Going hog wild after wild hogs

Doug Stowe and Jean Elderwind have taken a big bite out of the local feral hog population. The couple, who live near just north of town, have twice had major damage to rock walls and gardens from the wild hogs. This past weekend, with the help of a hunter, they were able to trap 12 piglets.

“It was great good fortune because we had someone waiting to take piglets and raise them in Madison County,” Stowe said. “It was great good fortune for piglets, but also for us. They are sexually mature in six months. In six months these boars and sows would have been bearing piglets of their own. They can have litters as large as twelve, and three litters a year.”

Stowe said a friend helped them put up a five-foot tall metal fence pen that cost about $300 and has a trap door that can be triggered after the pigs are inside feasting on corn bait.

“Our friend put up a game camera so we could observe how many pigs there were, their sizes, and their times of arrival,” Stowe said. “They would tend to come in the evening.”

It wasn’t easy. They had a lot of false calls. Raccoons could set off the trigger, closing the gate, and then the hogs couldn’t come in. The corn had to be soaked in diesel, as pigs will eat corn soaked in diesel but deer will not.

“It was a lengthy process and took some attention,” Stowe said. “We monitored the trap for a while before we finally caught one large boar coming to the pen, ruling the roost, and keeping the other pigs away. After we caught him, some of the sows came in. Within a week or so, we captured and killed two sows.”

Stowe and Elderwind’s concerns go beyond the devastation to the rock walls they had maintained as a boundary to their garden for 30 years. They are also well aware of the huge damage feral hogs do to the environment.

“They compete with wild turkey and deer for acorns, and they root around and destroy a lot of native plants important to wildlife,” Stowe said. “Pigs are incredibly destructive to wildlife. All around, they make large pathways devoid of vegetation. They are voracious. They put on weight at an incredible speed. They are quite powerful and absolutely destructive. It puts a tremendous strain on the forest.”

It is believed that hogs were introduced to the wild in the U.S. by hunters who wanted something to shoot in the off-season. But Stowe said the consequence is pretty tragic for those concerned about the forest, wildlife, water quality and gardens.

The Texas Department of Agriculture has estimated 70 to 85 percent of feral hogs must be removed from the land each year just to maintain the status quo. Stowe said that is a daunting task when you consider the wealth of woodlands, valleys and creekbeds in this area. There have been reports of more than a couple thousand feral hogs in the Lake Leatherwood watershed.

Stowe has gone to the Carroll Count Quorum Court asking the county to take steps to address the problem, arguing that it is a countywide problem that will only grow worse unless some action is taken.

Feral hogs can be dangerous in more than one way.

“I don’t go out in the morning without a shovel,” Stowe said. “The boars have large tusks and can rip your leg open. If you come between a sow and her piglets, the sows can become violent and extremely dangerous. They are relatively intelligent animals and generally will avoid contact with human beings and will try to get away. But if they are cornered or feel their piglets are in danger, they will stand and fight.”

They also carry a tremendous number of diseases and have to be handled and cooked with extreme care.

Hogs and other domesticated animals brought to the U.S. devastated natives. It was estimated there were 10 million natives in the U.S. when European explorers arrived in the 15th century. That number had fallen to fewer than 300,000 by 1900, according to the organization United to End the Genocide. The group said natives were not immune to pathogens spread by domesticated cows, pigs, sheep, goats, and horses and, as a result, millions were killed by measles, influenza, whooping cough, diphtheria, typhus, bubonic plague, cholera, scarlet fever and syphilis.

“The whole feral hog thing is fascinating,” Stowe said. “Pigs were instrumental in the death of millions of natives when introduced by Spaniards in Florida. There were cultures all across Arkansas and elsewhere in the U.S. that were gone by the time the settlers came here.”

For people who love to eat pork, Stowe thinks it is much better to eat feral pigs than buying from a pig factory in the Buffalo River watershed.

Hogs produce ten times as much fecal waste as humans. So their waste is also a potential problem in the wild affecting water quality. There is also erosion runoff from areas where they have been rooting.

Stowe said even though their trapping program has had a positive impact in a small area near their home, it is only a matter of time before more pigs can be expected to come back. They plan to keep the trap ready and catch some more.

Neighboring states are having the same issues with feral pigs.

“They are a tremendous problem in Missouri,” Stowe said. “As many as 50 pigs at a time have been seen in Butler Hollow. Lake Leatherwood Park was trapping pigs a couple years ago, but that program was abandoned. If you go out to Lake Leatherwood, they have been extremely destructive in areas like around the beaver pond. I’ve heard of people being chased on the Leatherwood Trail. They are a problem. They need to be addressed. And it is problem that is bigger than individual landowners can handle.”

While most pigs only get to a couple hundred pounds, there are records of some growing to 800-900 pounds. Stowe said the Russian boars that the pigs are descended from were breed to grow at a fast pace.

“These were bred to grow and reproduce at a tremendous rate,” he said.