble up corn beneath deer feeders. However, there is very, very little commercial agriculture outside of a little cotton and grain sorghum in isolated pockets. This country is completely covered with pigs and we have plenty of deer, turkey and other game. In the end, pigs are more a "nuisance" species that happens to taste pretty good.

QuoteOriginally posted by lt-m-grow:

Regarding them not being native, neither are Pheasants.

True, but pheasants aren't an invasive species that destroys habitat, and therein lies the difference. I agree with you regarding balance in nature, but much like common carp, their presence does nothing to establish balance, and everything to destroy it.

I hope that at some future point, people will finally learn to stop introducing species such as these into natural areas where they don't belong, but I doubt it will happen in my lifetime. A few weeks ago I was on another internet forum reading threads about habitat improvement when I found a discussion on planting and fertilizing bush honeysuckle for deer browse. Good grief. Maybe they could throw some kudzu and buckthorn in for good measure.

Somehow I suspect Leopold would be rolling in his grave.

I was told by an Oklahoma Game Warden in a WMA to "Shoot all the hogs you want. Take home what you'll eat and leave the rest for the coyotes. They gotta eat too."

Ric,

That's been the attitude of every ranch I've hunted on in Texas as well.

"Didya shoot your limit yet?"

"Yup, limited out yesterday."

"Well, git out there and do it again!"

I see a natural hog predator every morning in the mirror..........

All I want to know is, if hogs are such a problem why is it everytime I ask about hunting them dollar sign pop into the eyes of the landowners I ask?

Troy

QuoteOriginally posted by Troy Breeding:
All I want to know is, if hogs are such a problem why is it everytime I ask about hunting them dollar sign pop into the eyes of the landowners I ask?

Troy

Cause everyone likes money and if you don't want to pay the next guy will.
Pretty sad really

Troy,  exactly the feeling I get when listening to the landowners whine about the hog problem.  If they will pay a lot of money for the hog dog guys to hunt them why do they expect hunters to pay them???  Am I missing something??  Not trying to be sarcastic but I truly don't understand that mode of thinking.

Not trying to change things on this thread, but if a farmer is having trouble with water standing in his fields and you offer to dig a drainage ditch to run the water off he will gladly except.

Whats the difference????

Troy

QuoteOriginally posted by Troy Breeding:
Not trying to change things on this thread, but if a farmer is having trouble with water standing in his fields and you offer to dig a drainage ditch to run the water off he will gladly except.

Whats the difference????

Troy

There aren't a line of guys behind you with shovels willing to pay the farmer to dig that same ditch?

Quote
Somehow I suspect Leopold would be rolling in his grave. [/QB]

How true !

Australia has been absolutely decimated by hogs, goats , rabbits etc
It s great to be able to hunt them but the native flora and faune should come first every time !!!
If you haven't got hogs ,be glad ... you don't want them .

You want to get rid of them let the UT F&G manage them, they will be gone in a couple seasons. LOL!!

QuoteOriginally posted by Troy Breeding:
Not trying to change things on this thread, but if a farmer is having trouble with water standing in his fields and you offer to dig a drainage ditch to run the water off he will gladly except.

Whats the difference????

Troy

Would you pay him to dig his ditch?
You don't see the difference?

Several years ago while living in AL I talked to one of the conservation officers about a place to hog hunt. He gave me the name an location of a farmer that had called him several times.

After driving acouple of hours I finaly located the farmer. When I ask about helping with his problem he refused to let me hunt. Stated he didn't allow hunting on his land.

Troy

QuoteOriginally posted by Troy Breeding:
Several years ago while living in AL I talked to one of the conservation officers about a place to hog hunt. He gave me the name an location of a farmer that had called him several times.

After driving a couple of hours I finally located the farmer. When I ask about helping with his problem he refused to let me hunt. Stated he didn't allow hunting on his land.

Troy

Doesn't make a whole that of sense does it? I'd like to hear that conversation. What was his problem with it and also why didn't you call him first before driving all that way?

I can understand some land owners having reservations with letting strangers hunt their land, their are just too many jerks out their now days that ruin it for everyone else.

Littering, leaving gates open, hurting livestock, rutting up the roads where they shouldn't go with 4wd's, killing what they weren't allowed to..ect. ect. ect.

Am sure they have been through it and seen it all and I can see where they would trust a Gov. official over a Joe Blow hunter not to do that.

I informed the farmer that the CO had given me his name. Didn't make a difference, he wasn't letting me hunt even when I offered to call the CO to have him confirm everything.

BTW, CO suggested I contact the farmer in person.

Anyway, after talking to the CO later he stated the farmer was just out of luck from now on because he wasn't the pied piper and had made an attempt to help by sending me.

Troy

The reason farmers will charge for hunting rights and also complain about crop damage is because they stand to benefit financially from both.

If they let you hunt on their land for free, heaven forbid, now they actually have to grow something to get paid.

as far as hunters transplanting hogs to hunt illegally, I am sure it is a HUGE problem or they wouldn't have thought of stopping the hunt.  Most people assume these agencies come to these laws for the heck of it or based on hearsay.  I am sure they had sound reason for their decision and probably spend way too much money getting to their stance.  

My bet is hunters were transporting hogs non stop. If they had a shoot to kill any violators, no questions asked, now that would probably discourage the activity a little more.  Instead, they make a rule that affects everyone negatively, not just the culprits.

For the record I have hunted where there are deer , hogs and Turkeys for near 35 years. The only critters that there are "less" of the last 10 years on this property are hogs. I`m talking about near 10,000 acres. In the past few years a group of 20 pigs is a very large group. Many years ago seeing 100 pigs in a day was not uncommon and I am talking about public land.RC

I cant see guys driving to TX and back to release hogs especially in several states.

Id believe farmers let them go when the pork market crashed first.

Unfortunatly the conservation dept has a louder voice than the public so we get drown out.

Another example of this is Mountain Lions.  For years when they were killed or seen here we were told they had to of been someones pet.  Now 20yrs later finally were told the truth that they are wild, because there is simply too many encounters to dismiss anymore.

All we can do is wack'em while the wacking is good!!

Thanks for sharing that Rob. We've been lucky in the Piedmont area, as we haven't seen an outbreak......yet.

I live in east tn where the mountains are. A lot of bear and hog hound guys here. They hunted "hawgs" year round. They also raise wild ones and release them year round. Its always been illegal, but so is selling bear gaulbladders. It's a lifestyle to them and it's a bigger problem than most think.
With the hog shows on tv, now everyone wants to hunt them, and if they don't have any they want to stock them.
I don't think they are as big of a problem as tv let's on, but in some areas I have seen, like Savanah Wildlife refuge in ga., they have taken over even with hunting allowed there.
Just look at the interest on this site, everyone wants to hunt hogs. I like to hunt hogs too, I just don't want them on my land here. They are just to destructive to native wildlife. Quail and grouse have a hard enough time as it is.

QuoteWith the hog shows on tv, now everyone wants to hunt them

Yeah you think it's expensive now just wait til that catches on, it will do what "The River Runs Though it" did to fly fishing

they were spotted in my area. i havnt seen any yet and we dont have a huge population of them. would love to hunt them though.

In areas where the pigs are not well established and they need to be removed...

Banning hunting and then extensive trapping would seem to make sense. Remove the incentive and the pigs. I would guess trapping catches and removes more than shooting one or two per hunter.

All that being said, I would love to go pig hunting!

I don't know what the solution is for the hog problem. I know I can't stand it when someone around where we hunt says they trapped some hogs and released them into a different area so they could hunt them, and thanks to our "legal" system the game wardens can't find the evidence of them releasing the hogs therefor they can't arrest them around southeast Arkansas. We just got pigs on our property this year thanks to some low life who released them nearby. In one year they have torn up our whole 400 acres.

Great points all around.

In regards to farmers wanting to charge hunters to kill the pigs that are destroying their fields, ponder this...the state of Florida charges people to capture and kill invasive snakes in the Everglades...

 :banghead:

I've got a friend with 200 acres on the river,he complains about the hogs but won.t let anyone hunt,I told him to quit complaining.

I have been reading this thread very closely we have the same problem here guys releasing pigs into patches of bush they were never in. Noe I have pigs starting to root up my paddocks but hey I have a bow    :archer2:   if they get real bad I will call in selected pig dog hunters to deal with them ad for paying to hunt   :nono:   i will never charge someone to hunt on my farm and I have never been asked to pay the only thing I'm iffy about is strangers on my farm eg harassing stock leaving gates open ect I'm not shy to a bottle to grog as I give grog to all the farmers farms that I hunt on. Just my 2 cents

Simple Solution:  Some of the gov stimulus $ should have gone toward a "hog bounty" to eliminate these pests across this great country.  I think $500/hog would be enough incentive for people to kill about every hog in this country.  Need about a 5 yr open season, year-round.  Or heck, since budget figures go into trillions, let's make it $1,000 per hog.  Don't think this would work?  In the 1700's and early 1800's, deer were hunted for their hides until nearly extinct across much of the Southeast, largely by the Creek Indians (I know, counterintuitive that they were not conservationists).  The deer I hunt today in Alabama have genetics from Michigan herds and other locations because they were transplanted due to almost non-existent local herds.  If the price is right, we could take the hogs out!  Seem absurd, uneducated, etc?  Let me ask you, where has all of that stimulus $ gone?  I don't see any benefit.  Killing hogs would make more sense to me.  The meat could be processed and used to feed the poor as well as suplement people who are now on food stamps. At $1,000/hog, farmers would either hunt or trap them themselves or allow others to hunt them, and give them a cut of the $. All of the talk about "hog demographics", "research", etc.  The solution is as old as original sin.  Hunters could solve this problem!  Money talks!

Here in western Washington, some one released a bunch of them about 15 years ago. The game dept. posted info on where to find them, they wanted them gone. You could hunt them with anything from a slingshot to a loaded Dodge Ram. No license, or fees of any kind just get them!!! In a couple of years they were gone. I was kind of hoping they would make it, but they didn,t. I hear how destructive they are, but the thought of having game to hunt all year sounded  good.

The last hog I shot was pregnant with 6 piglets.  I feel no remorse whatsoever.  I tell the guys that lease our ranch down here in South Texas to shoot them, even if they don't want them.  They usually do though.  My hunting dosen't stop.  I hunt all year round for hogs.  I think that If hunters were to take advantage of this "resource" and make more of an effort to kill them, not so much for the meat, but for the preservation of the habitat, and of course the practice, maybe more of a dent in the population can be made.  It takes alot of people putting forth an effort though.

Bounty $15/head, $25 for sows, or hire professional hunters, and pay landowner's to hunt them or allow hunters in.

Are the hunters that are being turned down seeking permission to "help" the landowner with his problem hogs showing up with a rifle offering to kill everyone they see? Or are they seeking a place to bowhunt?

a bounty seems to be a good idea to rid an area of pigs , but i don't think the bounty would be more than what  a hog would bring at market so it might have to go by weight,,...... but they are so widely infested across the southern states..theyre there to stay,....

 i do'nt know a damn thing about pigs,exept i want to hunt them...someday

Landowner complains about wild pigs tearing up his property.

Man shows up with longbow, wood arrows, and says "I'm here to help".

(Cue the laugh track here....)

Kevin,

You forgot the last line of that story.

Farmer still has hog problem.  :biglaugh:  

(Now cue laugh track....)

Here we have a all year around open season and hunters use dogs,still we have them,but not that distruptive like before.

Relatively speaking, very few landowners in Texas have the money (or the desire) to purchase/stock deer and have a deer farm operation on their place. The majority of hunters in Texas hunt on a) private ranches they own b) private ranches they lease or c) public land.....and the majority of all of those places are fenced by "low fence or no fence" (generally old 6 string barbed wire fences that are in various states of disrepair and easy to pass thru hop over).  Just because someone has driven down I-10 and seen a a few high fences does not mean its the norm for hunting in Texas.  I've been hunting in Texas on private and public land for more than 2 decades and never hunted a high fence outfit, let a alone a stocked deer farm.  And I hunt 50+ days a year at 10 or so different destinations each year.

With regard to hogs, hunting is not an effective way to eradicate them. Trapping is much better. I'm not saying that hogs should be eradicated, HOWEVER, if one was so inclined.... the state would need to trap the wild hogs, administer something like Cholera to them, and set them back into the wild to spread the disease.  Hogs and humans are so alike disease-wise that the hogs would probably mutate the Cholera and end up killing all the humans on the planet. lol.

One hour south of my home:

http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/Feral_Swine_Attacks_Woman_in_Lawrence_County_Ohio__135890173.html

State of Ohio update:

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/hunting__trapping/HuntingandTrappingSubhomePage/WildBoarHuntingInformation/tabid/18847/Default.aspx

QuoteOriginally posted by Fishnhunt:
HOWEVER, if one was so inclined.... the state would need to trap the wild hogs, administer something like Cholera to them, and set them back into the wild to spread the disease.  Hogs and humans are so alike disease-wise that the hogs would probably mutate the Cholera and end up killing all the humans on the planet. lol.

Problem with that is hog cholera and many of the other diseases are transferrable back to domestic pigs. That's why I was also wondering about the "Hog b gone" in the article. If that stuff can be transfered thru breeding or blood contact back to domestic pigs no farmer in his right mind is going to want them using that.

QuoteOriginally posted by SteveB:
Are the hunters that are being turned down seeking permission to "help" the landowner with his problem hogs showing up with a rifle offering to kill everyone they see? Or are they seeking a place to bowhunt?

Right.  Few people have the stomach to really do what it would take to make a difference in the population.  Most people just want to kill the occassional pig.

QuoteOriginally posted by gregg dudley:
 

QuoteOriginally posted by SteveB:
Are the hunters that are being turned down seeking permission to "help" the landowner with his problem hogs showing up with a rifle offering to kill everyone they see? Or are they seeking a place to bowhunt?

Right.  Few people have the stomach to really do what it would take to make a difference in the population.  Most people just want to kill the occassional pig. [/b]

Which explains why farmers may turn down hunters in this context.

It also points out the 100% fallacy that feral populations can be controlled or eliminated by sport hunters.

Look at Hawaii as an example of how feral animals have invaded and damaged an ecosystem. The answer is not found in hunters. The answer is removal by trapping, poisoning and wholesale killing by any safe and tolerable means. I don't have them on my land yet. If they ever show up, my next purchase will be a .243 Winchester with a 14x scope. I am not a feral pig lover.

Re leasing hogs seems to me no less a crime than poaching. There should be a state license on every "legal" trapper's trap so we can tell the difference and a hotline for reporting illegal traps and releases, reward and stiff penalties and even jail time.

I believe many people "know" who is doing it, but don't feel the public pressure to report it like they would if someone killed a 200pt whitetail out of season or with an illegal method.

I also know of people who have had their leases illegally trapped by non-members. Kind of ironic.

I've seen them in the river bottom swamps here before. My personal thought is that if I saw a feral hog, I'd shoot it if I could. I'm all for following the letter of the law, but if it were illegal here you'd never hear about the one(s) I shot.

Arkansas really started seeing hogs come back during 2001-2005 .... and from 2005-present it seems everyone now is seeing/killing hogs

Our turkey population peaks in 2001/02 and has went down 75% in the past decade

Coincidence?

I think half the problem we had here in TN (and this from someone who's only been here 3 years) was the restrictive hunting regulations regarding hogs. The TWRA was complaining about the ever increasing population, but the regs stated that hunters could only legally take wild hogs & feral pigs during Deer season & only with the legal weapon at the time (ie no rifle hunting for hogs during bow season) That gave us 1/3 of the year to legally take pigs from public land, meaning the pigs had the chance to breed twice during the 'off' season!
This year, the TWRA has de-regulated hogs from a game species to an invasive nuisance species. 'Awesome' you'd think, but they have also banned hunting them on public land, except for a few select WMAs ??? To me this makes no sense at all. Either de-regulate them properly & let us hunt them year-round by any means nescesarry or ban their hunting altogether on public land. Landowners can now slaughter hogs wholesale, by any & all legal means & are allowed to admit 10 named hunters per year to hunt their land, which is fantastic as far as the control issue goes. However, we simply cannot legally take a pig on 90% of our public land which is where the TWRAs concern should surely be aimed.

I agree, Rob.  You're going to end up with public ground with no understory at all with those policies.  I imagine the concern has to do with multiple use land and gun hunting year round causing accidents.  

Missouri say kill em.  Dynamite em, poison, shot 'em with a howitzer, whatever.  Last I heard, we were down to two localized pockets of hogs, both on public ground.

I have spent more than a little bit of time in Texas looking for hog hunting leases.  I find that the only thing most Texas landowners hate more than hogs is having someone sneaking around with  weapons hunting hogs and creating a liability.  Paying tresspass fees helps and a 2 million $ liability policy makes it more palatable to them.

According to information from the Texas University extension, in spite of all efforts to control hog populatons in Texas feral hog populations have been growing by 15% per year for a long time.  The only thing that puts a dent in their rampant growth is gunning them from helicopters.  Helicopters with a pilot and marksman rent at 350 to 500 per hour.  A good hog gunner can kill a hog about every 6 minutes in the air.  Costs 50-75 per hog killed.  Some places will do it by the acre, typical cost around 75-85 cents per acre.  In areas with lots of grain and peanuts this is a neccessary cost to stay in business.  Not practical in a lot of situations.  Texas will never be rid of hogs.

We have hog hunting available south of Dallas-Ft.Worth and in west Texas near Odessa if any of you are needing a place to go.

Thanks JDB,

Finally someone putting a sinceable reason to the high cost of hog hunting rather than making the land owner sound like a greedy money grabber.

I find your assessment much better than the "because the next fellow will pay to play".

Troy

Instead of paying the bounty to the hunter, pay the bounty to the landowner. To get the bounty, the landowner has to contact fish & game and they'll send "certified" hunters out who will hunt responsibly. Hunters who want to hunt pigs for free to fish & game and sits and talks and gets an address to go to. Boom-badda-bing.

Hunting can and will eradicate pigs eg dogs,bows,trapping and boomsticks. If money is there people will jump on the band wagon as for killing them it's the same as shooting rabbits up in Cromwell we carnt take a bow got to take boomstick and we carnt pick them up. He said you are here to kill nothing else so that's what we do 400 to 500 rabbits a day is the norm. Or you could do what our government does and just 1080 the pigs.

one tx county tried bounty's one year. they ran out of money in less than a month and the bounty was cheap!!! If you have insurance, traps,dogs, suppressors and night vision you can hunt a lot of tx land for free. Actually it has nothing to do with hunting,ethics or any of the such, the game is too kill as many as you can. We killed over 500 in 1 weekend(helicopter) on a certain ranch in south tx earlier in the year.(shot 5000 rounds of ammo!!!) And we take lots out of town and on golf courses as well. I have shot them out of peoples yards off golf courses at night with them never even knowing what was going on.(300 black out and a good can take care of the problem). Lots of hogs were spread over the state to introduce something else to hunt especially in e tx because there were not many deer in deep etx in the 60's-through almost 1990. I know people who went to south tx and caught hogs with dogs and brought them back and turned them loose. old time deer dog hunters couldnt hunt deer with dogs no more so they brought in hogs to run and shoot like they did deer. then they started just cutting boars and turning them loose and trying to grow trophy hogs, letting sows go etc. We do depredation on a national wildlife refuge and even at that some of the guys I know will turn the boars back loose in the marsh so they will be big fat and have some cutters on them the next time they are caught.

Poison is not the way to go, i have seen several try it and end up killing every thing but the hogs. I have seen farmers use timec and kill everything around, they got a few hogs but killed way more non target animals.

If the state would pay the pro's the battle would go a lot better but dont know if that will ever happen. wish they would do like what my dad did in australia, they would pay for all the shells and wages to shoot as many parrots as you could possibly kill. Hogs aint going nowhere anytime soon, people have to stop treating them like game and dont let it bother them to shoot them on sight no matter where you hit them as long as they die!!! a good hog is a dead hog if you recover them or not!! (I like to eat them as well).

QuoteOriginally posted by robtattoo:
I think half the problem we had here in TN (and this from someone who's only been here 3 years) was the restrictive hunting regulations regarding hogs. The TWRA was complaining about the ever increasing population, but the regs stated that hunters could only legally take wild hogs & feral pigs during Deer season & only with the legal weapon at the time (ie no rifle hunting for hogs during bow season) That gave us 1/3 of the year to legally take pigs from public land, meaning the pigs had the chance to breed twice during the 'off' season!
This year, the TWRA has de-regulated hogs from a game species to an invasive nuisance species. 'Awesome' you'd think, but they have also banned hunting them on public land, except for a few select WMAs ??? To me this makes no sense at all. Either de-regulate them properly & let us hunt them year-round by any means nescesarry or ban their hunting altogether on public land. Landowners can now slaughter hogs wholesale, by any & all legal means & are allowed to admit 10 named hunters per year to hunt their land, which is fantastic as far as the control issue goes. However, we simply cannot legally take a pig on 90% of our public land which is where the TWRAs concern should surely be aimed.

The situation is much the same in Louisiana. The state WF wants more killed, but the regulations result in all public lands being pretty much a sanctuary for hogs, and as long as the current regs remain, hog populations will never decrease. The feds are more proactive. At least one NWR has a rifle season for them in March this year.

I would think that part of the solution lies in education and media. Take my state (Ohio) which has a budding pig population and the problems that go with them. Ohio needs to continue to educate ALL OHIOANS on the pig invasion and what they can do about it. They DO need to make it very clear that pigs are a danger to Ohio's wildlife and ecosystems, and that they are an invasive species to eradicate. Ohio should make this abundantly clear to every person who buys a license or hits the ODNR website for anything. The attitude must be "Pigs are not game animals. Feral pigs are a danger to our wildlife populations and should be destroyed on sight".

This same educational (and attitudinal) approach should be extended to all rural landowners and farmers. "Notify the DNR, and continue to kill as many as possible".

Part of the war is getting people OFF the fence about their feelings toward pigs. Like most of you, I have no problem killing a rat or mouse by any means at my disposal. Vermin, simply put. Feral pigs in Ohio need the same treatment, and that's my personal plan should they ever arrive at my farm. I submit that if pigs carried diseases that threatened our deer herd, the state and our hunters would kill them like roaches.

Maybe one other strategy is this: Make it illegal to possess a feral pig, dead or alive.

Alive, agreed, dead, all you've done is insure that a guy can't put a dead hog to good use feeding someone.

Let's start blasting and fill the larders at some of these food pantries that are constantly hurting.

QuoteOriginally posted by Kevin Dill:
I would think that part of the solution lies in education and media. Take my state (Ohio) which has a budding pig population and the problems that go with them. Ohio needs to continue to educate ALL OHIOANS on the pig invasion and what they can do about it. They DO need to make it very clear that pigs are a danger to Ohio's wildlife and ecosystems, and that they are an invasive species to eradicate. Ohio should make this abundantly clear to every person who buys a license or hits the ODNR website for anything. The attitude must be "Pigs are not game animals. Feral pigs are a danger to our wildlife populations and should be destroyed on sight".

This same educational (and attitudinal) approach should be extended to all rural landowners and farmers. "Notify the DNR, and continue to kill as many as possible".

Part of the war is getting people OFF the fence about their feelings toward pigs. Like most of you, I have no problem killing a rat or mouse by any means at my disposal. Vermin, simply put. Feral pigs in Ohio need the same treatment, and that's my personal plan should they ever arrive at my farm. I submit that if pigs carried diseases that threatened our deer herd, the state and our hunters would kill them like roaches.

Maybe one other strategy is this: Make it illegal to possess a feral pig, dead or alive.

Being another Ohioan I 100% agree. The DNR in my opinion is taking the right steps but they need to do more to educate like you said. DNR has gone on record saying they DONT want pigs in Ohio. Now it's time to back that up a little more with flyers,education and whatever else it takes to get those animals outta here.

QuoteOriginally posted by Jeff Strubberg:
Alive, agreed, dead, all you've done is insure that a guy can't put a dead hog to good use feeding someone.

Let's start blasting and fill the larders at some of these food pantries that are constantly hurting.

Absolutely  :clapper:

Apparently, feral hogs are making their way into southern Iowa.  Iowa DNR has a some info on them on their website.  They urge hunters to shoot them on sight.  I am not sure how big a problem it is.

Wow, very interesting thread going here. Obviously, it's a complicated topic.

I do like the idea of somehow killing two birds with one stone....Turning an overabundance of hogs into food for hungry people sounds good to me!

I'm really hoping to get at least one before spring.

For those states which have pigs and wish they didn't:

My point is do NOT in any way make the feral pig out to be a good animal. Educate hunters to understand that these are NOT game animals and should not be treated as such. Discourage sport hunting but encourage a "kill on sight" mentality. As for using them to feed the hungry; all well and good in theory, but show how you would realistically put tens of thousands of pounds of wild pig meat in the mouths of one state's people. If you treat this animal as a commodity, it begins to have value for certain people...and you're back to the drawing board again.

Tough though it may be, the best results would come from having every willing person with a weapon kill pigs like they would insects. Apply mercy to the ecosystem...not the animal.

I'm trying to imagine an elk hunter at 10,000 ft smiling as he admires a wet sow and ten piglets rooting through the elk wallow he's watching. Nice.

Some hunters look at hogs as a problem. Others look at them as another option for something to hunt since most states do not consider them as game and have no regs on them.

I've seen what they can go to the land and problems they cause.

I also look at them as another spieces to hunt.

I don't have to feed my family with what I kill so I consider hunting as a sport. So, I guess you can say I'm one of those caught on the fence.

As stated earlier I've tried to help from time to time when some farmer was having a problem, but more times than not I've been turned away. I've even offered to sign a release of liability. Most times when I've offered and been turned down, the farmer said they would rather have conservation take care of it.

Conservation says they feel like they are trying by sending hunters to help, but if the farmer turns away the help what else can they do? Most CO's have more pressing matters to deal with.

Since moving to OH I've yet to even see a hog or any sign of one. I've looked at the DNR site and it shows hog sighting in my area.

I've talked to the Conservation for my area and they say the few reports they have are most likely farm hogs that have slipped out of the pen.

Troy

I wonder if there are any health reg/issues regarding donating the meat to food pantries, etc.  Maybe some special processing requirements?

Details....I'm sure that logistically it would be a big pain in the ass to try to feed hungry people with wild pigs taken by hunters in the woods.
There are definitely a lot of legal and logistical barriers to that idea.

I used to work at a farm where we would end up composting tons of perfectly good organic produce even though there was a food bank up the road a couple miles. It always used to piss me off, but there was no easy way to get the food to who needed it. Wild pigs would be even more tricky than tomatoes though...

we have done dog hunting contest and donated the meat and that works to an extent on using them, you can donate meat from trapped hogs too, but when it comes to really putting a hurt on them and gunning them from the air there is no time to pick them up or even mark them as you are chasing others, and you would have to have a whole team of folks on atvs to to keep up and wouldnt be able to get to alot of them. best thing is shoot them when you see them regargless of what it is with or where you hit them.

its fun to hunt them and they do eat great, but you will never get a handle on them doing that even patterning them with cameras and hunting all night long(though if your on a big field with some thermal gear and suppressors you can do some damage). they are vermin and have to be treated as such.

the hard part with controlling them is they move so much and are so nocturnal. they are here today and gone tomorrow and that makes it really tough. doing deer and elk depredation work it is easy to take them day or night, hogs you never know. I had a group tearing a hay field up the last couple of nights but couldnt get out there until last night, stayed half the night and only 1 boar came out by himself to meet the bullet and i had pictures of at least 30 from the previous couple of days.

I guess the main thing most have to remember is that this is a war and its not about being sporting or ethical, its about killing every one you come across regardless of means or methods as long as they are legal and do not harm non target species.

"I guess the main thing most have to remember is that this is a war and its not about being sporting or ethical, its about killing every one you come across regardless of means or methods as long as they are legal and do not harm non target species."

And may I say Amen and Amen! The answer is not "hunting" pigs and treating them as a worthy species where they are not wanted. The answer is "eradication". Part of accomplishing that is giving people NO reason to want feral hogs or pigs in their state.

"Love thine enemy."

QuoteOriginally posted by monterey:
I wonder if there are any health reg/issues regarding donating the meat to food pantries, etc.  Maybe some special processing requirements?

Many years ago I did depredation here in Ca for the state parks and we used to give the meat to the church soup kitchens- they loved it.

Then the ACLU stepped in and said we could not give the same meat -that my family and friends were eating -to the church since it didn't have an FDA meat stamp on it. Too costly to get the meat inspections..... We ended up digging a big trench and burying the carcuses- it just made me sick, what a waste!

And.......ACLU again = stupid interference!   The Oregon invasive species biologist told me to buy a license and kill them all.  No recovery required.  Southern  Oregon has a few hog groups that migrated in from northern California.

theres some blm here in ca and forest service stuff where all motorized stuff is banned rough ground accesable with horses .so im  learning to ride .when im agood rider and im learnig quickly i think were going after them.i get to ride the mustang .i want to mount my quiver on the saddle somehow .any horseback riders ot there that have done that?

Here in the Texas Hill country we have a ton of pigs.  Every year there is more and more.  Texas parks and wildlife stated that you would have to kill 70% of the population every year just to maintain the numbers.  In truth I doubt even 8% are killed and or trapped.  Hogs are smart and learn quickly.  Around here donated pork is not accepted because of disease, so most people leave the big ones laying in the field and butcher the small ones.  We hunt them at night with bows and its alot of fun.  The flip side is that they destroy farm/grass land and overpopulate quickly.  I don't think its a problem thats going away.  Its here to stay and probably only going to get worse.

I dread the day when feral hogs show up on our hunting lease. I figure it is just a matter of time. Although if I were on a homestead trying to make a living out in the wild I would probably turn some hogs loose. You can eat your way through a deer herd pretty fast. I think the hogs would bred faster than you could eat them.

Just a thought:
Lets get out there and take them out!

Ross

I like having them around.   Good to hunt all year round, tailor made for bowhunting, every hog is a trophy, and they taste great.

They sure haven't affected the deer population in my area. I've yet to see a deer root for grubs, or a hog eating kudzu or greenbriar leaves.   I think the biggest competition between hogs and deer is gonna be at the corn feeders.  

In My Area.....hogs don't do much damage.  It's hard even for hogs to screw up steep terrain comprised mostly of rocky, sandy soil filled with pine and blackjack oak.

But, I'm aware other places do have problems.  And I hate to hear about anybody losing money to a feral critter.  But have any of these guys decided to break open their checkbook and do some fence modifications?  Maybe run a hotwire or two?  There's ways, but it might require some financial thought.  For the amount of money some farmers spend on equipment every year, they can afford to pay some local high school kids to bury some wire paneling in the ground to keep hogs from digging under. Me and 4 other fellas did that back in '95 around a 400 acre peanut field in exchange for beer when I was 18, and that land is still hog free.  Just takes some elbow grease, some money, and some gullible 18 year olds.

They have been here 500 years and aren't going anywhere soon.
They are destructive, just as many native species are. I certainly don't support introducing them to new areas, however.
One thing is for sure, they are a great game animal, possibly the best, especially for the bowhunter.Just my 2 cents.

I just read the forum from page 1 to 8 and IMO I think educating the people to treat the hogs like pest is the best way to get rid of them. The bounty thing sounds great but like one person said, money runs out quick.

I've heard people here in KS talk about seeing a hog, but I've never seen one. It's illegal to hunt hogs here and I think that's a very good thing. I do think criminals that call themselves "hunters" are responsible for the spread of some hogs. I've hunted them once and it was a blast. I've also seen what they can do to fields and was glad that I was 10 hours away from home. If I ever see a hog I will shoot it, leave it lay, and then call the game warden.

Yep they are  bad bad bad but only hunt them during certain seasons and with certain weapons..... Come on do you want them controlled or not. NC is finally coming around but still has a way to go.

I think we should introduce wolves.  

QuoteOriginally posted by smoke1953:
I think we should introduce wolves.      

Exactly! Introducing new species works everytime. I can't think of any drawbacks, especially with wolves.

http://feralhogs.tamu.edu/2011/05/agrilife-today-busting-feral-hog-myths/

Lots of bs surrouning feral hog numbers but  we kill 20 a weekend at my place.

QuoteOriginally posted by Montanawidower:
I have the solution... We'll give you some of our wolves!    We've got plenty   :)  

Same here we have to many, also yotes !

i live on the edge of a large timber co holding part of it includes the last virgin redwoods in the us and is protected .i d love to see hogs on it but they would not make it it is thick in most places . hasnt got enough of what hogs eat.i envey you guys in texas with all your hogs.

Wild horses are liken to pigs.  There are "wild" horses here that have brands on them. Too costly to keep them so they just turn them loose.  They cover a lot of ground and eat the same vegetation as deer, elk and antelope.  In July a stallion will stake out a water hole for his band, and will allow nothing else to water.  Seen them chase lopes away with hoofs flying
These are not native animals as some you have you believe.  These are just feral a animals  with a bleeding heart following. Humans toy with nature at their- our peril
I love to hunt hogs and used to hunt them cheaply in CA, but greed over took common sense and it cost a fortune now.  Common sense ain't all that common. I believe there is an answer, but will vary by region and habitat. What works in TX will not in KY

Luck to us and the future of hunti g