TV: Hogs Gone Wild

[cy4prez7]

Has anyone watched this show on Discovery?? It's really intense and these hogs seem to be a real growing problem. They say that the population of these hogs will spread to every state within 20 years and that's a scary thought! But anyway if you haven't watched this show and like discovery shows this is a good one and it's not rednecks hunting.

 

[cstrunk]

I really want to go harvest a few here in Texas, myself.

 

[ISUAgronomist]

I've not watched the show but have to deal with them on the Texas A&M research farm. Since the University no longer allows us to shoot them the population has grown out of hand. Nothing like going down to check research plots the day after a rain to find you no longer have a research plot due to hog rooting.

 

[cstrunk]

I've not watched the show but have to deal with them on the Texas A&M research farm. Since the University no longer allows us to shoot them the population has grown out of hand. Nothing like going down to check research plots the day after a rain to find you no longer have a research plot due to hog rooting.

Can you trap them? Either way that stinks. You need to be able to exterminate them because they reproduce so fast.

In Iowa there is (or has been, at least) a program for deer hunters to donate their harvested animal to a meat locker and the meat is given to homeless shelters for food. I wonder if there is anything like that available for hogs?

 

[cy4prez7]

I've not watched the show but have to deal with them on the Texas A&M research farm. Since the University no longer allows us to shoot them the population has grown out of hand. Nothing like going down to check research plots the day after a rain to find you no longer have a research plot due to hog rooting.

Wow! Have you ever seen them in plain sight or been threatened by them?

 

[ISUAgronomist]

Can you trap them? Either way that stinks. You need to be able to exterminate them because they reproduce so fast.

In Iowa there is (or has been, at least) a program for deer hunters to donate their harvested animal to a meat locker and the meat is given to homeless shelters for food. I wonder if there is anything like that available for hogs?

I don't think they have a policy about trapping but trapping an adult hog seems unlikely without spending a lot on an expensive, heavy duty trap. Their reproductive ability is crazy. I see mothers with ~10 piglets following every year.

:realmad:

Our research plots are about 15'x40' and its not uncommon to have multiple plots completely destroyed in one evening.

Wow! Have you ever seen them in plain sight or been threatened by them?

Never seen a male in plain sight but mothers and babies frequently. I avoid them out of caution regardless.

 

[ISUAgronomist]

The other research group I work with has to deal with these in their rice research plots:

water moccasins too.

I'll take hogs any day of the week so I avoid the rice research.

 

[cy4prez7]

The other research group I work with has to deal with these in their rice research plots:

water moccasins too.

I'll take hogs any day of the week so I avoid the rice research.

That's what the show Swamp People is for....haha

 

[FarminCy]

Has anyone watched this show on Discovery?? It's really intense and these hogs seem to be a real growing problem. They say that the population of these hogs will spread to every state within 20 years and that's a scary thought! But anyway if you haven't watched this show and like discovery shows this is a good one and it's not rednecks hunting.

Have some friends that farm in Iowa but also farm about 3000 acres in Oklahoma along the red river valley. Went down one summer to help them spray and those hogs were everywhere. It was amazing how much corn they could take out in one day. It was not uncommom for them in the fall when combining at night to see up to 50 of them in field at one time. During the spring when the corn is coming up the hogs just go down the rows and root up the young plants and one hog can take out a couple hundred feet of a row per night. It is a real problem where they are.

Was told that the local officials view them as a pest and we could shoot as many as we wanted. Never got the chance to do it but there is always an open invitation for me to go back down and stay at their house down there and go hog hunting. Although where they were I wouldn't call it hunting, it is more like just sit in any field next to timber and start shooting once it gets close to dark, that's how thick they were.

 

[CyForPresident]

I've not watched the show but have to deal with them on the Texas A&M research farm. Since the University no longer allows us to shoot them the population has grown out of hand. Nothing like going down to check research plots the day after a rain to find you no longer have a research plot due to hog rooting.

Our research plots are about 15'x40' and its not uncommon to have multiple plots completely destroyed in one evening.

You are my new favorite poster. Small research plots are the ****. I've lost plots in Ames before from Jackrabbits.

 

[ISUAgronomist]

You are my new favorite poster. Small research plots are the ****. I've lost plots in Ames before from Jackrabbits.

Yep, they did some damage during my undergrad and MS research at ISU. Those suckers can move too (not that I chased them in my car :wideeyed

 

[CyForPresident]

Yep, they did some damage during my undergrad and MS research at ISU. Those suckers can move too (not that I chased them in my car :wideeyed

I always tried to throw garden hoes at them... and usually took out more plots or buffer.

 

[ISUAgronomist]

I always tried to throw garden hoes at them... and usually took out more plots or buffer.

That's how it usually ends up.

 

[bugs4cy]

Iowa has a number of feral swine - it's just kept fairly mum. I work with the USDA investigators who follow up on the calls and kills.

Not only do they do a number on crops, but they can also rut up sensitive areas, causing soil loss and displacing vegetation. But, the biggest problem here in the #1 pork producing state are the diseases they can carry which can spread to humans and captive swine. I know of a documented brucellosis case in SE Iowa where a neighbor caught brucellosis from his herd after a wild board got into the pens and bred the sows - giving them brucellosis. Read about the symptoms - you don't want it.

When feral swine are caught/killed, they are tested for brucellosis and pseudorabies. If positive, all (ALL!) swine in a 5 mile circle around that kill must be tested. If you're convicted of being the idiot that brought the feral swine in, you'll be the one paying the bills on all that testing.

In the past couple of years USDA has watched reported areas with night vision surveillance - and have confiscated Russian pigs from petting zoos, pens on farm, and a backyard in Des Moines.

A video from DNR (IA DNR: Video) is pretty good except it's old and it is now illegal to bring feral swine to Iowa.

 

[waynemorgan]

Just over a week ago there was a 350+ lb wild boar taken around the Iowa Falls area. I don't have the article on my phone but could post it later.... Thing was huge and had some nasty tusks...

 

[BryceC]

Question: Does wild hog meat taste good? If it does, we should be harvesting the living crap out of these guys and doing stuff like donating it to homeless shelters like somebody else mentioned.

 

[intrepid27]

I lived in a very rural area of Oklahoma in the mid 80s. The locals used to buy small groups of feeder pigs and turn them loose to hunt later. BAD idea. They are next to impossible to eradicate as they are smart, tough and can multiply quickly.

 

[tazclone]

The other research group I work with has to deal with these in their rice research plots:

water moccasins too.

I'll take hogs any day of the week so I avoid the rice research.

Get bit by a hog and spend soe time in the hospital for staph infection and you might feel different. My brother got bit by a hog and had considerable hospital time

 

[bugs4cy]

Boar meat is boar meat - that's why we invented pepperoni (season the hell out of it to hide the musky taste). With that said, feral is typically darker, and if not prepared properly, will be tough as it tends to be more lean than conventional pork.

(IMO the last thing we need is pork that is 'more lean'. We currently buy direct from a farm that raises 'old school' hogs for more flavor and tenderness)

 

[oldman]

They are moving into Iowa from Missouri. The DNR says you can kill every one you see. You don't even need a hunting license.