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I cannot find the source, but I heard Texas is only taking out 70% of the needed hogs to hold the population even, much less reduce it.

tristor 6y ago
This is partly due to urbanization and city ordinance. This is an issue near and dear to me here in Texas. Feral hogs are, like many other wild animals, adapting to the ecosystem created by humans. One downside though is that you cannot hunt/kill them in city limits. It's very commonplace for feral hogs to bed down in suburbs and populate there, so no matter how many people go on hog "hunts" from helicopters with rifles, it won't change the fact that in that neighborhood park you have hogs rutting in a no-kill zone. There's no nice, fully socially acceptable answer, because even in Texas the majority of city folks are not comfortable with the reality of killing another living creature, and they certainly aren't comfortable with people using firearms inside the city. Unlike deer issues, you can't do crossbow hunts for feral hogs because they're dangerous and travel in packs. You need firearms with high magazine capacities to safely do feral hog abatement hunts. In addition to all of the above, Texas is uniquely difficult to resolve this situation for because of the size of the state. Texas is big, and feral hogs range across the entire state. In many ways, there's simply not enough people who are interested and able to spend their free time during the week shooting hogs. Because of population centralization in cities, people do it as a weekend trip and usually with a company that charges them to handle the logistics, because it's also not okay to just walk on random land here as every part of the state is private property unless otherwise designated. Managing the feral hog problem here costs the state billions of dollars and is like trying to hold back the floodwaters by putting your finger in a collapsing dam.
- chmod600 6y ago
  Are there any natural predators? Wolves or something?
  - Consultant32452 6y ago
    https://feralhogs.extension.org/natural-predators-of-feral-hogs/ https://feralhogs.extension.org/natural-predators-of-feral-h...
    - darkwizard42 6y ago
      Jeez, reading this list it seems the biggest hope is to have something that predates on the piglets or young. There is almost no way to stop them once they reach full size. Specifically the section about how these things at full grown size can even kill a black bear!!!
      - tristor 6y ago
        > There is almost no way to stop them once they reach full size. There is only one known way to stop a full-grown feral hog, and that's with a (big) gun. Unfortunately. So until we have a better answer, our best bet is to kill them as rapidly as possible. Even with all the lore and furor around it in Texas, hog breeding is outgrowing active efforts to exterminate them and the population increases every year and is trending upwards. They're also very aggressive, so enjoy that if you encounter feral hogs. I carry a large bore revolver with me when I go hiking and everyone assumes it's for bears... it's actually for feral hogs.
        thehappypm 6y ago
        Poison? It seems easy enough to set up a trap for an animal that will literally eat anything.
        tristor 6y ago
        Pigs are smart. Traps and poison don't work as well as you might imagine. I'm sure you've heard the saying "Build a better mousetrap and the world will provide you a better mouse." or something to that effect. Pigs are smarter than mice.
- andrewjl 6y ago
  Why can't animal control tranquilize them and transport them outside of city or suburb limits? To some location where presumably hunters would be able to shoot at them? Surely tranquilizers would be cheaper than continuously cleaning up damage to parks.
  - tristor 6y ago
    If they manage to tranquilize one inside the city limits, why would they transport and release it? Just kill it. They're 300-900 pounds, fast, and angry, tranquilizing it isn't easy. Once you have it down releasing it outside of town doesn't do anything to solve the problem. Feral hogs are a menace.

tristor 6y ago

This is partly due to urbanization and city ordinance. This is an issue near and dear to me here in Texas. Feral hogs are, like many other wild animals, adapting to the ecosystem created by humans. One downside though is that you cannot hunt/kill them in city limits. It's very commonplace for feral hogs to bed down in suburbs and populate there, so no matter how many people go on hog "hunts" from helicopters with rifles, it won't change the fact that in that neighborhood park you have hogs rutting in a no-kill zone. There's no nice, fully socially acceptable answer, because even in Texas the majority of city folks are not comfortable with the reality of killing another living creature, and they certainly aren't comfortable with people using firearms inside the city. Unlike deer issues, you can't do crossbow hunts for feral hogs because they're dangerous and travel in packs. You need firearms with high magazine capacities to safely do feral hog abatement hunts. In addition to all of the above, Texas is uniquely difficult to resolve this situation for because of the size of the state. Texas is big, and feral hogs range across the entire state. In many ways, there's simply not enough people who are interested and able to spend their free time during the week shooting hogs. Because of population centralization in cities, people do it as a weekend trip and usually with a company that charges them to handle the logistics, because it's also not okay to just walk on random land here as every part of the state is private property unless otherwise designated. Managing the feral hog problem here costs the state billions of dollars and is like trying to hold back the floodwaters by putting your finger in a collapsing dam.

chmod600 6y ago
Are there any natural predators? Wolves or something?
- Consultant32452 6y ago
  https://feralhogs.extension.org/natural-predators-of-feral-hogs/ https://feralhogs.extension.org/natural-predators-of-feral-h...
  - darkwizard42 6y ago
    Jeez, reading this list it seems the biggest hope is to have something that predates on the piglets or young. There is almost no way to stop them once they reach full size. Specifically the section about how these things at full grown size can even kill a black bear!!!
    - tristor 6y ago
      > There is almost no way to stop them once they reach full size. There is only one known way to stop a full-grown feral hog, and that's with a (big) gun. Unfortunately. So until we have a better answer, our best bet is to kill them as rapidly as possible. Even with all the lore and furor around it in Texas, hog breeding is outgrowing active efforts to exterminate them and the population increases every year and is trending upwards. They're also very aggressive, so enjoy that if you encounter feral hogs. I carry a large bore revolver with me when I go hiking and everyone assumes it's for bears... it's actually for feral hogs.
      - thehappypm 6y ago
        Poison? It seems easy enough to set up a trap for an animal that will literally eat anything.
        tristor 6y ago
        Pigs are smart. Traps and poison don't work as well as you might imagine. I'm sure you've heard the saying "Build a better mousetrap and the world will provide you a better mouse." or something to that effect. Pigs are smarter than mice.
andrewjl 6y ago
Why can't animal control tranquilize them and transport them outside of city or suburb limits? To some location where presumably hunters would be able to shoot at them? Surely tranquilizers would be cheaper than continuously cleaning up damage to parks.
- tristor 6y ago
  If they manage to tranquilize one inside the city limits, why would they transport and release it? Just kill it. They're 300-900 pounds, fast, and angry, tranquilizing it isn't easy. Once you have it down releasing it outside of town doesn't do anything to solve the problem. Feral hogs are a menace.