Pork is great in the smoker or on the grill, but when it is running wild in our woodlands and fields, that’s quite another matter.
One of the greatest critter problems with our environment is the mere existence of feral hogs over a good deal of North America. They are devastating to agriculture, other wildlife species and the land and habitats in some places farther south, but wild pigs are a real threat right here in Kentucky.
Because a few feral hogs can become many so quickly, managers know they must hold the line to keep a smattering of problems from snowballing into environmental disaster in a short while.
Free-ranging, feral porkers are not native creatures in North America. They are introduced animals. Some are merely domestic hogs reverted to living a wild existence. A small percentage of wild hogs are European “wild boar” stock. In many cases, feral hogs are a genetic mix of both stocks.
Hogs exist in the wilds of the Americas because they were brought here by people and released or escaped from livestock existence to run amok as soon-to-be feral animals. It goes way back, too, the first introduction of porkers to this continent spanning back to Spanish explorers in the 1500s.
Typical feral hogs are not huge like “Hogzilla” tales on the internet suggest. Most adult boars grow to about 220-225 pounds and sows are somewhat smaller. Those are still big critters considering that pigs are not supposed to be out there in the first place.
These swine are highly adaptable, able to make a living in all kinds of habitats because they can eat almost anything. They feed chiefly on vegetation, and their “rooting” through soil, churning up tubers and such with their long snouts, is a famed way that they destroy crop fields beyond just eating what is growing on top.
Hogs are also carnivores — predators and scavengers — when they come across anything meaty, alive or dead. They are known to kill and eat deer fawns, turkey eggs and the young of other ground nesting birds, mammals, reptiles or whatever.
When acorns fall in the woods hogs will gobble them almost immediately, denying deer and other wildlife the chance to feed on oak seeds over a longer period. Feral swine are pigs about natural food sources needed for native species.
Where hogs flourish, other wildlife declines. That said, it is ironic — or really stupid — that feral porker populations typically get their start in areas where they haven’t been previously because of illegal releases. People “stock” hogs in new areas because they want to get them started so they can hunt them.
When they release hogs, they strike blows against other popular game species and non-game wildlife, too. Importing wild pigs cheats other hunters.
Releasing a few hogs can create a huge ripple in the environment because of the porkers’ robust reproduction. A female sow can be bred at many times through the year and will produce a litter of 4-6 piglets. Mama hog typically has one litter a year, but some yield two.
Females from a litter are ready to breed at the age of 6 to 12 months. Meanwhile, sows can produce litters for up to a dozen years or more. Hog populations increase geometrically.
In Texas, where the feral pig situation is at its worst, intense trapping and eradication efforts are estimated to kill one-third of the hog population each year. But authorities believe they need to kill two-thirds of the population each year just to hold it at the current level.
Amid this, the Kentucky Fish & Wildlife Commission is moving toward making it illegal to hunt wild pigs in Kentucky. At first consideration, this seems all wrong. But biologists say it is the right thing to quash the feral porker threat.
Heading the list of reasons to outlaw hog hunting is to eliminate incentive for illegal releases. Rogue pig stockers must know that illegal seeding of the feral critters won’t gain them the hunting they seek.
Secondly, biologists say shooting hogs is much less effective in eliminating them than is trapping. Indeed, experienced pork war managers say hunting teaches pigs to go nocturnal, making them harder to ambush. It makes hogs more wary, and hunting pressure often shoos some pigs into new areas, causing the problem area to expand.
The Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources, utilizing trappers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, has been eliminating hogs from trouble spots across the state quickly after damages are reported. Those services will be available for free statewide where and when hog problems arise.
Source: paducahsun.com
Photo Credit: GettyImages-4FR
Categories: Kentucky, General