Hog Apocalypse Delayed In Texas
BY Herschel Smith
7 years, 1 month ago
Mike Brewer has tried all kinds of corn bait to lure feral hogs into a $1,000 trap at his Sunnyvale pecan orchard. He even mixed the corn with strawberry gelatin because the pigs love strawberries.
Nothing.
The hogs dig around the trees and trample the earth. They eat his pecan harvest off the ground. It costs Brewer and his wife, Kathy, weeks and weeks of labor to patch up the soil around the trees.
“It’s a constant battle,” Brewer said this month.
Wild pigs may not look like much, but they’re among the most intelligent animals in the United States, which makes them formidable adversaries. And they’ve taken over Texas and have been documented in every county, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife.
“If you’re not already dealing with pigs, you’re going to,” said Brett Johnson, an urban biologist for the city of Dallas.
The pigs cost Texans about $52 million in agricultural damage every year.
Even if you’re not a farmer, here’s why you should be concerned: Feral hogs tear up lawns, parks and golf courses; they skulk around highways and train tracks; and they poop in our water supply. Estimates peg the number of wild pigs in the U.S. at 4 million or more— and somewhere between 2 million to 3 million are in our state.
Sure, Texas is a gun-friendly state, but don’t assume that getting rid of wild pigs is as easy as shooting or poisoning them. Population control is far more complicated than the state agriculture commissioner’s stalled plans for a “Hog Apocalypse.”
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Guns: Texas law requires a hunting license and the landowner’s permission to shoot wild pigs. If you are the landowner or a designated agent, however, you don’t need a hunting license to dispatch a hog causing damage on your property. But who is a “designated agent” is fuzzy, so check with your local game warden. In the end, you may not be able to shoot at all: It’s illegal to discharge a gun in some cities, including Dallas.
So what action has been delayed in the state?
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller spoke enthusiastically about a “Hog Apocalypse” earlier this year when he approved the use of a controversial poison called Kaput Feral Hog Bait. The poison contains a chemical called warfarin, an anticoagulant that makes pigs bleed internally, ending in slow, painful deaths. Some people voiced concerns about the unknown effect on the food chain, and the manufacturer withdrew its state registration for the poison. Because it was classified as a state limited-use pesticide, Texas can no longer license people to use the bait.
Good Lord. I cannot imagine a worse idea for hog control than to introduce that into the environment not knowing the effects on the food chain, and besides that, while these are awful and destructive creatures, we should still be concerned about “ethical kills” as good hunters. This is a profoundly bad idea all around.
Hey, here’s the low-down on that stupid statement in the article about hog removal not being as simple as shooting them. A kill shot is ethical, and removes the hog from the population. If lethal removal isn’t enough in America – and so far it hasn’t been and is a long way from being enough – then we aren’t doing enough lethal removal.
Prior:
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On November 23, 2017 at 12:48 am, George said:
“The poison contains a chemical called warfarin…”
Warfarin, otherwise known as Coumadin has been used medically as a blood thinner for patients in danger of heart attack or stroke due to blood clots for many decades now (in small measured doses, of course).
Warfarin has also been used in much larger doses with bait as rat poison for nearly as long a time as it has been in use medically. If it doesn’t cause the environment to collapse by killing rats then it seems equally unlikely to do so when used to kill feral hogs. That said, I would just as soon see hunters being given permission to hunt the hogs as that would be more humane.
On November 23, 2017 at 2:13 am, Pat Hines said:
Using various night vision sights helps.
https://youtu.be/IvLRmp_7ktw
On November 23, 2017 at 7:56 am, george said:
Feral hogs are prodigious breeders. Sows average 3 litters a year. It will take a dedicated eradication effort to eliminate this dangerous breed.
One has to see a field that they enter to realize the extent of crop damage they do.
On November 23, 2017 at 10:48 am, Gary said:
I think his comment “hog removal not being as simple as shooting them” refers to their intelligence and the previously referenced high breeding rates. They learn very fast when someone is shooting at them and they evade and go elsewhere and become very wary. Hard to eradicate a group of them by this means.
On November 23, 2017 at 1:56 pm, Herschel Smith said:
I doubt that the use of Warfarin to kill rats was at the volume necessary to handle the feral hog population (much larger animals).
@Gary,
Give it enough time, let the hogs do enough damage, and things will change. It will be expected that everyone carry guns and shoot the beasts on sight wherever they are, whenever they find them.
Otherwise, Texans (and Georgians, and South Carolinians, etc.) can get used to keeping their children indoors and buying produce from South America and going on welfare because it’s impossible to grow crops anywhere else.
On November 23, 2017 at 3:46 pm, TheAlaskan said:
Lethal control works. Alaska uses aerial wolf control to manage wolf populations as well as long term hunting and trapping seasons with generous bag limits. Wolves will have dramatic impacts on moose and caribou populations if allowed to increase in numbers unchecked. Natives in western Alaska will tell you that there was never any moose in western Alaska until wolf suppression was initiated. Moose in Alaska have been expanding their range because of wolf (lethal) control. State Fish and Wildlife personnel use aircraft to control wolf populations. Abundant moose and caribou populations are the result.
Your pig problems could be managed the same way. Aerial lethal suppression coupled with an open hunting season on pigs until you achieve the numbers, in terms of managed populations, that you want.
If eradication is your goal, then lethal removal is the only option. If the State is serious, your pig problem can be solved.
Remember, countless millions of bison, packs of wolves, plains grizzles and the prairie chickens (extinct,) were removed from the great plains with single shot front-stuffers (in large part.)
The scoped AR seems IMO, to be the best platform for ground based pig control. What fun!
On November 24, 2017 at 8:17 am, Frank Clarke said:
Florida: no closed season; no bag limit, and we still have an ongoing problem.
On November 24, 2017 at 11:47 am, TheAlaskan said:
@ frank
Can you leave the carcass, or do you have to ‘process’ the hog. Can you kill a sow with piglets? Is there a bounty system in place? Can you aerial hunt?
Point being, you can control your pig problem if your State got onboard and put in place programs and laws that make being a hog very dangerous.
On November 24, 2017 at 12:06 pm, June said:
Texas feral hog population is variously estimated between 1.5 to 4 million.
I’m not in favor of using massive amounts of chemicals in an attempt to eradicate.
Two things I’ve noticed here in Texas: (1) not enough emphasis on killing every hog present including the babies/young. (2) Landowners complain about the hogs, but want to charge hunters to kill the hogs on their land.
The best results are achieved with night vision scopes and suppressors.
On November 24, 2017 at 12:44 pm, TheAlaskan said:
@ June
See…there is a way.
As you noted, as long as your hogs make people or governments money, they’re there to stay. Until the cost/benefit ratio flips, and the losses become intolerable, your pig problem will remain.
On November 24, 2017 at 11:36 pm, John said:
2 words. Passenger Pigeons.
On November 25, 2017 at 6:58 am, Duke Norfolk said:
“Landowners complain about the hogs, but want to charge hunters to kill the hogs on their land.”
Wow, that’s stunning in its stupidity.