By: Mark Tyson, M.S.
I am blessed to spend a majority of my time working with
land managers to reduce feral hog populations. Many times I get the feeling
that folks are flabbergasted at the challenge of managing feral hogs on their
property. I sometimes feel like the bearer of “bad news”, as many times I tell
folks that feral hog management is a continuous process. One cancer doctor I
read about routinely asks his patients “do you want to live to see your 100th
birthday”? In his opinion their answer is a good metric to represent the
success of their cancer treatments. While both feral hogs and cancer can become
overwhelming, THERE IS HOPE! Do you have the fight in you? If so great, keep at
it! If not, I’d like to review some of the feral hog management SUCCESS stories
out there in published literature. Life is a matter of perspective, as Zig
Ziglar said “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude”!
While feral hog management can be unceasing, your attitude about it can have a
great deal to do with your success.
+065.jpg)
(Hands on feral hog
trap demonstration in La Marque, Texas. Photo by: Phoenix Rogers)
While total eradication of feral hogs in an area is often
thought of as impossible, it can be accomplished. It was actually accomplished in just three
years on the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Katahira et al. 1993). The
researchers focused on three management units totaling 11,961 acres. Initially
the management units were enclosed with hog-proof fences to contain the hogs
inside and exclude the hogs outside. Multiple control methods were used to
remove the 175 pigs contained within the management units including: hunting
with dogs (n= 150), shooting from helicopters
(n= 13), trapping (n= 9) and snaring (n= 3) (Katahira et al. 1993). The use of hog-proof fencing may not
be a practical option for most land managers with large acreages, but this
study illustrates its utility within a feral hog management program. Land
managers with smaller tracts of land should be encouraged by the results of
this study and should consider the use of exclusion fencing in their feral hog
management efforts.
(Map
of Volcanoes National Park on the island of Hawai’i. Photo by: National Park
Service)
The protection of rare habitats is a priority in some areas
of the United States. In a study on feral hog control efforts initiated to
reduce feral hog damage within a rare habitat type in Florida, feral hog
control efforts were initiated to protect a rare freshwater basin marsh system
habitat within the Savannas Preserve State Park in Florida (Engeman et al.
2004). Feral hog control efforts were conducted for one year within the state
park. Pre-control estimates suggested 12 acres of the rare habitat were damaged
by feral hogs with damage estimates ranging between $1,238,760 and $4,036,290.
After one year of feral hog removal the damage to the rare habitat was
re-estimated and found to encompass only 2.3 acres, an 81% decrease in the size
of the damaged area. The economic benefit realized by the reduction in feral
hog damage was estimated to range between: $1,003,355 to $3,269,265 with the
feral hog control efforts costing only $7500 (Engeman et al. 2004).
Benefit-cost ratios indicated that feral hog control was 134 to 436 times
greater in its value than in its costs (Engeman et al. 2007). While land area
within this study was small scale the economic benefits of feral hog management
were great.
(A freshwater habitat in Florida. Photo by: NOAA)
This last example may be more relatable with land managers
seeking to manage feral hogs in a farm or ranch setting. The study conducted by
Higginbotham et al. (2008) took place between 2006 and 2007 on three separate
project sites in Texas which included the: Coastal Prairie (146,983 acres, red);
Blacklands Prairie (56,040 acres, yellow) and the Post Oak Savannah/Pineywoods
(19,994 acres, blue) (Figure 1).
(Figure 1. Project sites used in feral hog
abatement pilot project 2006-2007.)
Prior to direct control efforts the cumulative feral hog
damage estimate for the study area was estimated at $2,228,076. Direct control
of feral hogs took place on forty-eight separate properties totaling 223,017
acres. Direct control efforts included: traps, firearms, night vision, snares
and helicopter gunning. During the study a total of 3,799 feral hogs were
removed (Helicopter gunning 36%, Traps 33%, Firearms 26% and Snares 5%)
(Higginbotham et al. 2008). After two years of direct control efforts estimates
of feral hog damage decreased on each of the three sites. Damage estimates on
the Coastal Prairie site decreased by 50% while a 72% and 71% decrease in
estimated damages was reported for the Blacklands Prairie and the Post Oak
Savannah/Pineywoods sites respectively (Higginbotham et al. 2008). The results
of this study suggest that if effort is put forth positive results can follow.
Now that I have provided a few success stories you can be encouraged in taking action to manage feral hogs. Some plans of attack are better than others, but the point is that making an effort is the first step to solving the problem. Best Management Practices (BMPs) suggest the following: 1. Pre-bait and Condition feral hogs to the trap site, while using a game camera to monitor their response (Training Wild Pigs to Bait). 2. Assess the feral hog response if a lone boar is responding shoot him. If a group of hogs are responding trap them. 3. Build a corral trap large enough so that the first hog entering the trap will not reach the trip wire before the last one enters the trap (How to build a corral trap for feral hogs). The trap gate can be manually or remotely triggered each has its pros and cons.
Using other legal removal methods as “tools” when needed can be beneficial as well in feral hog population reduction efforts as no one method will catch every hog on the landscape. You can reference these articles to help develop your plan of attack: Training Wild Pigs to Bait, How to Build a Guillotine Style Wild Pig Trap Gate, Feral Hog Resources from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension: Just One Click Away, The Best Choice for a Corral Trap Gate, Economics of Trapping Feral Hogs: Box Traps Vs. Corral Traps, My trap isn’t working!, High Tech Hog Trapping, Feral Hog Hunting: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Truth, Feral Hog Trapping Tips: Hard Mast- the Storm before the Calm, Feral Hog Trapping Tips: What happens when it rains?. Also check out our Feral Hog Playlist on YouTube for 14 feral hog management videos. Additionally you can contact me or my counterparts whose contact information is provided below. We would be more than happy to assist you in creating a plan of attack!
Indifference or failing to take action will result in more
hogs on the landscape. If you are not interested in managing hogs on your
property grant someone land access who is. You can offer paid hunting
opportunities, allow guests to hunt or contract with a professional trapper. If
you are currently managing feral hogs remain vigilant, feral hog management is
not a once and done situation. Based on modeling data a 28% annual population growth
rate is to projected to occur with no hogs taken off the land resulting in a
population increase of 3.33 times in a five year period (Timmons et al. 2012).
To break that out numerically lets propose that there are 25 hogs on your
property according to the model with 0% harvest you will have 83 hogs in five
years. Now take that increase and apply it those not managing feral hogs around
you. While this is a hypothetical example based on modeling data the point
remains that your population reduction efforts DO make a difference! Reference
the table below and you will see that 66% annual harvest is required to halt
population growth. While achieving a 66% annual harvest rate is a formidable
challenge armchair quarterbacking will not get it done.
(Modeling data from Feral
Hog Population Growth, Density and Harvest in Texas)
Get involved, improve your skills, collaborate with your
neighbors and train others. In taking action you WILL face hardships but do not
lose heart. Success comes to those who act, as Michael Jordan once said “I’ve
missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times,
I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over
and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
For free educational
programming or technical assistance with feral hogs please contact us:
Our services are provided
free of charge through a Clean Water Act 319(h) non-point source grant from the
Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency
Literature Cited
Engeman, R.
M., H. T. Smith, R. Severson, M. A. Severson, J. Woolard, S. A. Shwiff, B.
Constantin
and D. Griffin. 2004. Damage reduction estimates and
benefit-cost ratios for feral swine control from the last remnant of a basin
marsh system in Florida. Environmental
Conservation 31:207-211.
Engeman, R.
M., Stevens, J., Allen, J., Dunlap, M., Daniel, D., Teague, D., and Constantin,
B.U. 2007.
Feral swine management for
conservation of an imperiled wetland habitat: Florida’s vanishing
seepage slopes. Biological
Conservation 34:440-446.
Higginbotham,
B., G. Clary, L. Hysmith and M. Bodenchuck.
2008. Statewide feral hog
abatement pilot
project, 2006-2007. Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center
for National Conference on Feral Hogs http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/feralhog/9.
Accessed 11/10/2013.
Katahira, L.
K., P. Finnegan and C. P. Stone. 1993.
Eradicating feral pigs in montane mesic habitat
At Hawaii
Volcanoes National Park. Wildlife
Society Bulletin 21:269-274.
Timmons, J.
B., B. Higginbotham, R. Lopez, J. C. Cathey, J. Mellish, J. Griffin, A. Sumrall
and K. Skow.
2012. Feral Hog Population Growth, Density and
Harvest in Texas. Texas A&M Agrilife
Extension Service SP-472.