Good bye feral hogs

[LibraryLady2]

If this works, and does not endanger the food chain, I'm all for it.

http://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Potentially-potent-feral-hog-poison-bait-to-be-field-tested-in-Texas-466653583.html

[Jim Jack]

Good grief I hate these things. I hope it works but I have my doubts.

They are in every mountain bike trail I visit and they tear up all sorts of stuff. Many bike trails are in state parks and of course shooting them there is not a possibility.

[LibraryLady2]

This particular article does not mention it--but the first article I read said that feral pigs had been eliminated in 3 states....and mentioned the states.
I suspect that those states were not heavily populated with pigs in the first place. What I don't understand is why, if 3 other states have used it successfully, Texas has a "test market" going on.

I'll browse and see if I find the first article that mentions success in other states.

[ralph]

related but i read an article yesterday that talks about urban hunters going after Coyotes in cities . I always mention to my wife to be careful of cougar in our area . Also , we have herds or large numbers of deer that are all over the place on the property .

[LibraryLady2]

Found the article:
http://whnt.com/2017/12/26/usda-wildlife-services-to-conduct-feral-hog-poison-field-tests-in-alabama-in-2018/

from the article:
Forty-one states joined USDA’s feral swine control program in 2014, after Congress appropriated $20 million a year. New York and Idaho since left it after going two years without any confirmed sightings of feral hogs, program manager Dale Nolte said. He said five other states — Washington, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and Wisconsin — are believed free of feral swine, and are in a two-year evaluation period to be sure.

--------------I do wonder how much of a problem hogs were in the 5 states mentioned as being hog free.

[grouchy]

We have a lot of hogs out in this area. My boys and their friends do a good job of keeping them thinned out.
It will be interesting to see how this program works.

[crocmommy]

I'm assuming these feral hogs are at the top of the food chain and have no natural predators besides man....at least in this area.

[LibraryLady2]

I'm assuming these feral hogs are at the top of the food chain and have no natural predators besides man....at least in this area.

A VERY hungry wolf or coyote might attack a small hog--but the large hogs weighing 200 or more lbs are too big for most of our predators.

[LibraryLady2]

From other news stories:

It said that field testing would
be done at the times when the hogs would be most likely to go for bait.
The tests will begin in dry west Texas in early 2018 and continue in humid
central Alabama around midsummer.

Other comments:
- The hogs die within 90 minutes of eating the bait.
- It won't replace trapping, helicopter hunts and other methods (which
don't work very well here anyway), just an addition to the anti-hog
arsenal.
- Much of the work so far has involved finding a way to get pigs to eat
sodium nitrite, which tastes nasty and breaks down quickly in the presence
of air or water.
- Researchers also have to make sure other animals can't get into the bait
feeders and that hogs killed by sodium nitrite are safe for scavengers.
- Right now the bait isn't used where there are bears - until they can
make bear proof boxes.

[rusty]

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