feral hog bait

Nancy Howell · Mar 17, 2014

Just got a reply from Dr. Higginbotham with TX A&M: "Trials are on-going, most think it will be labeled but the question of when is still up for grabs."

So, we wait while these nasty critters keep multiplying.

Read an article dated March, 2013, that said they cause 1.5 BILLION a year in damage to crops and pasture lands not to mention what they do to wildlife habitat.

Hopefully, the bait will be available next year.

Smalltowner · Mar 17, 2014

I hope the stuff does not kill anymore coyotes....they eat LOTS of baby pigs in the wild but people kill way too many...they eat tons of field mice and rats too. More coyotes, less feral pigs. Sure, they will take a cat or small dog too occasionally, but they do a lot of good. Feral dogs (many times they are pets that "packed up" and revert to their wild side) kill more livestock around here than coyotes. I saw a pack of 3 chasing a guy's horses in his pasture, watched while he expertly killed all 3 with 3 shots from over 100 yards with a scoped deer rifle. Good ridance, keep your dogs at home I say.
Anyway, good luck with the hog control.

Nancy Howell · Mar 17, 2014

The bait is lethal only to hogs. Even if a scavenger eats the carcass, the pig bait won't hurt them.

I am unaware of any predators that will take piglets, at least not in northeast Tx. I have sent another inquiry to Dr. Higginbotham to find out. Dr. Billy Higginbotham is the recognized feral hog expert in this area and works closely with others across the U.S. in research on feral hogs. You can google his name to find out about him.

If the coyotes in our area preyed on feral piglets, we would have a bumper crop of fat, well fed coyotes and far fewer feral hogs.

I know coyotes do eat a lot of mice, rats, and rabbits, but I think they have started preying on calves. One of our dogs has drug up fresh calf bones on more than one occasion.

If coyotes have graduated to livestock, it won't take long for ranchers to go after them hard.

To my knowledge, we don't have a problem with feral dogs.

ks tim · Mar 17, 2014

Hi looking a place to shoot some hogs in Texas ?

dcarp · Mar 17, 2014

Check out the info in this link.
Texas hog info

Geo-TH,In · Mar 17, 2014

I live in Indiana. I know 2 guys, one went to Florida the other to Texas, paid good money to shoot wild hogs.

If it isn't illegal to shoot them, try to make some money selling hunting rights.

The guy that went to Florida, had to pay more for shooting a bigger pig. So he drives all the way to Florida, shoots his hog in 15 minutes, end of trip.

If you are thinking like I am, there are some people drive 1000 miles and pay big money for 15 minutes of fun. Then he paid for someone to process it. I think the hog cost about $20/pound.

The guy who spent a week in Texas just returned, he didn't get a hog. More miles and no pig. Go figure.

Animal · Mar 17, 2014

Nancy, when I was a kid in Idaho we were infested with Jack Rabbits. They were so bad that they could eat a hay stack over night. We had big rabbit drives and got rid of them for the most part, could you do the same with hogs?

Smalltowner · Mar 17, 2014

Experts admit coyotes and big cats have little impact on feral hog population but i have seen them through a nightscope run in and grab a piglet. I was just saying coyotes get a bad rap for livestock damage and semi-wild dogs do much damage. I hate them cause they do it for meanness, not for food. They come out of the towns then go back to the house in the daytime in many cases...unless I can get a shot. Coyotes are much more likely to feed on a dead calf.
The hogs are a real problem and must be dealt with somehow. The erosion I am seeing in the creeks is terrible. Hogs instinctively "root" for minerals and can plow up a creekbed like a dozer, then the rains wash the dirt out.
In closing, I am appalled by the trapping of coyotes and then allowing those ugly dogs to tear them apart. What kind of person does that.
I"ve said enough.

Ivan in Mich · Mar 17, 2014

The coyotes are as big of a pain as the pigs are. I know that they eat the little pigs but if mama catches them she eats the coyote. I have seen it happen. As far as I care they could both be gotten rid of

Nancy Howell · Mar 17, 2014

Probably not or it would already have been done.

Closest thing to a "drive" is farmers banding together, getting the permits from the state, then hiring a helicopter and a marksman.

Dr. Higginbotham related that some farmers north of us did that and the marksman killed 1100 hogs in one day.

Nancy Howell · Mar 17, 2014

It was not my intent to be disagreeable, just saying I was unaware that they preyed on piglets.

I agree that coyotes get blamed for many things and I would not agree with any animal getting ripped apart by a pack of dogs. My Opinion and others are entitled to theirs.

A pack of wild dogs can be extremely dangerous as they don't fear people. At this point, that is not a problem in our area, but since more people are moving in and our area is becoming less rural, it is a possibility.

I know from personal experience the damage wild hogs cause. If you're lucky, they just root small holes like armadillos and move on. If not, they root holes that are 4ft in diameter and 2+ft deep. It can take hours of tractor time to repair the damage to the ground with all vegetation utterly destroyed.

There is one area on our place they have rooted up 3 times. Since they don't seem to like areas sprayed with Grazon, we now keep the area sprayed.

retired farmer · Mar 17, 2014

Coyotes love sheep too.

JerryS · Mar 17, 2014

Nancy, I live not very far from your farm, and I agree with you about the wild dogs. I have lots of coyotes, and have seen them up right outside my back door, near my dogs. But it wasn't coyotes, it was renegade dogs that jumped into my back yard a few years ago and savagely ripped my little dog's guts out, and nearly pulled the hide off of my big dog.

Weldon K · Mar 17, 2014

I would try this. Build a corralling area with several passage ways into it. Start baiting around and in the corral with containers of sour milk and scatter around shelled corn or other grains. After some use begin closing the openings one by one until only one is left. Install a one way trap door that swings open both ways. After a few days fix the door so that it swings open only to the inside. Go in but can't go out. I never saw a feeder pig that refused a meal of sour milk. One would think that feral pigs would be the same. Hunger is a strong force and a steady source of free meals should cause them to overcome their cautiousness about going into trapping corrals.

Ultradog MN · Mar 17, 2014

Well said George.
On the other hand, a couple spends an equal amount of dough to go on a cruise vacation.
They eat big buffet meals every day for a week.
Come home with nothing to show for it except looking like porkers them selves.

jerrybigrig · Mar 17, 2014

I'm in Illinois just a few miles west of O'hare airport . Is there anyone or anywhere a few hrs away where I could hint hogs???

andyd4ntx · Mar 17, 2014

I am in North East Texas near Winnsboro. Two years ago the neighbor west of us hired a big hog trap 25x30 feet with a one way door they caught 23 in two days. last year they caught 10. I have wild hogs in the creek behind our house. They are a real issue and do a lot of damage in Texas.
Having a bait that would kill them would be a real help.
Andrew.

1970-1655 · Mar 17, 2014

Andrew: My mother-in-law grew up at Winnsboro. When we get back down to Texas, we always drive by the old home place as well as all the back roads where so-and-so lived back then. That was my first encounter with wild hogs and that was several years ago. I have seen some big ones up close a few years ago while visiting an old cemetery. If it was not about 800 miles one way, I would be in line for some hog hunting too.

andyd4ntx · Mar 17, 2014

(quoted from post at 17:11:39 03/17/14) Andrew: My mother-in-law grew up at Winnsboro. When we get back down to Texas, we always drive by the old home place as well as all the back roads where so-and-so lived back then............

Yup Great little town! About 3500 in population. We keep hoping it never gets any bigger. We live about 5 miles East of town. Still shop at the local hardware store and Valley feed Mill. Good small town living.
Andrew

keh · Mar 18, 2014

Saw atrap demonstrated at a farm show. Round pen
set up using t posts and heavy wire fence panels. Had an electrically controlled gate. Corn bait was distributed in the pen by an automatic deer feeder set to spread corn in a small circle inside the pen. When hogs were in pen, shut gate by remote control. Shoot all the hogs except one young female. Put radio collar on the female and track her as she looks for more hogs. When hogs located, repeat process. No, I didn't inquire about the price for set up.

KEH

feral hog bait

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