How bad is the Feral Pig problem in the Southwest?

I don't know about AZ but since they are classified as a nuisance animal, yes, there is no restrictions for removal. I will also say that is because they are a nuisance and are causing damage.

If you take them and butcher them, then that is the same as hunting and that is different. There is no season or time that limits the hunting of feral hogs but a hunting license is required. If you are the land owner and not leasing for hunting purposes, then it is easier to show monitory damage and therefore, the requirement of a license is a bit of a gray area. That one has caused some debate around my camp fire. I have the hunting license anyway and I am the land owner so no worries from my point of view.

Like anything else, living with them is a way of life. It is not any different than the deer eating corn in Ohio, etc. Corn is a cash crop the same way that hay is a cash crop, especially in Texas during our drought. When a pasture is torn up, it makes it hard for the cows to get around and there is less for them to eat. But we have lost a lot more because of drought than a few hogs.

NE Oklahoma, they are rapidly becoming a problem here.

I am going to go against the flow here and say they must not be much of a problem to most NE TX and N TX farmers/ranchers.

If they were they would not ask a fee of $100-200/day per person to hunt them.

I have been hog hunting in TX many times and they do have many hogs but every farmer/rancher I have encountered (a lot!) don't want to mess with anyone trapping them or hunting them on their land.

If the problem was bad they would be thrilled to get them removed.

If anyone with a hog problem wants them removed ethicaly and safely I will gladly bring some guys down from IA and kill all we can (the meat is excellent and they are a blast to hunt). Just PM me if you want to take me up on the offer please...it would make my year to be able to go back in feb/mar to hunt again.

They don't want strangers on their properties. Simple as that. Also if they charge for hunts...it's to cover property taxes. There are certain areas in Texas that you can get free hunting property but you have to be living there and have to know the owners personally for that to happen.

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The "pigs" mentioned as being culled in Tucson were javelina, not pigs. Those are actually classified as big game in AZ and require a hunting permit as such to be taken other than part of an official nuisance removal, or, I would think, if someone feels outright threatened by aggressive behavior by one. LE has at least gone through the motions looking for people who've injured the critters, say with pellet guns. I suspect what was seen east of there in the Willcox area were also javelina, but I'm not certain of that. Javelina have adapted to feeding on prickly pear cactus pads so can be found more or less all along the Mexican border areas, I'm pretty sure including in Texas. Just like pigs, though, they are very smart and learn where humans are likely to leave garbage, put feed out for birds, and so on. I suspect that the fully desert areas where javelina have been native for a long time will be resistant to pig invasions since the javelina clearly occupy a very similar ecological niche.

Edit add, I did some Googling and need to add some better information of which I was ignorant. There *are* feral pig populations established in the San Pedro Valley and Willcox AZ area east of Tucson. There are also even larger infestations north of Phoenix. See:
http://www.verdenews.com/main.asp?Se...rticleID=47974 and
http://azstarnet.com/news/science/en...f7f74a785.html
I'm fairly sure this javelina incident two months ago was what was mentioned as a Tucson pig problem BUT I'm no longer quite as confident in their absence in Tucson proper if they're in fact as close as Willcox.
http://www1.kvoa.com/news/game-and-f...-home-attacks/

Holy cow...they were Javalina....I honestly thought Javalina were wild pigs...ie. undomesticated critters. My apology if I confused anyone.

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I hear they are in Virginia already as well...Haven't seen any other than my annoying little piglets.

Here's an update on this growing problem:
Feral hogs a growing problem in Alabama
By Linda Brannon
YellowhammerNews.com
June 17, 2015


"Pigs gone wild" might sound like a bad, cable TV show, but they are no joke when it comes to their environmental impact. In Alabama, feral hogs - with their destructive rooting behavior and voracious appetites - pose a real threat to native plants and habitats.

At the 1,850-acre site of Farley Nuclear Plant, located near Dothan, the battle to protect the environment against wild pigs is ongoing.

The Plant Farley property was certified more than 20 years ago as a wildlife habitat by the nonprofit Wildlife Habitat Council. About two years ago, feral hogs first made their appearance at the plant. Today, Plant Farley personnel work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in efforts to control the pigs on the site.

"A population of feral hogs can double every four months," explained Dana Johnson, a USDA wildlife specialist. "They have an alarming reproductive rate. They can reproduce as young as four months, have a gestation period of four months, and give birth to as many as 12 piglets per litter. So if you begin with two males and two females, in the optimum environment - in three years you can have a population of 16,000 if left unchecked," Johnson said.

As a certified wildlife habitat, Plant Farley has both land and game management programs, and the wild hogs are threatening both. "They root up grasses and understory vegetation and compete with our native wildlife for foods," said Ken Darby, an environmental specialist with Southern Nuclear, which operates Plant Farley for Alabama Power. "They are also serious nest predators, destroying quail and turkey eggs." The hogs also forage on tree seedlings, such as the native longleaf pine recently planted at the site.

Johnson visits the plant site periodically to assist with the capture of the feral hogs. "What we do here at Plant Farley is wildlife damage control." Johnson said. "We also do testing for swine brucellosis and cholera."


Full text:
http://yellowhammernews.com/faithandculture/feral-hogs-a-growing-problem-in-alabama/

When I lived in the Prescott area back in the late '80's, I ran across wild pigs in the country south of town.

I knew a guy in Texas, not the brightest I've known, who went Javalina hunting with a Thompson machine gun (he had a Class A license). Besides destroying the animal, he put it over his shoulder to carry it back to camp. Javalinas are covered in chiggers and other little biting insects, and so was he.

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In Texas, no season, no limit, you see one you can kill/capture it. Have 'em coming up to about 10 yards from my back porch in broad daylight.

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I work for a sheriffs department in Texas and we get calls on them weekly.

It is a terrible problem that is nowhere near approaching being under control.

"How bad is the Feral Pig problem in the Southwest?"

That's like asking how bad is the free food problem. Feral pigs are easy to catch. Setup a pig trap. Pig traps extremely effective. If the government really wanted to get rid of the feral pigs they would make it open season on them year round and offer a bounty on ears. This sort of policy has been very effective at killing off species and people's that the government wanted to get rid of in the past. The fact that they do not do this says they're not serious about getting rid of the feral pigs and it is not a big problem.

-Walter

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

It's open season here in Arkansas year around too. Shoot as many as you can and leave them if need be. If they let people sell the meat they would be gone in no time flat.

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I don't understand why no one is killing them for pet food. The price of dog food is nuts but I've seen everything from buffalo to wild salmon to duck in bags of dog food.

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That is my plan. We have them on the farm in N. Tx and I plan to trap them, finish them out and use them to feed me and the dogs and cats I'm planning on getting.

A realist would tell you they will be eating most of us

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You can so much freely kill or capture that it is legal in Texas to hunt them from a helicopter with an automatic weapon now. As of Sept. 1 last year that is.


http://www.helihunter.com/

Re eating wild hogs and feeding them to your pets: They are subject to internal parasites like domestic hogs. Thrichinosis(sp) is the main problem and is not a nice disease to have. Cooking any pork completely at high temperature is called for.

COWS

An opportunist eats their enemies.

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