Dec. 29, 2011 - According to a sample of those with hog-related property damage from 2006 through 2009, taken by the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center, 75 percent of respondents reported the biggest losses in pastureland. Damage was reported in areas including crops, livestock, fences, equipment, land and lease value and even personal injury.
Texas, along with several other states, has waged war on the hog population. In an AgriLife survey of 700 during 2010, 57 percent of people attempted to control pigs on their property through trapping, 27 percent selling those trapped hogs, and 35 percent controlled pigs through shooting.
While many landowners with livestock or crops want the animals gone, others are attempting to manage for wildlife and hunting operations. Many of these types of landowners want to make sure their deer thrive and choose to put out feeders to supplement them. These landowners are unintentionally feeding their foes. According to Dr. Billy Higginbotham a Texas AgriLife Research and Extension wildlife and fisheries specialist, hogs and deer share millions of acres of habitat and a significant amount of deer supplement is consumed by non-target species.
With a significant amount of landowners prefer to trap, luring hogs with supplements can be effective. Higginbotham explained that during a bait trail in August of 2006, using a liquid berry and strawberry attractant lured twice as many hogs as other attractants and four times more than the control used. It was also found that using the strawberry resulted in attracting fewer of non-target species.
Wild pigs populations have expanded significantly since 1982, when they were known to occupy 17 U.S. In 2011, 46 states reported a feral hog population. According to Higginbotham, wild pigs can double in population every five years. Currently, there are estimated to be approximately 2.6 million wild pigs in Texas alone, making control a primary concern.
In addition to the millions of dollars in property damage, these hogs can carry disease as well. Ailments the animals carry include pseudorabies, a Herpes virus that can be shed from the nose and mouth and infect dogs and livestock. They are known to carry Brucellosis, which can cause infertility in boars and aborting of fetuses in sows. It can be contracted by domestic swine, cattle and people (during field dressing).
At this time, Higginbotham urges that the best tool in a hog trappers toolbox is game cameras. They allow a trapper or hunter to pin-point when hogs are visiting bait stations and aid in determining how large the sounder is -- indicating how large of a trap will be needed and when the best trapping or hunting hours are.
"Say that your camera data suggests you have multiple sounders visiting your bait site on different timetables," Higginbotham said. "What you can do is have a gait on each end catch one sounder on one end at 10 p.m. and catch the other sounder on the other end at 4 a.m. and have them both."
A new tool seems to be on its way. There is currently no chemical or product legally listed for the use of killing hogs. However, toxicant trials of Sodium Nitrate, the very thing used to preserve pork, is currently under way. It will be at least 2015 before it is possible for this toxicant to be available on the market, but the trials are proving hopeful.
Thus far, raccoons are the most impacted non-target species. With this in mind, special delivery systems are being considered to prevent non-target species from coming into contact with the toxicant if, and when, it is available.
"It works in about nine minutes," Higginbotham said. "It forms hemoglobin in the blood that the pig simply cannot pick up oxygen in its blood system and they lay down and go to sleep and don't wake up."
If it so happens that the toxicant takes longer on pig to work, there is still little fear of a person trapping or killing a hog, processing it and being harmed by the meat of a pig that has ingested the Sodium Nitrate, in addition to the effects it may have on scavenger animals feeding on the carcass. However, Higginbotham said there is little reason to be concerned.
"If you trap and eat that pig, there are no secondary effects," Higginbotham explained. ""You would have to eat 183 pounds of salami in one setting to kill any of us. That might not matter to you or I, but it matters to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). I guarantee it."
It would appear that the use of Sodium Nitrate for the extermination of hogs looks positive: It is humane, affects few non-target species and has no secondary impact.
"I really think in 2015 this is going to be in use. Is it going to be a cure all? No," Higginbotham said. "But, any time you can put an extra tool in the toolbox that is a good thing."
To find out more about trials and trapping options visit www.feralhogs.tamu.edu.
