SoCal Pig Problem

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It was a mistake to grant "big game" status to a non-native invasive species. It gives the hunters, who really don't want the pests eradicated, a leg to stand on, so to speak. I don't think there is anything more destructive to more different types of ecosystems than a bunch of feral hogs. There is increasing concern in Georgia right now about brucellosis, a disease carried by the vermin, and devastating to humans.

My brother and a couple of men who help us on the farm from time to time caught three sows with pigs in one of our fields a few years back. They had rifles, and they killed 19 hogs, ranging from a couple of 300 lb sows down to 20 lb pigs. That is about the only way to make a dent. The trick is to shoot the sows down first, and the pigs and shoats don't know where to go.

I carried on an ongoing feud with "hog-doggers" a year or two back on a GA forum. In my experience, not just a few, but actually most of the doggers have "0" respect for land lines. Their excuse is that their dogs "can't read those posted signs." Really. I have had some very bad experiences, with feral hogs and the doggers.

Thermal hog hunting is a big business in Georgia now. The doggers hate the thermal hunters, because they are so efficient at killing the pests.

YouTube - ‪JAGER PRO
 
1. Have they tried reasoning with them? It costs nothing, and if it doesn't work, they are no worse off than before.

2. You don't have to kill 'em all. Identify the ringleaders and make an example of them.

3. Long after human habitation is a faint memory on the face of this earth, there will still be wild pigs.
 
I agree that once you fire a shot, all the other hogs in the area are going to scater, so without dogs it's a losing proposition.

I would be glad to shoot all the hogs I could find, but unfortunately California regulations prohibit wasting any meat. I have no interest in eating a filthy swine (there is a very good reason the Bible forbids eating swine!), so just leaving the carcus for the scavengers would unfortunately be against the law.
 
Alas, the Razorbacks had a two game series with USC a few years ago. Seems like the Trojans handled the Hogs embarrasingly well. 77-7 or something like that.
 
When my best friend and I went wild boar hunting last December, I shot mine (pictured below) and the rest just stepped around him and kept on rooting around. The shot didn't scare them in the least!

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The breakfast sausage (14 cases from my boar) was eaten long ago. It was delicious! I finally was able to break out the barbeque grill to cook up the ribs from my boar on Memorial Day. They were fantastic!

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Not a lot of bacon on wild boar because they're always moving and don't build up much fat. But sausage and ribs and pork tenderloin and hams are wonderful!
 
redlevel: Forgive my ignorance. Is there money in hog-doggin? As is guiding hunts? I can't think of anyone risking dogs chasing them down a ravine, or getting gored themselves. Setting up with nights vision when hogs are rootin in the open makes more sense.
 
It seems that the hog problem is spreading world wide. Ive dozens of videos everywhere from TX to Hawaii to Australia. They are the most destructive creatures on earth and extremely dangerous to people. They are one of the only mammals that will defecate in their water supply. Water which humans may access.
 
JcMack said:
redlevel: Forgive my ignorance. Is there money in hog-doggin? As is guiding hunts? I can't think of anyone risking dogs chasing them down a ravine, or getting gored themselves. Setting up with nights vision when hogs are rootin in the open makes more sense.
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No money in hog-dogging. They do it for sport. The most hard-core of them kill the hogs with a knife when the dogs pull them down. It isn't unusual to find a thread where a proud Papa is bragging about having his 12 or 13 year old son go in and cut a hog's throat while the dogs have him down. Dogs are often mutilated. Most of the dogs are some kind of Pitt Bull cross. I hate to paint with a broad brush, because I'm sure there are some responsible doggers who respect landowners' property, etc, but the more vocal ones on the forums are very macho, and brag about relocating hogs (strictly illegal, governed both by game laws and USDA) and how they don't care what anyone says, they are going to follow their dogs wherever they go, no matter how many land-lines they cross.

The money is in the thermal hunts, like in the video. I believe that guy charges $500 per night per gun, and usually carries two, or a maximum of three gunners. He supplies the guns and thermal scopes. Farmers in Southwest Georgia welcome him on their land, because the hogs are so destructive. If I were 20 years younger, I would have to get a piece of that action.

badguybuster said:
They are the most destructive creatures on earth and extremely dangerous to people. They are one of the only mammals that will defecate in their water supply. Water which humans may access.
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They are very destructive, an absolute ecological disaster. At least here in Georgia, they aren't really that dangerous. I suppose if you cornered a sow with pigs where she absolutely had nowhere to go, she might attack, but sows and boars generally scatter like the wind. I believe the show, "Pig Bomb" or something like that, sort of overplayed the danger element. Now, if the dogs have a rank old boar on the ground, a person could get gashed severely by some tusks.

The funniest part of the "Pig Bomb" show was when they had the two or three good-ol'-boys from South GA carrying on a conversation, and they used subtitles. I guess the producers of the show figured the Yankees watching it couldn't understand them.;)
 
I shoot them on sight. Feral hogs here in Texas are becoming an epidemic. The state has estimated that we have a hog population of well over 2 million. They breed like rats and are the most destructive critters I’ve ever encountered. The Texas House of Representatives just recently voted to give approval to a bill that would allow landowners to sell helicopter hunts for feral hogs.
 
Very interesting thread. When I first arrived in AZ, about 30 years ago, there were rumored to be two feral pig populations here, one southeast of Flagstaff, another somewhere in the southern part of the state. At the time, as best I recall, the AZ Game & Fish Commission ruled that these animals were not indigenous, but feral domestic animals, and thus not "game" ( a somewhat specious argument, in that they deem to regulate other non-indigenous species, such as bison, our present Rocky Mountain elk --- all the progeny of non-indigenous transplants, and any number of fishes that are non-native, etc.) and thus not within the regulatory purview of the Commission. In any event, before I could investigate further, these purported populations of feral pigs seemed to have vanished in short order. And that may be the answer to California's pig problem --- remove restrictions on hunting, eliminate tag fees, and turn sportsmen and a hungry populace loose on these vermin.
 
In Texas more and more land is opening for pig hunting, problem is they cost of the hunt. I think the night vision gear is important. I went one time and we had to sit and LISTEN for noise, hit the spotlight and hope there was something there. I saw nothing and won't go again.
 
peyton said:
In Texas more and more land is opening for pig hunting, problem is they cost of the hunt. I think the night vision gear is important. I went one time and we had to sit and LISTEN for noise, hit the spotlight and hope there was something there. I saw nothing and won't go again.
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There IS a difference between *hunting game* and *shooting game*.
Most deer hunting days I see nothing close enough for a clean kill. But I still love the hunt.
 
"Tags" are a way for wildlife managers to keep tabs on how many animals get taken, and of course also raise revenue. Clearly, California should waive the fees for hog tags, to encourage hunters help in erradicating this destructive ferral species.
 
Instead of a twenty dollar tag they should offer a twenty dollar reward. I bet that would A) be much cheaper than the proposed plan and B) hunters would come out of the woodwork to find pigs...
 
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