By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

Texans have several options when it comes controlling the ever-growing feral hog, or wild pig, population, but some methods, including the use of some toxicants, remain just out of reach.

There are an estimated 6.9 million feral hogs in the United States. Texas is home to about 2.6 million of them.

They root up freshly planted fields, destroy acres of crops overnight, tear up pastures, kill trees, spread invasive plant species, contaminate watersheds, kill small livestock, destroy wildlife habitat and have even rooted up cemeteries and knocked over headstones.

“It’s a statewide issue. It’s not just an ag issue,” Zach Davis, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agent for Hill County, said. “It traverses every aspect of life from our watersheds—the impairments we can have there—to our neighborhoods and transportation.”

Feral hogs are extremely intelligent, which can make capturing and killing them difficult.

It’s one of the reasons why Davis recommends that landowners use more than one method to help control the feral hog population.

“It’s going to take an integrated approach,” Davis said in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “You can’t just trap them. You can’t just shoot them. You’re going to have to do one and another, and possibly even another, to be able to get any kind of control.”

Feral hogs are opportunistic omnivores. They’ll eat almost anything, including supplemental feed for wildlife.

Landowners may want to consider an exclusion fence around feeders to deter the hogs.

Davis recommends a fence 28 to 33 inches high, but he said it’s just a deterrent. Feral hogs have, and can, find a way over, through or under fencing to get to food.

Traps are also an option, and there are several types available including the corral trap, cage traps and snares.

Landowners should consider cost, portability, if it can exclude other wildlife or livestock and the size of feral hog sounders in the area.

Davis urges those who use traps to consider other nearby food sources when setting a trap. If there’s been a heavy acorn crop that year, feral hogs may be more attracted to that than the bait.

Hunting is also an option.

“Hunting can be effective in terms of pressure. We could pressure them out of an area with shooting, but in terms of control, for the most part, we’re going to take a limited number at any one time,” Davis said. “The most effectiveness that’s going to offer us is pressuring them out of an area.”

In Texas, a hunting license is not required to target feral hogs.

“What I recommend, though, is to consider the situation and potentially what wildlife season it is when you make that determination as to whether you need a license or not,” Davis said.

He also recommends letting the local game warden know if you plan to hunt feral hogs at night in the event they receive calls about gunshots.

In Texas, hunting from a helicopter or hot air balloon is legal, but it does require permits and licensing.

Hunters should also talk with the helicopter or balloon service prior to the hunt to make sure their goals for the hunt align with the hunter’s.

There are a few chemical control options, but only one is currently available in Texas.

“There are toxicants that have been field trialed and others that will be field trialed,” Davis said. “Sodium nitrite completed field trial evaluation in 2021. Currently, EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is weighing the options of a label based on that data.”

Sodium nitrite starves red blood cells for oxygen. Feral hogs who are fed a bait with it go to sleep and do not wake back up.

Another option is the anticoagulant warfarin.

Feral hogs that consume bait with warfarin essentially bleed to death.

EPA approved a label for warfarin, but there is currently no label for its use in Texas.

“In the summer of 2023, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension is supposed to field trial warfarin and work on figuring out where that fits in the game,” Davis said.

Contraceptives are the only option currently available to Texans.

They inhibit the hogs’ reproduction without lethal control.

The only problem is, this option relies on the hogs regularly consuming the contraceptive.

There are several options for feral hog contraceptives, but Davis said there’s a lack of proof as to their effectiveness.

When weighing options, officials, landowners and hunters need to consider the impacts these options have on other species, the public, their safety, whether or not it’s humane, the cost and their effectiveness.

It is up to landowners when, and if, they control to use one of these methods to control feral hogs.

Those that do opt to hunt, trap or chemically control them may want to start the planning process at the first sign of feral hogs on their property.

“Ideally it would be if you see them, and you don’t want them. Either apply the pressure to go ahead and push them out or remove them permanently,” Davis said.  “I think there’s a lot of instances where folks have feral hogs but don’t know it because they haven’t seen them yet.”

According to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, signs feral hogs may be in the area include: extensive digging or rooting, muddy wallows, tree rubbing, tunnels and trails through thick vegetation, hoof tracks near water sources and scat.

Feral hogs can reproduce twice a year. Their gestation takes only three months, three weeks and three days. They can begin reproduction as early as six months of age and can have up to 12 piglets per year.  

“They’re a big problem. They cause millions and millions of dollars worth of damage,” Davis said. “Ninety-nine percent of Texas counties have a feral hog population.”

The only county that does not have a noted feral hog population is El Paso County.

Researchers are unsure why the feral swine have yet to leave an imprint there.

To help landowners tackle the feral hog problem, AgriLife has a webpage with information on trap design at feralhogs.tamu.edu and bit.ly/FeralHogControl.