Wild pigs, I just don't get it

[ArmedBear]

Texans are quite proud of your no-public-land, pay-to-play hunting.

Sounds to me like your pig problem would not be nearly so bad with "Sportsman's Access" signs all over the place like some states here in the Mountain West. But hell, have it your way. Pay your ever-higher prices for shooting dwindling deer over a feeder, and watch the pigs destroy the state.

No season, no limit here would keep the population down to a level that wasn't a real nuisance. But here ain't there.

 

[Art Eatman]

AB, in Texas all feral hogs are shoot anytime, anywhere, no season, no limit.

Yeah, some places here want to do the money thing, same as in Florida or Georgia. Same there exactly as in Texas; I don't know about other eastern/southern states.

But there aren't that many hog hunters. More on the Internet than out in the real world. There isn't all that much free time for farmers and hunters to go sit and wait over bait.

And I gayrawntoo ya that deer are in no way a dwindling resource here. In many areas they're a nuisance; but from eating Mizz Housewife's flowers, not churning up the land like a drunk backhoe operator. We have the same problem for deer numbers as for hogs: Not enough hunters, or the deer and hogs are in no-hunt zones--think suburbs.

 

[Todd1700]

Haha! The replies to the OP are sheer comedy; coming from a bunch of guys who no doubt praise Whitetail deer...

Laugh all you want but if you think deer are as destructive as feral hogs then you are revealing a laughable level of knowledge about them. I wish I had some pictures of a few of our fields where hogs have been at work. The land looks like the target zone for an army artillery training school. Hundreds of knee deep holes, some 5 feet across. Just 20 hogs can obliterate a 100 acre corn field in an amazingly short period.

A doe deer has one maybe two (if she births twins) offspring a year. A sow hog often gives birth to 10 piglets at a time. And every sow in that liter will start having baby pigs of their own in just 7 to 8 months. One sow and her offspring can account for 5000 hogs in a 5 year period.

Alabama has no closed season on hogs or any bag limit. We shoot them on sight year round but it is a hopeless case in thick country like Alabama where they have plenty of cover to hide. Some of the smaller ones are edible but the large ones are not so good.

And the meat will go bad very quickly in the hot months down here. They are highly overated as table fare IMHO.

Anyone that envies people plagued with these pests are crazy. They will literally eat anything and everything edible on your land. And that includes turkey eggs, crops, gardens, acorns, and any supplemental feed you try to put out for deer.

Nasty, nasty animals and an absolute plague.

 

[Flintknapper]

Todd1700 wrote:

I wish I had some pictures of a few of our fields where hogs have been at work. The land looks like the target zone for an army artillery training school. Hundreds of knee deep holes, some 5 feet across. Just 20 hogs can obliterate a 100 acre corn field in an amazingly short period.

I can provide some pics....if need be.

Hogs are incredibly destructive, make no mistake about it.

The damage done to pastures, fields, hay meadows, etc....is often quite severe...and it doesn't end there.

Last week I was mowing some pasture and while making a turn.... the right front tire of the tractor fell off into a hole where a hog had been rooting. The jar was so great....that it popped the tie rod end... off the steering knuckle.

So...I am sitting there with a right front wheel/tire jutted out to the right... while the other one is pointing to the left. (pretty obvious what had happened).

Naturally, this happened while I was mowing the back pasture, so I got to walk about a mile and a half back to the house. (pretty hot in Texas this time of year)

Tie rod should be in today. Then the work begins. Stupid HOGS!

 

[FLAvalanche]

I've read a lot about wild pigs being a big problem in some states. I raise pigs, I love pork and most meat eaters love pork. If there were wild pigs where I am, my only thought would be "free food"!

Do wild pigs not taste good? Too tough? Parasites? Why isn't everyone with a gun and a tight budget not harvesting them down to the last one? I'm not being a smart ass, I'm really baffled by this. What am I missing here?

They're great eating. Sometimes...

Males can get "gamey" and get worse with size. My rule of thumb is if it has bigger nuts than me it stays where it dies.

Like chas08 I'll take females that are up to 200 lbs, with 100 pounders being the best for eating. Large females are left where they die.

Sometimes females that have just weaned their litter can be a little gamey too, but it's hard to find a female that hasn't....

I've got it good. Most people say the hogs I bring home are the best they've ever tasted. I hunt an orange grove so they are marinating themselves with every meal. In fact you'll never find brown hog droppings in my grove, it's always white from the amount of oranges they eat.

The standing rule in the grove is all coyotes, pigs and axis deer get shot. Pigs are by far the worst. They root up and cut the irrigation pipes, the groves are mostly sand so the grove needs to be relatively flat for the harvesting machines, trucks and trimming machines so that's always a problem. Plus the number of oranges they eat.

 

[Greg Koziol]

I agree 100% with CTPhil, I wish there were more around me i'd hunt as much as I could. I'd have several freezers full.

 

[Flintknapper]

Trust me, you DON'T want hogs.



Or....if you do, let me know where to ship these.


Sheesh, another group to deal with.

 

[chas08]

I'd have several freezers full.

Wild hog doesn't keep all that well in the freezer. Even when vaccuum sealed it is the first to develope that freezer burned taste, when compared to deer or elk. I start over every hunting season by emptying my freezer of all old pork. I don't like to keep it much over a year. In warm weather they can spoil before you can get them skinned and quartered.

Trust me you don't want hogs

Amen to that

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Texans are quite proud of your no-public-land, pay-to-play hunting.

Sounds to me like your pig problem would not be nearly so bad with "Sportsman's Access" signs all over the place like some states here in the Mountain West.

As I recall, "Sportsman's Access" signs are on public land, not private. Do you want Joe Public hunting your personal land 24/7?

It isn't that Texans are proud of no public land. That is just the way it is here. Sure, some places will let you hunt for a fee and sometimes it is a stiff fee. Many of us don't care for the notion of Public Access to our private lands and all the liability that comes with it.

No season, no limit here would keep the population down to a level that wasn't a real nuisance. But here ain't there.

As Art noted, we can hunt them 24/7/365 and in parts of the state we can do it by chopper. That isn't going to stop the hogs. Even if we had public lands like other states, that won't stop the hogs either, so the notion that the problem is the lack of public lands to hunt hogs is just silly. Florida has a lot of public land hunting but they also have a big hog problem. Same with several states as noted here.

Saying Texas has a hog problem because we don't freely let hunters have access to privately owned lands is like saying an apartment building has a cockroach problem because the occupants won't freely let the neighborhood kids come in and step on them.

 

[CTPhil]

Wild hog doesn't keep all that well in the freezer. Even when vaccuum sealed it is the first to develope that freezer burned taste, when compared to deer or elk.

That's true of domestic pork also. Something about pork fat, it never seems to freeze rock hard like beef or other meats.

 

[DIM]

Bacon seems to be fine if I freeze it, I guess adding some salt should solve freezer burn mystery ;-)

 

[chas08]

Sheesh, another group to deal with.

I feel your pain. They're the gift (you wish you could give back) that keeps on giving.

 

[Flintknapper]

chas08 wrote:

They're the gift (you wish you could give back) that keeps on giving.

Hah!

That would make a good signature line.

 

[HGUNHNTR]

Well I don't shoot them because I don't like pork. Wild, domestic, it all has an awful flavor imo.

 

[ArmedBear]

As I recall, "Sportsman's Access" signs are on public land, not private.

Both. And we also have a co-op hunting/fishing access program with ranchers.

Access to private land is conditional, too. It's not just a matter of Joe Slob Hunter walking through your front yard 24/7 or taking a crap in your food crops. All-or-nothing, black-and-white thinking is the problem, not the solution.

People would willingly hunt pigs, if they could get to them. People in California go through all sorts of hassle to hunt pigs. If you make sure nobody can get to them, and obviously a farmer can't spend 24/7/365 hunting pigs on his land, then, well, you'll have a whole bunch of pigs.

And if there is access, then you don't sit over bait, because you don't have to try to get the game to come to your patch of dirt. What you do down there is called poaching in most places...

Don't tell me some Texans aren't proud of there being no public land. Just read through this forum.

Do what you want, but the fact remains: if those pigs were here, a lot of them would be in freezers, not in your pastures.

 

[FLAvalanche]

As I recall, "Sportsman's Access" signs are on public land, not private. Do you want Joe Public hunting your personal land 24/7?

It isn't that Texans are proud of no public land. That is just the way it is here. Sure, some places will let you hunt for a fee and sometimes it is a stiff fee. Many of us don't care for the notion of Public Access to our private lands and all the liability that comes with it.



As Art noted, we can hunt them 24/7/365 and in parts of the state we can do it by chopper. That isn't going to stop the hogs. Even if we had public lands like other states, that won't stop the hogs either, so the notion that the problem is the lack of public lands to hunt hogs is just silly. Florida has a lot of public land hunting but they also have a big hog problem. Same with several states as noted here.

Saying Texas has a hog problem because we don't freely let hunters have access to privately owned lands is like saying an apartment building has a cockroach problem because the occupants won't freely let the neighborhood kids come in and step on them.

Florida does have a lot of public land, but a lot of it is multi-use (offroading, hunting, etc.) or it's packed with hunters, both of which drive the hogs away.

Hogs are smart, they will either go somewhere else with less pressure or go nocturnal. In fact, it's hard to find hogs on public land, believe me, I've tried. You can hunt on the WMAs but most of them make it difficult to get on there or only let you hunt hogs with shotguns and usually during stupid times.

I've had more hogs on my tiny 60 acre grove that I hunt on than I've seen on Three Lakes, Cecil Webb, Ocala National Forest, and the Mayaka preserve WMAs combined.

 

[DIM]

Have you tried Oceola I been there once, like 15 years ago and pigs were abundant

 

[chas08]

Don't tell me some Texans aren't proud of there being no public land. Just read through this forum.
And if there is access, then you don't sit over bait, because you don't have to try to get the game to come to your patch of dirt. What you do down there is called poaching in most places...

AB...are you off your meds again?

Do what you want, but the fact remains: if those pigs were here, a lot of them would be in freezers, not in your pastures.

And it still wouldn't be enough to eradicate them. If I you had our 2 million hog population there wouldn't be enough people in Idaho to kill them off, if every man, woman and child killed one on the same day. I wish we could send you half of what we have down here and listen to the tune you would be singing a year later.

I'm glad I don't have to share my hunting ground with Joe Public, and I don't mind paying for trespass rights. With more people in Harris County than you have in your whole state. It would get crazy down here if we didn't do it the way we do. Not to even mention the liability that landowners would open themselves up to in todays sue happy world.

 

[CTPhil]

I do think I get it now.

There are a lot of wild pigs.
Hunting access is an issue some places.
Some places in the South have a really dense understory.
The pigs have become nocturnal, wary, and resourceful.
There's no commercial incentive to harvest them other than to prevent damage.

But I still can't help but wonder if where we are as a society contributes to the problem. Most people that I know are inside-the-box thinkers, and hard times used to cause people to think outside the box. I'm not so sure about today. Even if someone has no job, most people will try really hard to get money so they can go to the store and buy food, but would not think to have a garden or harvest some game. They try to get financial help to pay for heat, but won't use a wood stove. In the oil crisis of the 70's there were practically range wars over roadside firewood here: now even with the recession, when the utility companies leave wood cut up beside the road it's still there a week later. (And then I take it. )

Just sayin', I could very well be full of it.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

And if there is access, then you don't sit over bait, because you don't have to try to get the game to come to your patch of dirt. What you do down there is called poaching in most places...

And now it is apparent that you don't understand what is going on. I don't know what it is that you consider poaching but it really doesn't matter does it if what we are doing is legal where we are?

Don't tell me some Texans aren't proud of there being no public land. Just read through this forum.

Some Texans may be, but mostly we are just proud to be land owners, but you miscategorized us all by your all inclusive original statement. I think you will find that we would like more public lands. The problem is that for this to happen, it means taking the land away from landowners. Nobody wants to be forced off of their land. Do you?

Do what you want, but the fact remains: if those pigs were here, a lot of them would be in freezers, not in your pastures.

The fact also remains that we have a lot of freezers full here as well. There are freezers full in LA, MS, AL, and FL as well and they have lots of public land for hunting. Your theory is well intentioned, but extremely naive.

Florida does have a lot of public land, but a lot of it is multi-use (offroading, hunting, etc.) or it's packed with hunters, both of which drive the hogs away.

As is often the case with public lands. It won't all just go for the express purpose of hunting.

Hogs are smart, they will either go somewhere else with less pressure or go nocturnal. In fact, it's hard to find hogs on public land, believe me, I've tried. You can hunt on the WMAs but most of them make it difficult to get on there or only let you hunt hogs with shotguns and usually during stupid times.

I've had more hogs on my tiny 60 acre grove that I hunt on than I've seen on Three Lakes, Cecil Webb, Ocala National Forest, and the Mayaka preserve WMAs combined.

Right, so despite AB's suggestion that public land and hunting will keep hogs under control, it has not done so in states like Florida.

 

[chas08]

But I still can't help but wonder if where we are as a society contributes to the problem.

Sure it does. As a kid with my Dad and Grandfather, about all you had to do was knock on doors and ask to get permission to hunt. The trespass rights for a weekend of deer hunting was paid for with a handshake and a good bottle of whiskey.

But those days are gone and we as a society are the ones responsible. And it really all leads back to one reason, MONEY!!! Theres money to be made by sueing a rancher because you were injured on his property.

Theres money to be made by the rancher, by charging for the right to hunt on his property.

There are fools who will pay $300 to kill a hog, so now all hogs are worth $300. Joe Average can't afford $300 so here we are, we've done it to ourselves.

 

[jmorris]

I think a lot of people over-react and blow the problem to hogs out of proportion

I guess I can see how some might think that. If you have ever had them turn 80 acres of, smooth as glass, hay meadow into something you couldn’t cross with the lunar rover without loosing teeth, you would think different.

 

[Art Eatman]

AB, I don't understand:

"And if there is access, then you don't sit over bait, because you don't have to try to get the game to come to your patch of dirt."

How is sitting over bait for hogs any different from calling or sitting over bait for a coyote? Plus, most hogs are in thick-cover country, so walking-hunting would let you get maybe one or two out of a group of twenty.

"What you do down there is called poaching in most places..."

Removing pests is in any way related to poaching? How? Now, if I've misunderstood and you're talking about baiting deer, the flip side of that coin could readily and just as accurately be that not-baiting is terribly inefficient in harvesting meat.

As far as, "Don't tell me some Texans aren't proud of there being no public land. Just read through this forum.", that's incorrect. We have a "just the way it is" setup here. The Republic kept its land when it joined the Union in 1845, and then sold the land to raise money--which is what the Sagebrush Rebellion folks in your part of the world have long advocated for national public lands. What is, is--and it's rather unimportant in the grand scheme of things, really. Further, FWIW, we do indeed have public lands available for hunting; restrictions are more for record-keeping and safety, all in all.

 

[FLAvalanche]

Have you tried Oceola I been there once, like 15 years ago and pigs were abundant

I've never been to Oceola. I have a buddy that hunts up there regularly for deer. He's never mentioned hogs but then again, I've never asked.

 

[FLAvalanche]

Right, so despite AB's suggestion that public land and hunting will keep hogs under control, it has not done so in states like Florida.

Nope.

And if there is access, then you don't sit over bait, because you don't have to try to get the game to come to your patch of dirt.

Why not? Work smarter not harder. If the pigs aren't under pressure, sure spot and stalk can work, but the chances of that working in this neck of the woods is slim to none. They're too spooky.

I came from a state that doesn't allow baiting (Pa.) and I'm now in a state that allows it (Fl.). I will continue to bait every last species of animal the state will allow me to bait. I love it and it fills my freezer. I'm not trudging up and down snow covered mountains then dragging out a 200 lb. animal over those same mountains. No thanks. I'll sit in the shade of my tree stand and happily wait for my prey to come to me, poke a hole in it and wait for his buddies to attend the funeral. The "thrill of the hunt" isn't my priority, filling my belly is. But you know what? I get just as much thrill as baiting an animal in than I did trudging up and down mountains for it.

Theres money to be made by sueing a rancher because you were injured on his property.

Wasn't there an act passed that protected land owners from liability if hunters they've given permission to hunt their land hurt themselves?