By JANET McCONNAUGHEY, Associated Press 5 hours ago Eight years into a U.S. program to control damage from feral pigs, the invasive animals are still a multibillion-dollar plague on farmers, wildlife and the environment NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Eight years into a U.S. program to control damage from feral pigs, the invasive animals with big appetites and snouts that uproot anything that smells good are still a multibillion-dollar plague on farmers, wildlife and the environment.
These prolific hogs gone wild have been wiped out in 11 of the 41 states where they were reported in 2014 or 2015, and there are fewer in parts of the other 30.
But despite more than $100 million in federal money, an estimated 6 million to 9 million feral swine still ravage the landscape nationwide. They tear up planted fields, wallowing out huge bare depressions. They out-eat deer and turkeys — and also eat turkey eggs and even fawns. They carry parasites and disease and pollute streams and rivers with their feces.
Total U.S. damages are estimated at a minimum $2.5 billion a year.
Adam McLendon, whose family farms about 8,000 acres (3,200 hectares) of peanuts, corn and cotton in several counties in southwestern Georgia, estimates feral pigs have cost them more than $100,000 a year for the past 15 years.
That’s about what one of Mississippi’s two levee boards pays each year to trap and kill feral hogs and to repair damage from their rooting, commissioner Hank Burdine estimated. “That is nominal compared to what we would have if we didn’t take care of it and had a flood,” he added.
Near the Red River in north Texas, hogs are so hard on corn that Layne Chapman and his neighbors no longer even try to grow it.
“I can remember the first day someone called me and said, ‘You’ve got a pig in your wheat field,’ and I said, ‘No we don’t have pigs.’ That was in 2006,” Chapman said. He stopped planting corn in 2016.
The animals root out rows of freshly planted peanuts and corn, leaving huge ruts that must be smoothed before the field can be replanted -- weeks after the best planting time. Hogs return to cornfields when the crop is ripening, trampling stalks, taking bites out of ears and wallowing to cool their sweatless bodies.
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The story continues in the link, if y'all are interested. A lengthy and expensive war.
I have a special place. It’s verifiable hogs have been there since the 1600’s with the spanish. They have a free pass with me except the 35-50 pounders for eats.
They have sustained the Comanche and the settlers during good and bad times. They taste better than any deer.
I have a special place. It’s verifiable hogs have been there since the 1600’s with the spanish. They have a free pass with me except the 35-50 pounders for eats.
They have sustained the Comanche and the settlers during good and bad times. They taste better than any deer.
So you don't shoot feral hogs because you are sentimental towards them?
Not heard that before.
That could change after you run your vehicle through a sounder of them in the highway at night...
I’m damn familiar with any sounder you can come up with hoss. Thats why I don’t drive at night.
Most things especially in Texas like feeders and such are documented to increase the population of feral hogs. I have no hate for them after understanding them.
My brand new Tacoma is in for a deer hit right now and that was daylight.
It is what it is and just stupid to think you can eradicate hogs by shooting them. Luckily my hogs are so remote from civilization and well fed on acorns and such they are good eats.
Yo mo-fo’s keep growing the crops and I’ll keep eating 40lb fat pigs for free.
I’m damn familiar with any sounder you can come up with hoss. Thats why I don’t drive at night.
Most things especially in Texas like feeders and such are documented to increase the population of feral hogs. I have no hate for them after understanding them.
My brand new Tacoma is in for a deer hit right now and that was daylight.
Wow, the pig damage around me, gulf coast, is terrible.. Rooting up pastures to the point you won't drive across them.. And I've seen farmers in the same boat as those described in the article, just quit farming grain..
I was down in Lake Charles La. last year, at the little airport. At some expense they built a chain link fence around the airport. The hogs burrow under the fence and root up the airport. The guys will go out at night with ARs and shoot 15 hogs. The guy had a $2,000 night scope.
Wow, the pig damage around me, gulf coast, is terrible.. Rooting up pastures to the point you won't drive across them.. And I've seen farmers in the same boat as those described in the article, just quit farming grain..
I get called by a few farmers when they plant and plow. Kill the hell out of them.
You ought to be on a tractor shredding pastures where the hog damage is bad... I carry an AR on the tractor to kill them when I see them. Coyotes too.
I’ve been trapping them on the place I hunt for 11 years. I’m not seeing near as many, but it wouldn’t take long for them to make a comeback if I quit.
Why weren’t feral hogs a huge problem 30-40-50+ years ago? They certainly were around, their mating habits and Gestation period hasn’t changed since the beginning of time. My dad and his buddies were hunting feral hogs throughout Florida and up into Georgia back in the 50’s it’s seems they would have had just as explosive numbers back then. Or did they just have more wild places to inhabit back then and less people to encounter them.
They have been around since the sixteen hundreds in my area and real men used to do hog drives to market with dogs just like cattle drives.
People hunted more and ate more wild game too, then cattle became a thang.
When I read the stories and accounts of how they used to round up these feral hogs to drive to market out of this rough country even as late as the 1800’s and early 1900’s, I realized men ain’t da same no mo.
So for many of you immigrants, these hogs have been in America longer than your forefathers. That makes them more American than most of you.
I’m curious what 11 states they were eradicated in. They certainly weren’t in my neck of the woods.
No feral hogs in Iowa. We have deer. We don't need the feral hogs. I just got a call from my renter a couple of days ago. He took a hit on his corn in one of my fields. It's time to go deer hunting.
Why weren’t feral hogs a huge problem 30-40-50+ years ago? They certainly were around, their mating habits and Gestation period hasn’t changed since the beginning of time. My dad and his buddies were hunting feral hogs throughout Florida and up into Georgia back in the 50’s it’s seems they would have had just as explosive numbers back then. Or did they just have more wild places to inhabit back then and less people to encounter them.
I remember reading that once their population reached a critical point they explode population-wise.
Why weren’t feral hogs a huge problem 30-40-50+ years ago? They certainly were around, their mating habits and Gestation period hasn’t changed since the beginning of time. My dad and his buddies were hunting feral hogs throughout Florida and up into Georgia back in the 50’s it’s seems they would have had just as explosive numbers back then. Or did they just have more wild places to inhabit back then and less people to encounter them.
I remember reading that once their population reached a critical point they explode population-wise.
They mulitply like rats.
Time the sow has offspring #2. Bunch #1 is making more.
Seems i read or heard somewhere you gotta kill 80% to keep the population stable…
Why weren’t feral hogs a huge problem 30-40-50+ years ago? They certainly were around, their mating habits and Gestation period hasn’t changed since the beginning of time. My dad and his buddies were hunting feral hogs throughout Florida and up into Georgia back in the 50’s it’s seems they would have had just as explosive numbers back then. Or did they just have more wild places to inhabit back then and less people to encounter them
Can't speak for other places but a lot of the guys running them with dogs and catching them live were responsible for at least some of their spread here. They were catching them and releasing them on multiple peoples land. Then when some poor farmer starts having a hog problem guess who shows up claiming they can help do something about it. Yep, the same SOB's that dumped them out there in the first place. You only have to dump a few pairs of male and females out on a place and within 5 years that person is going to start having a serious problem. The sows can have 2 liters a year with up to 10 or 12 per liter. The females of each liter are sexually mature when they reach 6 months of age. People eventually got wise to what some of these hog hunters were doing and a law was passed here making it illegal to bring hogs out of the woods alive. But sadly that was like closing the gap after the cows were all out.
The sows drop a litter in 3 months, 3 weeks and a few days according to one of the guys here on the fire from Oklahoma. My nephews live outside of Austin and one of these days I’m going down to hunt hogs. Talk to the Pastor at their weddings and he hunts deer but not hogs! And he’s a native Texan. Too busy tending his own flock.
But despite more than $100 million in federal money, an estimated 6 million to 9 million feral swine still ravage the landscape nationwide.
Total U.S. damages are estimated at a minimum $2.5 billion a year.
So despite your enthusiastic bleeding heart approach to feral hogs, you continue to lie about the facts. But, it's what you do. It's what you've always done.
How about you tell us what county you live in, and I can gather you some numbers there locally. I doubt you've ever set foot in Texas, let alone lived there.
Research also continues on ways to poison feral hogs without killing other animals, said Michael Marlow, assistant manager of the USDA program. The poison, sodium nitrite, is a preservative in bacon but keeps the blood of live pigs from carrying oxygen.
Trials this coming winter and spring will test whether birds can be kept away from dropped bait by using a less crumbly formulation, along with grates to keep crumbs out of reach and air-powered “scarymen” like air dancers used for store advertising, Marlow said.
But for now, two major control methods are aerial shooting and remote-controlled traps that send cellphone pictures when a hog sounder is inside.
Some states have legalized night hunting for feral swine. Derek Chisum, who grows peanuts, cotton and wheat in Hydro, Oklahoma, figures he has killed 120 to 150 a year since Oklahoma did so three years ago.
Since 2014, Idaho, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Maine, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, Wisconsin and Vermont have killed their small populations of feral pigs, though the program is still keeping a wary eye out in the last six states.
The worst-hit states — California, Oklahoma, Texas and Florida, where a runway collision with a pair of wild pigs totaled an F-16 fighter jet in 1988 — are still at the program's highest level, with more than 750,000 hogs. Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina put their populations at 100,000 to 750,000, though Hawaii has moved a level down.
The Texas population overall has been “fairly stable” at roughly 3 million since 2011, said Mike Bodenchuk, state director for USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS.
But statewide reduction, let alone eradication, is likely to be a long slog with tools and money available now, he said in a telephone interview.
That means killing a lot of swine, though a widely repeated figure -- that hogs are so prolific that 70% of those in a given area must be killed each year to keep numbers stable -- just isn’t right, said Kim Pepin, a research biologist at USDA’s National Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colorado.
I caught this bunch some years ago, mama pig was outside the pen. Of the 13 little piggies, 8 were females, plus the bigger pigs were female too. In a year, all the females could have little one of their own. We caught 31 that weekend
I caught this bunch some years ago, mama pig was outside the pen. Of the 13 little piggies, 8 were females, plus the bigger pigs were female too. In a year, all the females could have little one of their own. We caught 31 that weekend
That's an awful lot of pork to contend with. Do you just dig a big hole and bury them?
I have seen reports from guys who said wild pork doesn't taste good. I guess it depends on what they eat. The best meat I ever ate is the ham from a central Georgia wild hog, cooked for 10 hours on the smoker with pecan wood.
I have seen reports from guys who said wild pork doesn't taste good. I guess it depends on what they eat. The best meat I ever ate is the ham from a central Georgia wild hog, cooked for 10 hours on the smoker with pecan wood.
A lot of guys say the same about antelope. It's how you care for the meat. A properly cared for antelope is very good eating. We don't have wild hogs here but I'm betting it's the same deal.
But despite more than $100 million in federal money, an estimated 6 million to 9 million feral swine still ravage the landscape nationwide.
Total U.S. damages are estimated at a minimum $2.5 billion a year.
So despite your enthusiastic bleeding heart approach to feral hogs, you continue to lie about the facts. But, it's what you do. It's what you've always done.
How about you tell us what county you live in, and I can gather you some numbers there locally. I doubt you've ever set foot in Texas, let alone lived there.
I have seen reports from guys who said wild pork doesn't taste good. I guess it depends on what they eat. The best meat I ever ate is the ham from a central Georgia wild hog, cooked for 10 hours on the smoker with pecan wood.
A lot of guys say the same about antelope. It's how you care for the meat. A properly cared for antelope is very good eating. We don't have wild hogs here but I'm betting it's the same deal.
I've killed some very rank boars. Even younger ones... You can smell them before you walk up to them.
One was so bad I had to throw the gloves away I used to handle him, then pressure wash my UTV I loaded him in. It was bad. Real bad.
No way would I have been able to process, cook and eat those.
I have seen reports from guys who said wild pork doesn't taste good. I guess it depends on what they eat. The best meat I ever ate is the ham from a central Georgia wild hog, cooked for 10 hours on the smoker with pecan wood.
Hunting wild hogs was the catalyst that turned me against pork. My neighboring landowner and I killed a bunch over a long period of time over a rotting cow carcass. The hogs ate guts, the meat, then the hide and bones. After that they were digging the insects and worms that always gather on a dead animal. They eat dead fish and whatever they find. Hogs and alligators will eat things a buzzard won't eat after it gets too spoiled. Moses was right.
I have seen reports from guys who said wild pork doesn't taste good. I guess it depends on what they eat. The best meat I ever ate is the ham from a central Georgia wild hog, cooked for 10 hours on the smoker with pecan wood.
A lot of guys say the same about antelope. It's how you care for the meat. A properly cared for antelope is very good eating. We don't have wild hogs here but I'm betting it's the same deal.
I should have posted that as a question rather than a comment. From later posts, I gather that hormones can make older hogs a bit 'gamey'.
I haven't been around them all that much, but at the ranch I used to hunt on they had too many hogs so they wanted us to shoot them on sight.
The big boars were dragged to a spot where the coyotes would get 'em. They'd be mostly gone the next morning.
Most of the time they clean up the mess real good. That's what we depend on because there's no way we could clean and eat near the number of hogs we kill, so we drag them to a designated place and leave them. Buzzards and coyotes have a free meal.
Some hogs, the buzzards and coyotes won't touch though. Not sure why, but they leave them. I shot this boar in the video below, then staked out his carcass to shoot coyotes off of, and nothing would touch him. He finally decomposed away after a long time.
I was going to try pig hunting in CA one time, and contacted several land owners.
Apparently they didn't have that big a pig problem because every one of them wanted a trespass fee.
I ain't paying to help out with someone else's problem.
Bad enough that I would likely have had to buy a license (never got that far) in a state that diverted sheep guzzler money to promote mt lions numbers. Too dumb to realize more guzzlers mean more wildlife, including lions.
I like them when they are so small they fry up like chicken leg quarters
Not feral hogs, but there was a restaurant here that used to make what they called pork wings. They were bone-in small pork shanks that they cooked like Buffalo chicken wings. Like a big ol' meaty chicken wing.
They were outstanding but they don't make 'em any more. WIsh I had a source for those pork shanks.
I was going to try pig hunting in CA one time, and contacted several land owners.
Apparently they didn't have that big a pig problem because every one of them wanted a trespass fee.
I ain't paying to help out with someone else's problem.
Bad enough that I would likely have had to buy a license (never got that far) in a state that diverted sheep guzzler money to promote mt lions numbers. Too dumb to realize more guzzlers mean more wildlife, including lions.
As long as ranchers can get $500 a day from pig hunters,they are not going away
Yeah.
Thats the thing…
Farmer / Rancher / timber man “hogs gonna be the end of me”….
Want them killed? Sure. I offer trophy hog hunting for $350 a day…..
You dont want them gone too bad….
Don't confuse the two types.
Type 1 is into agriculture serious for a livelihood. Hogs threaten that livelihood, and they want them gone. You won't find Type 1 charging for hogs. They are the ones you see asking for help controlling them though. But, they may or may not let just anyone with an AR15 in to hunt them. I don't.
Type 2 is a hunting outfitter that sells hog hunts. THEY absolutely WANT hogs. The more the better. That way they can sell more hunts.
It's sad that intelligent people can't tell the difference in someone who sells hunts, and someone who wants hogs gone because they cost them money... But I see people confuse the two all the time.
FYI... It's the ones that sell hunts that have cause much of the hog spread. Why? Because they sell hunts! They want more hogs.
But I read that all ranchers bitch about hogs, but charge you hunt them. Total BS.
Show me ONE real rancher bitching about hogs, but charging.
Show me ONE hunting outfitter bitching about the number of hogs.
As long as ranchers can get $500 a day from pig hunters,they are not going away
Yeah.
Thats the thing…
Farmer / Rancher / timber man “hogs gonna be the end of me”….
Want them killed? Sure. I offer trophy hog hunting for $350 a day…..
You dont want them gone too bad….
Don't confuse the two types.
Type 1 is into agriculture serious for a livelihood. Hogs threaten that livelihood, and they want them gone. You won't find Type 1 charging for hogs. They are the ones you see asking for help controlling them though. But, they may or may not let just anyone with an AR15 in to hunt them. I don't.
Type 2 is a hunting outfitter that sells hog hunts. THEY absolutely WANT hogs. The more the better. That way they can sell more hunts.
It's sad that intelligent people can't tell the difference in someone who sells hunts, and someone who wants hogs gone because they cost them money... But I see people confuse the two all the time.
FYI... It's the ones that sell hunts that have cause much of the hog spread. Why? Because they sell hunts! They want more hogs.
But I read that all ranchers bitch about hogs, but charge you hunt them. Total BS.
Show me ONE real rancher bitching about hogs, but charging.
Show me ONE hunting outfitter bitching about the number of hogs.
I don't doubt it, Barry. I didn't contact folks (to my knowledge) advertising hog hunts. I contacted land owners directly, tho they may or may not have been in the business of selling hog hunts. It just wasn't apparent, perhaps.
I might have found someone who didn't require a tresspass fee had I kept at it- I just wasn't THAT interested.
Also, there is the landowner's liability and damage concerns related to some bozo they don't know. Can't blame them for that.
Their land, they can run it anyway they want, but I don't have to pay to play in their sandbox.
Unless I want to.
Did some google and found this. applies to all states tho.
Related What part of Texas has the most wild pigs? The Texas legislature.
I don't doubt it, Barry. I didn't contact folks (to my knowledge) advertising hog hunts. I contacted land owners directly, tho they may or may not have been in the business of selling hog hunts. It just wasn't apparent, perhaps.
I might have found someone who didn't require a tresspass fee had I kept at it- I just wasn't THAT interested.
Also, there is the landowner's liability and damage concerns related to some bozo they don't know. Can't blame them for that.
Their land, they can run it anyway they want, but I don't have to pay to play in their sandbox.
Unless I want to.
Lots of ranches that lease the hunting for deer let the hunters hunt hogs too. Many turn away other hunters if that's part of the deal. But if they don't do the hogs some damage, I've had them call me to come kill hogs. Usually after deer season is over, as to not interfere with deer hunting. My hog hunting land picks up quite a bit after deer season ends.
There are many hunters that would rather kill a big hog than a big deer, what ever floats your boat is ok with me. Rio7
I was/am one of those folk. A big lone boar is smarter and a better challenge than an old buck. I learned just how quiet you need to be and I also learned to call them up with the help of Glen Guess and Convergent calls.
I also discovered a pair of your woman’s dirty panties and a bottle of her piss will get you a trophy. Wish I were joking but I ain’t!
I read a couple other things, too. One guy has permission to hunt several properties, each with it's own restrictions and requirements. He says he has a 95% refusal rate when asking.
Another guy made note that folks (like rockinbar's clients perhaps), don't want guys like me to come out and shoot one hog and leave for parts unknown, or one or two a year for bacon and chops. They want guys that will come out once or twice a month and shoot a dozen or more, when feasible. Makes sense too.
Certainly not someone who bought an AR and two 30 round magazines yesterday....
I have met very few folks that have a high multiple kill rate on a sounder at one time. They usually scatter so fast most average shooters don’t get a second shot.
Conditions have to be right.
My highest one time kill is 17 with a single shot 12 gauge chasing them around a valley.
There are thousands of feral hogs around where I sit right now, all on public land. There is no agricultural or supplemental feeding. There are a few hardcore kids with dogs and mud boats that hunt them a little, but switch cane marsh is hell to navigate. About the only ones that die are the ones you see crossing the highway every night.
There are thousands of feral hogs around where I sit right now, all on public land. There is no agricultural or supplemental feeding. There are a few hardcore kids with dogs and mud boats that hunt them a little, but switch cane marsh is hell to navigate. About the only ones that die are the ones you see crossing the highway every night.
Hogs killed that woman in her driveway out that way couple years ago.
Probably the largest hog concentration in Texas is north of Bolivar Peninsula.
As long as ranchers can get $500 a day from pig hunters,they are not going away
Yeah.
Thats the thing…
Farmer / Rancher / timber man “hogs gonna be the end of me”….
Want them killed? Sure. I offer trophy hog hunting for $350 a day…..
You dont want them gone too bad….
Don't confuse the two types.
Type 1 is into agriculture serious for a livelihood. Hogs threaten that livelihood, and they want them gone. You won't find Type 1 charging for hogs. They are the ones you see asking for help controlling them though. But, they may or may not let just anyone with an AR15 in to hunt them. I don't.
Type 2 is a hunting outfitter that sells hog hunts. THEY absolutely WANT hogs. The more the better. That way they can sell more hunts.
It's sad that intelligent people can't tell the difference in someone who sells hunts, and someone who wants hogs gone because they cost them money... But I see people confuse the two all the time.
FYI... It's the ones that sell hunts that have cause much of the hog spread. Why? Because they sell hunts! They want more hogs.
But I read that all ranchers bitch about hogs, but charge you hunt them. Total BS.
Show me ONE real rancher bitching about hogs, but charging.
Show me ONE hunting outfitter bitching about the number of hogs.
Thanks for straightening me out…
The part of Ms I’m from has very little farming. That’s all up in the delta.
I have met very few folks that have a high multiple kill rate on a sounder at one time. They usually scatter so fast most average shooters don’t get a second shot.
Conditions have to be right.
My highest one time kill is 17 with a single shot 12 gauge chasing them around a valley.
There are some hog killers out there for sure. I was really commenting on the land owners that weren’t looking for the average hunter to come kill hogs because they are fairly ineffective.
I haven't been around them all that much, but at the ranch I used to hunt on they had too many hogs so they wanted us to shoot them on sight.
The big boars were dragged to a spot where the coyotes would get 'em. They'd be mostly gone the next morning.
Most of the time they clean up the mess real good. That's what we depend on because there's no way we could clean and eat near the number of hogs we kill, so we drag them to a designated place and leave them. Buzzards and coyotes have a free meal.
Some hogs, the buzzards and coyotes won't touch though. Not sure why, but they leave them. I shot this boar in the video below, then staked out his carcass to shoot coyotes off of, and nothing would touch him. He finally decomposed away after a long time.
I’ve done the same. Work wknd at ranch before season. Killed a real thick rank boar. He was horrible. Drug him up next to a tank battery. Nothing, and I mean nothing touched him the whole season. He just decomposed naturally. Never seen it before.
Before I stopped hating them I would wound the big sow and the others wouldn’t go too far sometimes. They would scatter and return as long as she was moving and making noise.
I was going to try pig hunting in CA one time, and contacted several land owners.
Apparently they didn't have that big a pig problem because every one of them wanted a trespass fee.
I ain't paying to help out with someone else's problem.
😖!!!!
"I'll only hunt 'em for free!" are the people that tear down fences, destroy crops and pasture, leave gates open and litter up the place. Even shoot livestock! Without some "skin in the game", those people can cause more destruction than the hogs.
My buddy shot a 450 pound boar, got him right in the neck with a 30-06. Dead Right There.
That hog was nasty. We noticed the meat stunk when we were gutting him. We just ground up a couple pounds of sausage. When we cooked the sausage in the frying pan, it made the kitchen stink so bad, we had to walk out of the kitchen. We threw the sausage out in the yard, and the dog let out a howl and ran off. Dog wouldn't touch it.
I did kill a 105 pound boar, with a 1911 Colt, and that meat was pretty good. But my favorite was a 100 pound central Georgia sow. Good Lord, best meat I ever ate.
There can be serious issues when you turn people you don't know very well loose with high powered rifles on your place. It almost always does not turn out well when you allow someone free hunting rights.
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