Feral Hogs – Here They Come
How to Control the Wild Hog and Protect Your Land
Editor's
Note: You may find hogs the next major wildlife threat
to farmers.
According to Dr. Steve Ditchkoff, associate professor
of wildlife at Auburn
University, "If you don't have 'em, you'll get
'em. Once you get 'em, more
than likely, you can't get rid of 'em. As soon as you
think you're rid of
'em, they will return." Dr. Ditchkoff headed-up
the first national
conference on wild pigs in Mobile, Alabama, in May,
2006, with 32 U.S. and
Australian researchers attending. Their findings may
surprise you.
How We Can Control Wild Swine Populations:
The vast majority of states don’t consider feral
hogs as a game species
but instead nuisances. “More states are studying
how they can make hunting feral hogs more appealing
to hunters,” Ditchkoff advises. “In some
states, you even can hunt hogs by spotlight at night
with a permit. And, in Georgia, you can hunt hogs over
bait.”
When I asked Ditchkoff how effectively hunting reduced
feral-hog populations, he replied, “Hunting’s
not effective, because hogs are intelligent animals
and extremely sensitive to hunting pressure. Hogs simply
will relocate away from an area with hunting pressure
into a place without hunting pressure.”
For example, researcher John Dickson studied the wild
hogs on
the Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in
Louisiana and learned that, “Despite approximately
5,000 visits by hunters each year, nocturnal behavior,
wariness and dense palmetto prevented public hunting
from effectively controlling the NWR’s wild-hog
population, with only 56 hogs harvested there in 2005.”
“Trapping is more effective than hunting, and
right now, it’s the best tool we have for removing
hogs,” Ditchkoff states. “But research proves
that unless you spend a huge amount of money, manpower
and effort, you can’t reduce hog numbers by trapping
and/or hunting.”
What’s the Most-Effective Protection Against
Hogs:
“The best method for keeping feral hogs out of
any area is fencing, which is expensive,” Ditchkoff
emphasizes. “The next-best method is to get the
hogs feeding regularly inside a trap to accustom them
to going into the trap night after night for several
weeks. Then, set the trap with a hard trigger to hopefully
catch every hog possible in the herd when the door on
the trap falls.” A cooperative effort of extensive
hunting and trapping between adjacent landowners will
have a greater impact on reducing and/or eliminating
hog numbers than any individual landowner’s trying
to solve the hog problem alone. Because of that, Missouri
has set up a 16-member task force to coordinate and
attack the growing wild-hog problem there. If you see
hogs on your property, take action immediately to remove
them through trapping and hunting.
Tomorrow: Wild Hogs Are Coming to a Town Near You
|