Going hog wild
HORATIO (AP) — Feral hogs are everywhere in Arkansas and have become "non-native invaders."
Extension services of Little River and Sevier counties provided a free Feral Hog Control Workshop March 15 in the Horatio Elementary School cafeteria in Arkansas.
The Texarkana Gazette reports that the workshop included discussion of natural history and damage identification, as well as rules and regulations regarding the hogs.
The extension service also used a trail camera, feral hog surveillance and successful trapping demonstrations.
After a generation or two in the wild, domesticated hogs appear untamed, with thickened fur and tusks. Sows produce an average of six piglets per litter when eight to 13 months of age, with one to two litters per year, for a lifespan of five to eight years. Other than hunters, research indicates feral hogs have few predators once past 10 to 15 pounds, according to Sherry Beaty-Sullivan, an agriculture agent with the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service in Little River County.
The feeding and wallowing behaviors create a number of problems, including agriculture crop loss, pasture damage, wildlife habitat loss, water pollution sedimentation, transmission of E. coli bacteria and disease transmission to livestock and, in rare cases, people.
Non-native feral hogs compete directly with native wildlife species for limited food supplies, disturb habitats and consume small mammals and reptiles, the young of larger mammals such as fawns, and eggs and young of ground-nesting birds like bobwhites and wild turkey.
Controlling the prolific feral hog has proven difficult. Feral hogs are adaptive and learn to avoid hunters and traps. Hogs are mobile and will range for miles in search of food and mates.
Most feral hogs are nocturnal and often unseen until signs appear. Signs of feral hogs are rooting, tracks, wallows, nests or beds, and tree and post rubs.
Shooting a few feral hogs in a group does little to control their numbers and typically "educates" survivors to avoid humans. If implementing a trapping program, people are advised not to shoot or otherwise disturb hogs from the trapping area.
Corral trapping captures multiple hogs in a sounder or bachelor group at one time and is considered the most effective method for removing feral hogs. It requires a strategy that involves a significant investment of time and equipment. Traps which capture only one feral hog or a portion of the group should be avoided, as non-trapped hogs are now "educated" to avoid traps. Trap-shy hogs soon reproduce, and problems return.
Baiting hogs with corn is a common practice for surveillance and trapping.
Snaring can be used to supplement corral trapping. Snares can be placed around corral fences and along trails. Be aware that snares can capture non-target wildlife and require frequent checks. Contact your local wildlife officer about laws regarding snares.
Hunting with dogs can remove single boars or stragglers who won't enter the trap. Because typically only one hog is removed at a time and the rest are scattered, this is not recommended for population control.
None of these control methods has proven 100 percent effective. Using several strategies, such as corral trapping followed by shooting and dog-hunting stragglers, offers the best option for achieving population reduction at this time.
It is legal to shoot or trap feral hogs day or night on privately owned land, the extension service reports.
Public lands, including federal refuges and Wildlife Management Areas, have different rules about feral hogs; check the rules first for where you plan to go.
Feral hogs must be killed immediately upon capture. An exception is that feral hogs which are captured on private property can be kept on that same property and not killed immediately.
It is illegal to possess, sell, transport or release hogs into the wild other than to a terminal facility approved by the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission.