My hog trappers had a ~200 pound boar in a trap this morning. The first catch in months. The trappers were on the verge of taking a break in trapping on my place. And wait for better pickings.
They have taken more than 200 hogs/pigs off my place in the about two years that they have been trapping here. I think that they have been trapping the Menke place for near a year. Maybe 20-30 there.
But, the hogs have left their marks! All the hazardous rooted up areas are now grown over. That offers surprises to mower and tractor drivers. The rootings are hazardous enough that it is conceivable they could result in a tractor rollover if hit at a poor angle and too high a speed. More likely, I guess, that a tractor driver could be thrown off the tractor.
Some clarification for readers lucky enough not to live in a hog infested area.
Feral hogs are mostly escaped domestic hogs and have been with us for centuries. I'm not sure why but the population seems to have increased in the past ~30 years. The joke is that female hogs are born pregnant. They CAN produce an astonishing number of offspring in 12 months. Hundreds.
About 10 years ago, Texas completed the last segment of the toll road, SH130, that is meant as an eastern alternative to IH35 between Seguin and Georgetown. To attact traffic, the last segment, from Sequin to Lockhart, had the speed limit set to 85mph; the highest in the state. Right through hog habitat. Millions of dollars worth of vehicle damage have been incurred on that section. As far as I know, no human fatalities
The threat to farm property is well known and the state has explored many options for hog control. There is no limit on how, how many, season, or time of day as to when the hogs may be killed. Something like squirrels and coyotes. Other than "open season", the most persistent control measure has been the state making grants to counties in order to offer $5 bounties on hog tails. So, if someone gets a hog, the tail is cut off and placed in the freeze for future redemption. The $5 is insufficient to stimulate inefficient harvesting methods such as trapping. I imagine it might take $100/tail to really get the hogs cleaned up. I am fortunate enough to have found trappers that do it for recreation rather than profit. The $5 bounties are sporadic. A grant may last a few months, then will not be funded for a few months.
Personally, I have gotten only around 10 hogs over ~5 years. Mostly with snares set on hog paths that cross fences but also a few in traps. The traps being cages with trap doors. So, generally no injury to hogs in the traps. Few snared hogs survive to being found. Live snared hogs can not be handled; they must be shot.
Interesting information about the hogs. I've heard of the problem in Texas. We don't have them here in AZ, we have javalina, peccaries not pigs, but they do bite and have been known to attack dogs. I didn't find any info that hogs are born pregnant but the internet did say they can get pregnant at 6 months of age. It seems the only way to reduce their numbers is to make hog bbq popular or perhaps high fashion hog leather hand bags.
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