Hogs - No longer Nocturnal !?!

[John Klingenberg]

I hunted one large ranch near Kingsville, the Borregos or some such. Each pasture was exactly a section (640 acres) and they only did roundups every two years. The cattle in those pastures were down right aggressive and wild. At night I dont think I've ever heard cattle make so many different moos. They had the darndest repertoire I've ever heard. It's like they made their own language and talked through the night. The foreman warned us not to come out of the stands until the truck was there to pick you up. It's not a place to wander around in the dark.

 

[LDHunter]

There is good reason that the way they exterminated wolves and nearly so coyotes with poison was so effective. It works. It's illegal in most places so most people including myself don't use it.

It works on hogs too but once again it's illegal most places.

Shooting hogs is fun and they're good to eat but thinking you're going to control a hog population with a rifle is wishful thinking. They'll outbreed that rifle every time because there are so many places they can be safe due to hunting restrictions. I've lost track of how many piglets one sow can produce every year but the number is scary and consider that each of those female piglets can breed and produce at a very young age and you have a population that grows exponentially.

When the US was basically wall to wall farms and every farmer had a rifle and most had sons that did a LOT of predator and varmint control we had effective population control. Now those days are forever gone and we're being overrun and until we come up with a more effective plan we will certainly lose the population control war.

 

[MWood]

It is my understanding that Texas has approved the drug Warfarin , a blood thinner, as use as a poison for hogs. From what I have read there is concerns of the potential impact to humans that consume meat that has absorbed the drug. Supposedly it turns the meat a blue color as a warning not to eat the meat.

Just as LDHunter states that controlling a hog population by hunting is wishful thinking, I think poisoning falls into the same category of wishful thinking. Feral hogs have been in North American since the 1500's which shows the adaptability of the species. They are only going to grow in numbers in the future.

 

[DSheetz]

Warfarin is used in the treatment of people that tend to have blood clots and is also used to kill rats and mice among other blood thinning agents . The antidote and treatment for it's ingestion in humans and pets is vitamin K

 

[Wedgy]

The problem is that anything that eats the poisoned hog(bobcats, coyotes, cats, dogs, owls, eagles) gets a dose of poison which may or may not kill it but it does do damage and weaken their immune system. Very hard to stop poison from getting into the ecosystem. There are those that don't believe this so let them feed their kids the meat.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/household-rat-poison-changes-in-la-bobcats-immune-system

 

[ml williford]

Hunting is never going to be a useful tool. When people are trying to profit from it. Now I'm not saying a person should not be compensated for what they have invested. But I live and hunt in Texas and it is silly what I see for hog price to hunt. Many people want to hunt them but have family to support and can't see paying a big price to hunt them. There are even some outfitters charging by the lb, putting limit on number of hogs you can shoot and requiring a certain number of hunters. Just glad I can afford a lease where there are hogs to hunt.

 

[DSheetz]

Greed is a universal problem and you will see it causing problems in every thing we as people endeavor to do be it hunting or the work we do to make a living . Lack of education about things we do and the lack of people willing to learn about what we do also is a universal problem and follows us around where ever we are .

 

[skipglo]

JE said..."they breed 4 times a year so sex is not a problem for them "

Lucky damned hogs........

If you think breeding 4 TIMES A YEAR is lucky ...I feel sorry more for you than the Hogs....they don't know any better!

 

[Will Gray]

If you think breeding 4 TIMES A YEAR is lucky ...I feel sorry more for you than the Hogs....they don't know any better!

Hogs seem to be ok with it, half hour orgasm and such. The sows seem happy to have all those pigs around. It works for hogs. With humans it is a conquest, pleasure, love, bonding world, not so with almost all other animals.

 

[SemperFi]

I don't know how smart they are compared to other animals, But they are smart and do learn form there encounters fast.

like most animals, they don't have a lot of other things to worry about except how fast they can run, sex, and their next meal. this leaves lots of room in their brain to learn about danger. Man is their only real predator and they learn our habits just like we learn theirs.

If they changed their habits, it is probably because of the hunting pressure or there food supply has became scarce. and the feeders are their only easy source for the time being. They breed 4 times a year so sex is not a problem for them

We hunt hogs year round and have to change up the way and time often.

J E CUSTOM

Not to put flies in your ointment, but hogs do not breed four times a year! The gestation period of a hog is,3 months,3 weeks, and 3 days. That's 114 days. Not trying to pee in your Wheaties just want to state the facts, unless the hogs have gotten smart enough to alter their biology LOL. Plus another 3 weeks to get them weaned, then she will come into heat in about a week. SemperFi

 

[J E Custom]

Not to put flies in your ointment, but hogs do not breed four times a year! The gestation period of a hog is,3 months,3 weeks, and 3 days. That's 114 days. Not trying to pee in your Wheaties just want to state the facts, unless the hogs have gotten smart enough to alter their biology LOL. Plus another 3 weeks to get them weaned, then she will come into heat in about a week. SemperFi

Sorry, that was a typo and 3 times a year is right. twice a year is normal but with 115 days of gestation she can potentially produce 3
litters a year. The other problem is that A 6 month old female can have 2 litters a year. so 6 months after a sow has a litter, the female's in that litter can start producing her own litter. that the reason they multiply so fast. at worst if she gives birth to six females and they become active in six months. That could be 12 females a year figuring 12 pigs a litter minimum and each one of the six females can have 6 females average that's 12 females and 12 males a year from the one sow and each female can have at least 6 more females each that is a total of 36 females minimum a year and the same number of boar's from one breeding pair in a year. that,s a lot of pigs from one sow.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Wedgy]

......that is a total of 36 females minimum a year and the same number of boar's from one breeding pair in a year. that,s a lot of pigs from one sow.
J E CUSTOM

I wish our deer and turkeys could even come close to that.
BTW a typical hog hunt here in CA is ~$750 which is ridiculous but we aren't over run with them, most of the time they just commingle with cattle so they aren't damaging crops.

 

[SemperFi]

Sorry, that was a typo and 3 times a year is right. twice a year is normal but with 115 days of gestation she can potentially produce 3
litters a year. The other problem is that A 6 month old female can have 2 litters a year. so 6 months after a sow has a litter, the female's in that litter can start producing her own litter. that the reason they multiply so fast. at worst if she gives birth to six females and they become active in six months. That could be 12 females a year figuring 12 pigs a litter minimum and each one of the six females can have 6 females average that's 12 females and 12 males a year from the one sow and each female can have at least 6 more females each that is a total of 36 females minimum a year and the same number of boar's from one breeding pair in a year. that,s a lot of pigs from one sow.

J E CUSTOM

Very good! Now if they would just let us take as many as we can use it would be great!
But the outfitters are not about to lose their cash cow!! We can usually only shoot two, and if you go over the prices are steep! SemperFi

 

[J E Custom]

Very good! Now if they would just let us take as many as we can use it would be great!
But the outfitters are not about to lose their cash cow!! We can usually only shoot two, and if you go over the prices are steep! SemperFi

Wow. Wish you were hear. We can shoot every hog we see all year long.

We will normally take 25 or 30 a year but sometimes 50 or more with night vision scopes. Most farmers/ranchers will let you hunt for free if you ask them and can convince them that you won't shoot some of their livestock when night hunting. I always ask if they want to go and keep some meat.

With that said we still cant keep up with the hogs.

The best way is to use large pin traps with cellular phone triggers. These traps cost lots of money but can catch the whole sounder many times which realy does help.

J E CUSTOM