Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Hogs in Montana

And I'm not talking about the scoreboard tavern on Friday night. It sounds like the Canadian invasion has started



"The carcass of a dead pig found west of Lake Koocanusca prompted the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) to hold meetings in both Libby and Eureka last week, as the report reignited concerns that feral swine may eventually enter Montana from Canada.

DOL officials stated in a press release that the pig has not yet been confirmed feral, although it has features often associated with feral pigs — including tusks and long hair.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is currently testing samples taken from the carcass. In a public meeting held in Libby on Sept. 22, Tahnee Szymanski, assistant state veterinarian with the DOL, said the report concerned a “pretty degraded carcass.”

Although it is obviously some type of pig, test results may not be conclusive as to whether or not it was a feral swine that was found on the Kootenai National Forest.

It is important to note that feral swine, which roam across southern Canada, have never been confirmed in Montana, Szymanski said. Still, feral swine are invasive in many central and southern U.S states.

Originally, the European boar was brought to Canada in 1980. Domestic boars were released soon after and some survived in the wild despite the harsh northern climate. The pigs' ability to reproduce has earned them a reputation as one of the world’s most invasive species, according to Craig Glazier of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services.

Glazier noted that the goal of states with emerging pig populations is to eliminate them, something that recreational hunting has never been able to accomplish. Instead of hunting, baited corral traps are the preferred method of elimination for invasive populations.

“You can’t barbecue your way out of this,” Glazier said.

Szymanski said Colorado tried hunting as a way of controlling or eliminating feral pigs, but it wasn’t effective.

The pig carcass in question was reported to the DOL in August, a recent press release stated. The DOL’s local investigation revealed no known owner, and the closest known domestic pigs were located 12 miles from the carcass, Szymanski said.

While there are some genetic differences between northern and southern swine populations, the fear is the same — that once feral swine populations are established their population will increase rapidly. According to Szymanski a single pregnant sow is enough to establish a viable population.

Where the species spreads a hunting culture also follows, Szymanski said. However, despite the perceived benefit that large numbers of feral swine may bring for hunters, the actual impact feral swine would have on the environment is devastating, Szymanski said.

Feral swine can destroy important habitats and their wallows can be disruptive to wetlands or aquatic vegetation.

Feral swine are omnivores, meaning they’ll eat plants and animals. They prey on the nests, eggs and young of native ground nesting birds, such as grouse. They’ll eat deer fawns and actively hunt small mammals and reptiles.

Feral swine also harm crops, spread invasive species and diseases.

The DOL investigates reports of feral swine and members of the public are welcome to aid the agency in detection efforts by reporting feral pig sightings. The Wild Spotter app allows hunters, hikers or other citizens to map invasive species. People using trail cameras are encouraged to report sightings as well.

Reporting sightings is recommended, as hunting or trapping feral swine is prohibited in the state of Montana. Hunting feral swine can teach the animals hunting behaviors or disperse the animals further, according to Szymanski.

Additionally, though there has been a documented instance where feral swine were transported to Montana by a would-be hunter, many feral swine reports are for owned domestic animals.

Those who think they have spotted a feral swine are asked to call the Squeal on Pigs hotline at 406-444-2976, or visit the website SQUEALonPIGSMT.com."







https://dailyinterlake.com/news/2022/oct/01/officials-sound-alarm-feral-swine/

That won't be good.

lots of feral pigs or escapees have been and are in the area between Edmonton and Grande Prairie AB that was 7 years ago that i know of.

norm

In about 10 years they have covered Georgia. We used to have to go to South Georgia to kill one now they are in every county.

Stormin Norman;
Good evening to you sir, I hope that the weekend was a good one for you and you're well.

Since Lake Koocanusa is south of Grasmere and on this side of the big hills, so likely not originally Alberta based swine, I'll offer a wee bit of BC info on them.

We can hunt/shoot wild pigs anytime and anywhere on public/crown land here in BC with no bag limit, but we are required to have a valid hunting license. I'd have to look it up, but my guess is that most of the farmers and ranchers can and would shoot them without a license and wouldn't raise any eyebrows from the MoE even if they were inclined to report it.

As a non agricultural hunter, I'm required to report any pig shooting done in BC.

They, that is to say the MoE are pretty clear that they don't want them here and thus the regulations being as they are.

That doesn't mean I believe the pigs couldn't become nocturnal and survive in some of the valleys, but it doesn't seem to be happening here as yet.

In talking to some of the folks involved with pig control on the prairies, I was given the impression that some of the numbers coming out of some of the universities doing the studies were grossly over inflated and downright imaginative in some cases. The folks telling me this suggested it was easier to continue to get funding for feral pig study if they were the new "boogieman" so to speak.

There were some municipalities in Saskatchewan who did have some hog issues and they dealt with them "internally" that is to say they chose not to involve the Saskatchewan MoE and the problem was dealt with. I'll admit that they didn't have big river valleys in the cases I'm speaking of. Apparently when the hogs get into the coulees and breaks in the river banks they're tougher to dig out for sure.

Alberta seemed to drag it's feet a bit as to whether to classify feral pigs as "escaped livestock" or "invasive species", but hopefully some Alberta members will chime in and update us on the current status there.

Anyways, I'm not entirely sure when the article says that hogs are "roaming across southern Canada" is entirely accurate information is all.

Hopefully that makes some sense and was useful.

All the best this week and good luck on your hunts.

Dwayne

Seems a little odd.

Winters with a frozen ground and a few feet of snows got to slow down any rapid population growth rate.

What do they do, tunnel around in the snow all winter?

Seem to do ok in Europe/Russia and it is cold there. I have no idea if they are the same lineage as those pigs though.

Regards

Send in “da bears”

Ive seen one video where a whole sounder were sleeping in a pile for warmth completely buried by snow.

Having seen many times where they’ve rooted up rocky ground in the Texas Hill Country I would guess snow would be easy.

One of our members here who can be trusted works for the MT Dept. of Livestock. When the alarm went up a few years ago they flew the northern parts of the state extensively looking for pigs. Zero, zip, nada. Same can be said from any sources on the ground. No sign. The pigs aren't here, and as for them being spread across southern Canada...haven't heard or read a single report to that effect.

Well Montana land owners need to take a page from Texas land owners. Post up your land tight, charge the piss out of guys who are willing to hunt them, $300-500 a day per gun. Offer trophy packages. Yeah that’ll help fix the problem. lol.

In case you missed this part.

They've gotten bad where we hunt, you see more hit by cars than deer. My tractor guy was cussing me saying he about got bucked off the tractor 10 times going in hog ruts mowing a field. We have one called the couch pig, 500lbs or so roaming around. Got 4 different groups, 33 total on camera in one day.

Learn to recognize sarcasm.

I don’t see how they could survive up there. Trapping does no good anyway

I didn't think they could srvive cold climates.

Just more lunch food for the Wolves, Lions and Grizzlies.

I hope you guys up north don't get them.

We were killing pigs 15 years ago on our property, which is not far off of the Ouachita River bottom, and many folks around the parish (county) were commenting about how they were glad they didn't have to fight that battle. Fast forward to now, and pretty much everybody in the parish is fighting them to some extent, whether they hunt upland pine, farm land, cut-overs, or swamp bottoms. Who knows what it will be like in another 15 years, and LA is just one of many states in this position.

I run about 10 cameras during deer season, but only 2 of them are cell-cameras. Pics below from last week:

250yds from the house.



1200yds from the house.



So I moved the cell-cams at the end of the week.

Moved the first one about 2 miles.



Moved the second one about 4 miles.

On a positive note, we're noticing that a dominant whitetail buck will generally put up with a hog in his feeding area. I got this photo about 250yds behind the house a couple seasons ago. Years ago, the deer would leave out when the pigs showed up. Today's deer have grown up with the pigs here.



My cousin killed a really nice 10pt this Sunday evening (archery), and he'd been bummed all week, as hogs had just moved into his bowstand location. He'd been trying to distance himself from the bottoms for early-season to avoid the hogs. Nonetheless, he arrowed a big pig early in the afternoon, which ran off the herd. The 10pt came in afterward and he got him also.

They would just need cover.


My pigs went through last winter with no heat at all. Just some stray to lay in and protection from the wind.


We dont have any cover here, so I dont think they would survive out in the open. In some areas where it is marginally less terrible...they would do fine.