Hog Hunting Public Land

paulsharvey · Jan 30, 2024

This is their general info pamphlet on hogs. I think I'm probably in the majority, that if I could snap my fingers and make them eradicated, I would Not do it, but I also think they are destructive and can be a real nuisance for agriculture. Of course, we have herpes carrying monkeys less than 30 miles away, tegu lizards, nuetria, isolated capybara, pythons, feral cats, ect. Until a few years ago, the monkeys were sometimes trapped and sold to medical testing outfits, but that got stopped, and they are completely uncontrolled. Haven't heard of Tegu lizards locally, and we are too far north for the iguanas.

I know of am area of Tift land (sovereign submerged) with no public access, where guys have complained the hogs have devastated the turkey population, and pushed deer out of. At the same time, the property owners adjacent don't seem to want to allow access to cull the hogs...

I also don't think coyotes are really native to the area either, but have become more widespread over the past 15-20 years.

paulsharvey · Jan 30, 2024

Here is a map showing confirmed rheses monkeys identification in North florida (not just spotting, confirmed, as in captured, killed, ect)

paulsharvey · Jan 30, 2024

Tegu lizards confirmed map... They also seem to really go after turkey eggs and poults.

EddieWalker · Jan 30, 2024

Florida sounds as crazy as Texas is with exotic animals taking over and becoming common in places. I think the thing Texas has going for it is that they make a massive amount of money off of the exotics. If it's not native, and it's on private land, it's open season all year round.

On the hog front, I've seen in the news that they are experimenting with poison that will only kill hogs. There are a lot of questions on what happens to the animals that eat the dead hogs after they die from poison, and very little answers.

I've heard rumors that they have actually tried this is areas, but it's all top secret and I've never seen anything first hand.

I also heard that a bunch of hogs where killed on a ranch not too far from me from a landowner who poisoned them, but Fish and Game refused to look into it, or even acknowledge that it had happened. The person who told me said he saw them dead, laying out in the fields, and there was a lot of them out there.

I'm not happy with mass poisoning because of the animals that are affected by it, but it does give a hint of how much the state wants the hogs removed. They really are horribly destructive and it would be better if they didn't exist.

paulsharvey · Jan 30, 2024

It could have been a lighting strike, that killed a large group of hogs? I've heard stories of large groups of domestic hogs being killed with no clear cause, and it being called a lighting strike.

paulsharvey · Jan 30, 2024

With non-native/invasives; it gets a bit sticky, IMO. Not all non-natives are bad, and at a certain point, they fill an ecological gap, either from taking it over, or an existing species that is failing for any one of many reasons. I think our hogs have replaced those dang gopher turtles to some degree, as well as competing with bears, armadillos, turkeys, deer, ect. It seems like some of the worst are feral cats, but almost noone wants to eradicate them.

Watched a short video of camel eradication in Australia. Saw something one time about a Spanish Ibex introduced to southern Arizona mountain range. Goats in Hawaii, ect. I know Texas has that huge antelope species, that's like the size of an elk... Then you have the wolves, Elk, bison, that while native, have been out of the ecosystem for 150 years, and re-introducing them. Heck, jaguar in South west... I dont live there, but if I did, not sure I would be in favor of bringing a significant population of them back in.

gsganzer · Jan 30, 2024

All this talk about feral hogs is starting to make my trigger finger itch, but I'm stuck on a jobsite in Canada.

My deer processor called me last week to say one of my deer is ready for pickup, so I'll need to head to my deer lease whenever I get home. We have a "Top Hog" award at our lease for the person that kills the most pigs each year. I won last year, and I already have my first 2 kills for 2024.

We also have a "Top Dog" award for the person that kills the most coyotes. I won that too!

two_bit_score · Jan 30, 2024

gsganzer said:
I haven't tried it, but folks swear by corn soaked in diesel as bait. Supposedly, it doesn't attract deer.

I just sour corn or sometimes I use Pig Out, a sweet smelly and salty pig attractant that you mix with corn. I've also made my own similar concoction by mixing jello mix with vegetable oil.

We have used all of these. We just poured the jello packets on the corn. Can't attribute any great success to any of them more than just plain corn.

If you have access to dead chickens, maybe a poultry house on your place or a near by neighbor who will donate a few, hogs will really go for dead chickens.

etpm · Jan 30, 2024

EddieWalker said:
National Geographic TV has a show about wild pigs that's really interesting. They have one about eggs that worth seeing too.

One of the things that really surprised me on that show was that when a domestic pig escapes, or is released, and it lives off of the land, it's DNA changes. It actually becomes a different animal!!! It's ears stand up, it's tail straightens out, it grows hair and overall, it physically changes. This only takes a year to happen!!!!

There are no pigs native to North America. Javelina are not part of the pig family.

Pigs have no way of cooling themselves. They do not sweat like some mammals do, and they do not pant, like dogs do to cool off.

The show also talked about their social structure and how quickly they reproduce. It's really a worthwhile show to watch if you are interested in wild pigs.

In the back of my mind, it might of also talked about Hogzilla, and how some pigs can grow to a massive size. There was a lot of information in that show.

Yes, even though they have the same DNA the genes are expressed differently. This difference is called epigenetic. The epi meaning on or above. Anyway, even though the DNA and the genes are the same the environment is not, and so some genes act differently. This doesn't just happen to pigs of course. Some crops also exhibit great changes when allowed to grow wild.
Eric