Wild
hogs are quickly becoming the second most popular game animal to pursue.
With no closed season and no bag limit in most states, it is no surprise. You can hunt
wild hogs all year long and they provide some exciting action and can make for
some nice trophies. Hogs
are not a native animal to North America. Hogs were first brought to
the United States in 1539 by Hernando de Soto when he landed on the
Atlantic Coast of Florida. The first pure Russian boars were
imported by Austin Corbin in Sullivan County, New Hampshire in 1890.
These boars were placed in a 20,000 acre enclosure. Now Feral Hogs,
Russian wild boars and their crosses can be found in 19 out of the 50
states of the United States of America. The only states where free
ranging pure Russian wild boars may still exist are Texas and New
Hampshire. Texas has the largest Feral Hog population which is
at 1 to 2 million followed by Florida with 500,000 and California with
100,000 to 200,000. Southeastern Tennessee and Southwestern North
Carolina are right behind Florida and California with their hog
populations. If
you think hunting a hog is easy, well you need to think again! A hogs
sense of smell is up there with the Whitetail, if not better. A hunter needs to
make sure and take all of the scent elimination precautions he or she would as
if they were on a deer hunt. If a mature hog gets wind of your scent,
they make a snorting sound similar to a Whitetail deer. Once they
blow they are out of there and so are the rest of the hogs. One
day in the near future there may be a huntable population of wild
hogs in 49 of the 50 states in the United States. Hogs reproduce at
a very quick rate. One sow can have as many as 7 to 12 piglets at
one time and they can have two litters a year. Once a hog gets to a
respectable size, there is not too many predators that can take a hog
down. This may be one of the reasons for the wild hog population to
be growing so quickly. Hogs
are destructive creatures. They root up ranchers fields and destroy
crops and grazing land. Hogs are almost impossible to get rid of
once they move into a location. Local ranchers are normally happy to
let hunters harvest a few hogs from their ranches. Ranchers
are quickly starting to see hogs that were once a nuisance as a source of
profitable income. Some ranchers are able to make more money from
hunting hogs than they were able to make from running cattle. There
are several places to hunt for wild hogs in North America. Some of the best
locations to hunt for trophy hogs are Texas, Florida, and California.
For
information on hunting these tenacious animals contact each state's Parks and
Wildlife department.
-
Texas Parks and Wildlife
- 4200 Smith School Road
Austin, TX 78744
(512) 389-4800
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California
Department of Fish and Game
- 1416 Ninth Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-0045
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Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission
- 620 S. Meridian Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600
(904) 488-3831
-
-
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Ellington Agricultural Center
-
P.O. Box 40747
-
Nashville, TN 37204
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(615) 781-6500
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- Sources: Russell L. Stevens, Wildlife & Range
Specialist, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia
2000,
- Encyclopedia.com, Dale Rollins, Professor and Extension
Wildlife Specialist
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