What Can Be Done To Curb The Wild Hog Population?

[RWS]

That is a regular pig sale. the owner told me awhile back that they werent supposed supposed to sell feral hogs that have been caught.

the catch is, (he did not tell me this part, but...)you can take any kind of hog and sell it if you dont tell them you caught it.

and yes, asian people are the biggest buyers of them. apparently, that's their favorite kind of pork. but it seems to be mostly laotians. (SP?)

sometimes they sell pretty good, sometimes they dont bring enough to be worth the hassle.

 

[crg1372]

That is a regular pig sale. the owner told me awhile back that they werent supposed supposed to sell feral hogs that have been caught.

the catch is, (he did not tell me this part, but...)you can take any kind of hog and sell it if you dont tell them you caught it.

and yes, asian people are the biggest buyers of them. apparently, that's their favorite kind of pork. but it seems to be mostly laotians. (SP?)

sometimes they sell pretty good, sometimes they dont bring enough to be worth the hassle.

Ahh..gotcha. Always thought it was probably illegal to do so with all the restrictions on them from diseases and parasites. Sellers are just skirting the system.

 

[ignerntbend]

Feral hogs are not game animals and can be legally sold.
I'm not even sure why they would have to be identified as feral.
POKE is POKE

 

[criticalbass]

Shooting hogs, while lots of fun, won't ever curb the population.

Trapping is more effective, but there isn't enough incentive to increase the number of trappers to a level that will control the population.

If the hogs are to be controlled, the only solution that comes to mind is a biological or chemical one, and that sort of thing can have unintended consequences.

There was a (false) rumor about someone spreading some sort of birth control chemical to control hog reproduction a couple of years ago. It may be possible to accomplish something along this line, though I don't know of anything currently being planned.

Some of you may remember the eradication of the screw worm flies. That program is still in effect today, and was incredibly succussful.

There is another possibility. When a species reaches a high population density, and hogs are certainly getting there, it is common for an epidemic to kill nearly the whole population. This has happened with certain herd beasts in Africa many times. Happens to our quail pretty frequently.

I give this the best chance of killing off most of the hogs. Saw some sort of epidemic put a hog farmer out of business several years ago. Don't remember what the disease was, but it killed all his pigs and he was prohibited from having more in that location for some years. CB

 

[keystone1974]

Havin a way to get in touch with willing landowners for a small fee and maybe a background check would be great!

 

[dennishoddy]

After you trap all the pigs in an area, that leaves a void. Mother nature will fill that void eventually, but the time period between will be much greater than the return of pigs that have just been shot at. .

That applies with trapping other animals as well. One can have a really great year on a trap line, but mother nature will send others to take their place.
It will help for awhile, but as you said, it has to be a process that runs year around if possible,(seasons) and year after year.

Sadly we don't have enough trappers anymore to take care of the predator population.

 

[crg1372]

I think the intent of the OP has been somewhat lost. While trapping is by far the best means to controlling the wild hog populations here in the state, I believe thats mainly restricted to private lands. Public lands, espicially Corp lands have heavy restrictions on them. I'm not sure how many people are willing to drop hog traps on them due to the risk of theft, or if its even legal. Then even if it is legal, how many people are going to be able to haul said trap a mile or more into public via good 'ol elbow grease.

The jist of the OP was that there are tight rules governing the use of public land and because of those its contributing to the rapidly expanding hog populations. While landowners can trap year after year, and its great for those that enjoy that and are willing to accept a monetary loss for something they enjoy, the ones that don't are losing lots of money due to hogs destroying their crops. Trapping is a good means of control on private land, but unless steps are taken to help reduce the booming populations on public lands, and by that I mean better access and loosening the belt on the hunting restrictions, its a problem landowners are going to have to endure as the population continues to grow and they continue to migrate back into those areas from public lands. Not only is it a problem for current landowners battling pigs, but for those not yet infested with them its a problem in the making.

 

[dennishoddy]

I think the intent of the OP has been somewhat lost. While trapping is by far the best means to controlling the wild hog populations here in the state, I believe thats mainly restricted to private lands. Public lands, espicially Corp lands have heavy restrictions on them. I'm not sure how many people are willing to drop hog traps on them due to the risk of theft, or if its even legal. Then even if it is legal, how many people are going to be able to haul said trap a mile or more into public via good 'ol elbow grease.

The jist of the OP was that there are tight rules governing the use of public land and because of those its contributing to the rapidly expanding hog populations. While landowners can trap year after year, and its great for those that enjoy that and are willing to accept a monetary loss for something they enjoy, the ones that don't are losing lots of money due to hogs destroying their crops. Trapping is a good means of control on private land, but unless steps are taken to help reduce the booming populations on public lands, and by that I mean better access and loosening the belt on the hunting restrictions, its a problem landowners are going to have to endure as the population continues to grow and they continue to migrate back into those areas from public lands. Not only is it a problem for current landowners battling pigs, but for those not yet infested with them its a problem in the making.

I'm in agreememt that putting an expensive hog trap on public land will result in loss of the trap more than likely.

I have two co-workers that live in Tx.
They constantly talk about going out at night on their land with mini-14s and ARs pounding the hogs with spotlights.
Again this does not consider public lands.
I really don't know what can be done on public lands? The idea of birth control is not gonna happen.
PETA has advocated this for deer, etc for many years, as well as relocation, and none of it has worked.
I can understand the landowners not wanting the general public on their land.
I'm sure that everybody on this forum is a law-abiding sports person, that would follow the landowners rules, but as a landowner(without hogs) I have met the rest of the "hunting population".

 

[crg1372]

I'm in agreememt that putting an expensive hog trap on public land will result in loss of the trap more than likely.

I have two co-workers that live in Tx.
They constantly talk about going out at night on their land with mini-14s and ARs pounding the hogs with spotlights.
Again this does not consider public lands.
I really don't know what can be done on public lands? The idea of birth control is not gonna happen.
PETA has advocated this for deer, etc for many years, as well as relocation, and none of it has worked.
I can understand the landowners not wanting the general public on their land.
I'm sure that everybody on this forum is a law-abiding sports person, that would follow the landowners rules, but as a landowner(without hogs) I have met the rest of the "hunting population".

We have a couple of hundred acres of family land that is off limits to the public as its family members only. More than likely for some of the same reasons as yourself.

Personally, I think nighttime hunting of hogs here in the state should be legal. Just make it available to hunters during certain times of the years so as to not conflict with the deer seasons. I'd be all for buying a special permit for $5-$15 if the money was going back to the ODWC for use in education or land preservation.

I'm not sure what those idiots at PETA think relocating would help. Essentially thats taking someones problem and making it someone elses without even fixing the original problem. I can envision you guys up that way without the pig problem standing at the county line, guns in hand, when PETA announces they are going to move some pigs up there because of overcrowding here in the southern part of the state.

 

[dennishoddy]

Night hunting may not solve the problem but would certainly help.
I have watched lots of video's of Tx hog and predator hunters that go out at night in specially equipped vehicles, and slam the animals on contests.
Ok is rabid on not allowing spotlights and night hunting.
Back in the day, I could understand this reluctance to allow night hunting, as the deer were in a perilous situation, and poaching was rampant.
These days I'd like to see this thinking relaxed.
Deer populations are stable if not booming, and poachers are poachers, and don't care if they are in season or not, so I'd like to see a permit process where hunters could go into an area with a permit to night hunt.
Again, trapping is the answer,but more lax night hunting opportunities would certainly help.