Wild pigs a growing problem in the Wiregrass

They come in the night and lay waste to crops, vegetation and any other wildlife in the area.

They are wild pigs, and landowners throughout the country, including the Wiregrass, have learned about their habits the hard way.

“They’re like a vacuum cleaner in the woods,” said Donnie Baggette, who leases land in Haleburg. “We’ve got a bunch of wild hogs in the woods there, rooting and tearing up crop land and food plots and running deer and turkey out. Whenever hogs are in there, you just don’t see much of your wildlife anymore. They eat everything that’s there.”

Thursday morning, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System-Auburn University, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources-Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries, and USDA’s Wildlife Services presented a seminar at the Houston County Farm Center on managing these wild hog populations.

“It’s been a growing problem the last 20 to 30 years especially, with populations expanding throughout the state through natural reproduction or illegal trap and transport,” said Mark Smith, assistant professor and extension specialist at Auburn University and with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. “Most of the response we’re trying to address is from agricultural damage, beans, corn, peanuts and food plots. That’s the number one concern we get. Through a lot of other studies, we’ve seen a lot of environmental damage. They root up trees, root up roads.”

Complicating matters is just how fast the pigs can expand their population.

“They have a very high reproductive rate,” Smith said. “Whitetail deer, for instance, drop one or maybe two fawns per year, and usually can only breed after a year and a half. That is a relatively high reproductive rate. With feral swine, the first age of breeding is six or seven months, and they can breed once every six, seven or eight months. You’re looking at about two litters of about six pigs per year per sow after she reaches 6 months of age.”

Smith said landowners must be mindful of controlling the hog population through shooting or trapping, though trapping is more efficient.

“If you’ve got hogs, you need to take an active role in managing that population, and by that I mean reducing it,” he said. “Not just one landowner needs to be doing it, but those around that landowner as well. Overall, it’s not horribly expensive. For a hog trap with a door, at the low end, you’re looking at about $250 for a trap you can use for five to seven years. The bigger investment is in knowledge of how to properly bait that trap and knowing where to put it.”

Baggette said the seminar was helpful for several reasons.

“They taught the different types of traps and the best time of year to run your traps and all,” he said. “They had a lot of points on how to prepare the meat and be protective of your own self in doing so. I enjoyed it.”

Smith said about 40 of the nation’s states are experiencing wild hog population problems.