ursusguy said:

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Alrighty, time to tackle some reality.

I oversee a fairly large trapping operation that has trapped 1,200+ hogs in the last 2ish years.....in a pretty unlikely location. Especially since I have had pretty much no negative response out of animal welfare. Why, I involved them on the front end and can show assorted humane consideration. Part of that is I control media visuals extremely tightly. I can say that we have seen significant reductions in damage compared to before trapping. But then you run into issues like rain popping up every 7-10 days like Octobee through January.

My program is based off the Fort Worth Nature Center....in ideals, but not all methodology (they put down on site, mine go to Frontier Meats). The manager and I co-present on feral hog management quite a bit over the years. We are running 15-18 corral trapps with Jagger Pro. We principally on drop on sounders (we will pop solitary boars if they get territorial on a trap). Generally I want a minimum of 7 if at all possible, but we have trapped 55 in a trap at one time. We may wait 5-7 nights trying to lure in adjacent sounders too. Very basic, pop the whole sounder you get weeks of control, pop the sounder and 2-3 satellite sounders and you may not see a pig for 6 months. I will say I oversee a couple contract trappers. I have LOTS of guys approach me saying they would trap for free. We'll just stay when they learn my strict standards for humane treatment of the pigs, professionalism, amd trapping methodology (which I will not back off of), they quickly back down. Heck, I am very proud of the fact that out of 1,200+ pigs, only 6 have not made it alive to the processor. That is almost unheard of.

In Texas, and across the Southeast, the realistic birthrate is 1.5 litter per year with an average of 5.6 piglets per litter. So fast, but not quite as fast as seen in popular literature or frequently posted online.

The Sodium nitrite (what TPWD has been working on at the Kerr) and Warfarin (what Australia USED and have since curtailed, and what blew up in Sid Miller's face) are two very different toxins. There were considerable nontarget concerns with the Warfarin based baits (keep in mind Australia doesn't remotely have the population of assorted omnivores that we have). The sodium nitrite is a common food preservative that pigs (and some extent coons) are extremely sensitive to. Effectively they get drunk and pass out dead. As it metabolizes, it is is rendered basically harmless. There were lots of issues with the Warfarin. I was asked to speak at a regional feral hog management workshop. Miller was initially supposed to show up, and unknown to me the organizer was toying with a notion of having me debate him on the matter (I was not really happy to learn this little detail later......I am pretty damned low on the totem pole and he is known to not play nice). Anyway, he didn't show up and had a spokesman from the state Ag Dept show up who ONLY knew the talking points. It was pathetic as hell, me and the biologist from Wildlife Services ended up having to answer to questions for him from the audience. Two or 3 days later the product got pulled. There were lots of "I don't know" or "I'm not sure we've thought about that".

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They'd just cause more crop damage if feeders were banned. Bad idea.

That's just an out to say a feeder not only increases the docile nature of deer so they are easier to shoot but it helps control damage caused by feral hogs. Sorry, don't buy that.

Now, I'll agree the level to which feeders help increase the feral hog population is debatable. I know it's anecdotal, but rancher friends who have neighbors with feeders seem to have more hog problems.

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PJYoung said:

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There's a war on feral hogs in Texas, and the hogs are winning.

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Warfarin is a slow and ugly death for anything bigger than a rat, causing internal bleeding, cramping, suffocation and aneurysms. Hogs subjected to it take two days to three weeks to die, and any scavengers that eat the meat often die too. That, more than anything, persuaded Australian authorities to ban its use. "Ranchers would go out at night and hear the pigs screaming in pain," Herring says. "Just screaming through the night."

There were other reasons for skepticism. The Texas Hog Hunters Association raised concerns about the possibility of people shooting and consuming poisoned hogs; many of the meat processors voiced similar worries. The ecologically minded were worried about the secondary poisoning of birds of prey, scavengers or family pets. With a single feeding station costing $1,200 and dosages around $150, even landowners who supported the use of poison questioned the cost. Others were concerned that poisoned pigs would wander onto their property, or that the poison might end up in the soil or water.

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willie wonka said:

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zooguy96 said:

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jwoodmd said:

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zooguy96 said:

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All shooting pigs does is disperse the group. Which produces more pigs in a greater area.

Trapping is much more effective if done correctly, and kills the entire sounder.

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Problem with trapping is you catch the ones that are not as smart. What that does is cause more of the breeding done by the "smarter" ones - thus, it is actually increasing their prowess.

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That's anecdotal evidence at best.

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Not really. I tried to trap this one hog for almost a year. I got all the others, but this one. He's doing my taxes this year. I think he's cheating me out of deductions. Clever SOB.

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insulator_king said:

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Contraception. Delivered by dart gun?
Catch, sterilize, release. Ala feral cats?

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zooguy96 said:

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All shooting pigs does is disperse the group. Which produces more pigs in a greater area.

Trapping is much more effective if done correctly, and kills the entire sounder.

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