What Can Be Done To Curb The Wild Hog Population?

[crg1372]

Has anyone given serious thought to this? Even though I love hunting these animals with a passion, we all know they are a menace to farmers trying to make a living, compete with our native wild game and crowd them out and kill alot of native species like snakes and turtles. Also, since they breed so rapidly, having up to 3 litters in as little as 14 months and breeding at 5-6 months old, theres going to be some serious problems arising more than likely in the next decade. I think its only a matter of time when we hear of someone being killed by one of these animals.

I've been looking over the regulations and it just seems there's more that could be done by the state and federal government to help control these beasts. The pros of the regulations include...

*Year round hunting.

*No bag limit.

*Landowner permission for night hunting.

Some other things I think could be taken into consideration are....

*The hunting of hogs at night with dogs on public lands. However there are several things to take into consideration like the deer seasons. Make it legal to hunt them at night after the end of bow season and legal through summer and close at the end of August. The state could sell a night hunting permit say for $5. I'd only be for that IF the money was going back into the Wildlife Department for educational purposes or land restoration. Maybe the money could be used to offer free hunter education courses to our youth.

*Better access to Corps lands. I hunt alot of Corp land here around Lake Texoma. Some areas here are very hard to get to and require lengthy walks. I can tell you that there are hundreds and hundreds of hogs inhabiting the land here. Most will never see any hunting pressure because the areas aren't very accesible to most people. Maybe the Corps could issue a special uses permit for ATV's for hunting and hunting only. Many ATV trails already exist on Corps land around Texoma. I can't speak for other areas of Corp land though. I wouldn't be opposed to paying a $15 special uses permit if it allowed me to get back into areas that the hogs are thriving if that money will be used for land restoration or for helping businesses out around Corp lakes that have had bad flooding.

*Legal means of taking on Corp lands. Around Texoma the legal means of taking is restricted to shotgun with pellets and archery equipment. Seems like a shotgun with slug would be an alright means of taking as long as it wasn't used with 500-1000 feet of the shoreline. I'm still a little on the fence with this one though, but it seems like something could be worked out.

I'm not dead set on any of this really, just some opinions is all. I think those of us that hunt see the potential dangers wild hogs present and the millions of dollars that farmers lose every year. At the rate they are going it won't be long before they start popping up in areas they aren't found yet. Seems like on the show Pig Bomb it was stated that to control the population 7 out of every 10 pigs need to be taken. I'm sure we're no where near this now.

What's everyone's take?

 

[WacosSon]

I 100% agree and think your ideas make alot of since. I can forsee problems with the ATV uses, but you're right, some of these hogs are just too far for the average guy to hike in after. Regardless, they're still reproducing. I'm wondering if the creation of hunting access roads would be a slightly better solution. Rough roads, but enough to get a truck down. Of course, you'd have to balance that with the desire to keep things rural. Either way, there needs to be a way that hunters can voice our opinions (and advice) on how to handle this animals we deal with all the time.

 

[crg1372]

I 100% agree and think your ideas make alot of since. I can forsee problems with the ATV uses, but you're right, some of these hogs are just too far for the average guy to hike in after. Regardless, they're still reproducing. I'm wondering if the creation of hunting access roads would be a slightly better solution. Rough roads, but enough to get a truck down. Of course, you'd have to balance that with the desire to keep things rural. Either way, there needs to be a way that hunters can voice our opinions (and advice) on how to handle this animals we deal with all the time.

After I posted I was thinking about hunter access roads. Theres some roads cut in down here by vehicles (illegally I'm sure), but nothing I'd take my vehicle down. If the ATVs used already existing trails it might not cause as much flack. However off-road vehicles on Corp land is a federal matter. Regardless, I'm not sure I really see anything being done to help slow this problem on either the state or federal level.

 

[r00s7a]

While I agree with you that the hog population is something that needs to be addressed, I don't think that will ever be accomplished via hog hunting. We have a large hog population down here in SE Oklahoma, especially along the Kiamichi River where I live. This stretch of river is primarily large pieces of land owned by ranches, and most of the land owners are in agreement that they don't want them around just to have something to shoot at, or for any type of recreation sport. And as far as I know, no one allows hog "hunting". We do, however, keep the population somewhat under control along this couple of mile stretch, and it is not done by hunting. If you want to control the population, trapping is the only way to go. By hunting pigs, you may get off a few shots for a night or two, take a few out. After that, the pigs wisen up, move down the road and continue to breed. If the next land owner approaches with the same method, the process repeats itself. With a successful trapping program, you can take out whole herds of pigs in a short amount of time. There will always be smart pigs that can't be trapped, but we usually follow up the trapping by running dogs to pick up the strays. This usually nets the mature boars and sows. The trapping program has to be a continual effort though. 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. If you just want to shoot at pigs, hey, have at it. But when it comes to actual eradication and control, trapping is by far your best bet.

Luckily none of the landowners around me want to mess with the pigs, they just want them gone. They won't allow anyone to hunt on them, but they welcome a pig trapper with open arms, which in turn can open up opportunities to hunt.

 

[crg1372]

While I agree with you that the hog population is something that needs to be addressed, I don't think that will ever be accomplished via hog hunting. We have a large hog population down here in SE Oklahoma, especially along the Kiamichi River where I live. This stretch of river is primarily large pieces of land owned by ranches, and most of the land owners are in agreement that they don't want them around just to have something to shoot at, or for any type of recreation sport. And as far as I know, no one allows hog "hunting". We do, however, keep the population somewhat under control along this couple of mile stretch, and it is not done by hunting. If you want to control the population, trapping is the only way to go. By hunting pigs, you may get off a few shots for a night or two, take a few out. After that, the pigs wisen up, move down the road and continue to breed. If the next land owner approaches with the same method, the process repeats itself. With a successful trapping program, you can take out whole herds of pigs in a short amount of time. There will always be smart pigs that can't be trapped, but we usually follow up the trapping by running dogs to pick up the strays. This usually nets the mature boars and sows. The trapping program has to be a continual effort though. 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. If you just want to shoot at pigs, hey, have at it. But when it comes to actual eradication and control, trapping is by far your best bet.

Luckily none of the landowners around me want to mess with the pigs, they just want them gone. They won't allow anyone to hunt on them, but they welcome a pig trapper with open arms, which in turn can open up opportunities to hunt.

I fully agree that trapping is the best way for control. However thats usually restricted to private lands. I'm not even sure setting out a hog trap is legal on Corp land? If I remember right, you're just a couple of counties over from me? We have large populations along all three rivers in Bryan County (Red River, Washita River & Blue River). Alot of land is owned along the Red and Blue Rivers but not much around the Washita. I don't think hogs will ever be eradicated and the suggestions were just for ways of trying to keep them in check via hunting. Even if one hunter shoots one breeding sow that can remove many hogs from the population over a decade.

I'm all to familiar with hogs I hunt and rotate each place I hunt. I recently shot at a sow and missed thanks to my scope being off. The sow was coming to a feeder and I patterned her with a trail cam. It took a couple weeks but she eventually started coming back to the feeder. I think once the know where an easy meal ticket is they won't fully give it up unless theres alot of hunting pressure in the area. They'll remember where they can grab a quick meal when they get hungry enough.

I think the real problem lies in these almost inaccesible areas of public land where they can hide and mate as much as they want. Like you said trapping them on private property can eliminate them for a while but mother nature eventually fills the void. Steps need to be taken to control them on public land as well.

 

[dcmtex]

I agree that trapping is the answer today. This still won't "control" the numbers needed to prevent continued migration throughout the country. I think some form of sterilization (infertility drug) will have to be introduced before the problem will be manageable. Don't know what or how that can be implemented. JMO

 

[crg1372]

I agree that trapping is the answer today. This still won't "control" the numbers needed to prevent continued migration throughout the country. I think some form of sterilization will have to be introduced before the problem will be manageable. Don't know what or how that can be implemented. JMO

Agreed. Trapping is the best way. However is it legal to drop hog traps on public lands? Even then I'm not sure many want to risk losing an expensive trap to a thief. Even then you're very restricted by access on public lands to even be able to get a trap in.

 

[r00s7a]

I fully agree that trapping is the best way for control. However thats usually restricted to private lands.

You are correct, I wasn't really even thinking about public lands. And there are a lot around the lakes and rivers, which are public lands. I know I wouldn't leave my traps out on public lands. My first degree was at SOSU, so I've done a lot of hunting around the lake, up by Little City. That place has gone to hell for deer, but the pig hunting is outstanding! I don't know what the answer is to public lands. It would take action by the ODWC or a federal agency that can control outside the normals means (i.e. helicoptor, land mines, claymores) if they really wanted to curb the population. As tight as things are, I don't see that happening. Not even sure how effective helicoptor hunting is, but it looks bad ass!

 

[crg1372]

You are correct, I wasn't really even thinking about public lands. And there are a lot around the lakes and rivers, which are public lands. I know I wouldn't leave my traps out on public lands. My first degree was at SOSU, so I've done a lot of hunting around the lake, up by Little City. That place has gone to hell for deer, but the pig hunting is outstanding! I don't know what the answer is to public lands. It would take action by the ODWC or a federal agency that can control outside the normals means (i.e. helicoptor, land mines, claymores) if they really wanted to curb the population. As tight as things are, I don't see that happening. Not even sure how effective helicoptor hunting is, but it looks bad ass!

Agreed about the Little City area. All along the Washita Arm used to be good deer hunting. Like you said though, its went to hell for deer since the hogs are crowding them out. The few deer I do see along the Washita are smaller and smaller each year and the bucks have smaller racks. I fully attribute this to the booming population of hogs in the area.

I definitely think the ODWC needs to do more to help out with the problem and I believe they CAN do more. If they will....doesn't look like it right now.

Helicopter hunting does look bad ass! Like you, I'm not sure its very effective. Looks like it'd stir them up though so they would move to another lucky landowners property

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

It's very very simple:

There needs to be an active "brokerage" or hook-up system run by the Wildlife Department free of charge (or even for a small fee to one party or the other) that hooks up landowners with licensed hunters. The landowners can charge whatever they want, from $0 on up, but will be encouraged to charge $0 or a minimal amount.

The problem is landowners charging too much. If they want the population curbed, then they need to lower their prices dramatically for honest hunters who are ready, willing, and able to take out the piggies.

Don't want so many pigs? Quit charging so danged much. Not rocket science. Charge a small fee for a "pig season only lease" that runs from Jan 16th to Sept 30th, so that there's no way they can be in possession of a deer carcass legally or tag one. Etc.