Texas hunting

[Texas Ranger]

There are intrepid souls here in Texas that have an interesting hunting process.  they go out for javelina and hogs with basic equipment: a couple of buddies, a pack of dogs and this:





The dogs head and tail the javelina or hog, and the hunter walks up, carefully, and sticks the animal.  The dogs hold on till the animal is still.  Oh, there is usually a gun barer in the mix, just in case.

An alternative method is one of the hunters walks up, grabs the animal by the hind legs and lifts the aft end up, the hog on his front legs is immobile and the pig sticking takes place.

[beenthere]

Yup, have watched similar hunting in a video channel of hunting wild boar in Australia with dogs. The dog grabs the boar by an ear and won't let go, until the guy with the knife does the sticking. Rack up the boars and can sell the carcass for wild meat. This youtuber bigboars1out hunts and takes his 6 yr old son along. Recently hunted in airboats due to high water in the fields, but also hunts from pickup or ATV. Shooting from an ATV while moving looks to be tough, but they are pretty accurate, and good videos.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bigboars+1+out

[SawyerTed]

We have bay dogs and catch dogs for hogs.  The bay dogs circle the hog and the catch dogs hold it by the head and neck.  

The hunters grab the hind legs and one sticks the hog.  

For some it is a big time.  I've not learned to love it.  

[Southside]

I can't imagine that does the meat any good. Personally, if I am going to kill something, even a DanG coyote, and we have problems with them, it's going to be fast and painless. 

[SawyerTed]

The bay dogs are typically hounds like coon hounds.  The catch dogs are often pit bull or pit bull mixes for obvious reasons.  

I too prefer a hefty piece of lead moving at a high speed or a bolt with a set of razor sharp blades to end things quickly. 

[TN King]

Feral hogs destroy farms. We dispatch them on sight.

 

[Walnut Beast]

A friend went on a hog hunt down there and the ones he got besides some other cuts made some burger grind and said they were fantastic on the grill 

[Ianab]

Dogs are the favoured hunting method here in NZ. The Pigs are a pest, but hunting has pushed them back into the roughest county and large forestry plantations. If they show up on more open farmland they are pretty easy targets, but back in the bush covered hills you basically need dogs to find and run them down. Then they can be stuck or shot. 

Best I've eaten has been cooked in a hangi (umu if you are Hawaiian). Cooked all day gets it tender.  

[customsawyer]

I have hogs here on my place too. They can be rough on most crops including trees.

[barbender]

Even animals I don't like deserve to dispatched quickly and humanely. Having a hog held by dogs until you can catch up and stick it with a knife sounds like sport for folks that still use the skulls of their enemies for a drinking cup.

[Southside]

A pitbull trained and encouraged to engage in a blood sport. What can possibly go wrong? 

If you have ever run behind long legged hounds you know keeping up is impossible. They are going to be on that hog for quite a while before Rambo arrives on scene. 

[sawguy21]

We are seeing feral hogs and they are not welcome. I am with @Southside make it quick and painless.

[Texas Ranger]

In Texas, and a few other states, hogs can be killed in any fashion, at any time, with whatever means available.  They are a plague.  The state, I think I remember, tried aerial poison but found secondary creature deaths and stopped, the hogs will kill and eat anything that does not kill and eat them.  A quick death is preferred, but death is preferred over sensitivity.

[SawyerTed]

In NC there's no feral swine season, they may be hunted year round, no daily bag limits and no possession limit.  

[Southside]

When hunting becomes brutality then bureaucrats knee jerk reactions to the small groups that can be quite loud paint every hunter with a broad brush, and not in a good way.   Just because you can does not mean you should.  

[beenthere]

Seems draining blood from an animal might be painless, disregarding the method used to start the process. After initial blood loss, seems the critter would just drift into unconsciousness. There likely would be some pain from the knife insertion, or bullet, or arrow broadhead.

Recall when Castro took over Cuba, that prisoners were drained of their blood to replace their blood supply. Thought it was extremely cruel, until I was told they just drift into deep sleep. Maybe the Dr.s here would know more than I, cause I don't really know much about it.

Back in the day, hog slaughter houses just hooked one back leg of a hog to be hoisted upside down, and the hog sticker would do the sticking to drain the blood. Reason I've been told that it was stopped was due to the squeals from the other hogs maybe causing a temporary emotional problem (maybe more human thoughts than hog to hog communication).

[WV Sawmiller]

  If you have ever been cut by a wild hog you will likely be less sympathetic to the manner of his and his relatives passing from this old Earth. >:(

[customsawyer]

I have allowed hunting hogs on my place in the past but after picking up trash behind them I put a stop to that.

[TN King]

The goal here is feral sounder eradication, by whatever means necessary.
Feral hogs reproduce at alarming rates.
They're responsible for $$ billions in lost crop production, forest damage, erosion and field damage. 
They're very smart, have exceptional since of smell, hearing and good eyesight. Can sprint a mile in under 3 minutes and have ferocious appetites'.  
Combine their qualities, reproductive rates with no real predictors. What do you get? 
We use digital and thermal scopes for those who only appear at night. Others, more brazen are dispatched on sight. 

[TN King]

"Predators" Dang auto spell checker wrongly predicts my intent daily.

[barbender]

I'm not warm and fuzzy towards feral pigs. I get the destruction that they cause. If we had them here, I'd shoot every one I saw.  

The point I'm trying to make is, if you will torture and kill the pigs by any means (because that's how the pigs do things), at what point do we become no better than the pigs?🤷‍♂️

How much of a dent in the pig population are the guys running pitbulls and sticking the hog making, anyways? 

[SawyerTed]

Here in NC, feral swine are not native and became a problem in the eastern half of the state after some hurricanes caused the accidental release of domesticated pigs from hog farms.  Their populations grew dramatically and they became a feral nuisance to farmers and property owners. 

Feral swine in the western most counties come from two sources.  European boars were imported to a hunting preserve in Graham County in 1912 and they too were "accidentally" released a couple of times over the next 30 years or so.  They inbred with free ranging domestic swine.  Of course free ranging domestic swine couldn't be rounded up and would reproduce and go feral as well. 

For 30 (1979-2011) years here in NC, "wild boar"/feral swine were protected with big game hunting regulations like deer, turkey and bear primarily targeting  those western most counties but incidentally the eastern part of the state. 

Now  they are in about 80 of 100 counties.
They aren't in my area, yet.  In 2011 the Legislature and NC Wildlife Commission dropped the regulations - except hunters must have hunting license and hunt during standard hunting hours, blaze orange and a few other general hunting regulations. No closed season and no bag limits, squirrels have more protection than feral swine. 

I have participated in a couple of hunts in South Carolina over the years.  Those were highly regulated by the South Carolina wildlife officials.  They were planned as dog hunting events specifically.  I enjoyed the fellowship with my friends and other hunters.  Dealing with the dogs adds another layer of complexity to hunting that seems cumbersome.  

In the end that kind of hunting just hasn't  appealed to me.  I prefer making the selection of the animal I want to harvest, if I want to harvest.  There's not really an ethical alternative to harvesting an animal already caught by the dogs.

[Texas Ranger]

Killing hogs is like killing cockroaches, no ethics involved.

[Ianab]

How much of a dent in the pig population are the guys running pitbulls and sticking the hog making, anyways? 

If Conservation Dept want's them totally cleaned out of a protected area, like National Parks or a bird sanctuary, they sent in contract hunters with a team of dogs. Dogs will track and run down every last one eventually, and then it's basically a moot point if it's shot or stuck. In rough country there is nothing more cunning than a feral pig, and they will almost always sense you first, run and you may never even see them to take a shot. Well trained dogs have even better senses, and can run further. The pro hunters put theirs through Kiwi aversion training, where they are taught not to attack kiwi birds, and often carry GPS collars so they can be tracked to where they have a pig cornered.  

 

I prefer making the selection of the animal I want to harvest, if I want to harvest.

Selecting a game animal is fair enough if you are managing a population, so you have seasons, bag limits and good reasons to "let one get away". All feral hogs are a pest anywhere, so the only good one is a dead one. Like you don't catch and release rats because you only want to kill specific ones. 

[SawyerTed]

Every hunter has to square with their own principles and ethics within the confines of the laws and hunting regulations.

I never said I don't hunt and kill feral swine.  I have and will continue to.  I just don't particularly enjoy hunting them with dogs.  There are a number of hunting and fishing pursuits that I've tried and I don't find particularly enjoyable. Doesn't mean you can't, just don't try to convince me. 

There best be some ethics in hunting feral swine (or any kind of hunting)or hunting privileges of all sorts will be curtailed.  

Trash left behind, roads and trails damaged, carcasses and entrails improperly disposed of, fields annd crops damaged, indiscriminate shooting, wonton waste among other transgressions are quick ways to sully the reputation of all hunters.  To say there are no ethics in hog hunting is an overstatement.

[KEC]

If you want to seriously get rid of hogs in an area, the best method is to use corral traps. They are pre-baited to allow the hogs to go in and back out until the hogs get comfortable with entering the trap. Then it is set to not let them back out. They sometimes get 20 or more hogs at one time. And a nice feature is that you can schedule the time to make a catch and have many hands on deck to process them.  Shooting hogs causes the rest to scatter and become very wary. USDA-Wildlife Services was able to extirminate hogs in a couple areas with traps in New York. New York now makes it illegal to shoot feral hogs for the above reasons. I've never encountered them, but if I did I'd sure like to put it in my freezer.

[Southside]

Just how long does it take on average for a hunter to catch up with a hog being held by dogs? I have run behind bear hounds and the fear is the bear won't tree but will stay on the ground and fight, the problem is you simply can't get to the bear fast enough to save the dogs, both bear and dogs easily out run the hunter, so that pack of dogs isn't simply holding a hog by the ear with the pig standing still, they are tearing it apart - just the same as deer hounds do when a deer stumbles, let's be honest about it.

Some guys think it's cool to video these final moments and post them on the internet. The general public sees a video of a pack of dogs tearing a hog apart then John Rambo enters the frame with his Bowie knife, claiming it's no holds barred for hogs, and I guarantee all hunting in that state will be under attack. If you don't police yourself someone else will.

Ironically I had a chance to run over a coyote with my disc mower conditioner this evening. He was in tall Johnson Grass and suddenly was hung up right in front of the intake and I was clipping along at 7 MPH. Would not have hurt the machine in the least and they cost me money every month killing birds. I hit the brakes, not going there. Wished I had a rifle in the tractor with me for sure. At least I know my dad isn't looking down right now embarrassed to say I was his kid. 

There was a time when hunter education classes stressed respect for all living creatures, especially those you intend to kill. 

I hear you on the issues hogs cause, but there is no way I would defend this practice. Get up earlier, buy a thermal scope, invest in a corral trap, don't make a bad situation worse. 

[beenthere]

Southside
I don't want to try to convince you, but the hunting pigs with dogs that I see on a channel put out in Australia, the dogs ride in a yute or on an ATV until spotted, then the dog is let loose to run down the hog. Done in minutes from what I see. Hunt mostly at night, but some during the day where scouting by yute, ATV, and recently riding in an airboat because the fields were flooded.

Maybe what you are thinking is like a coon hunt with dogs, that pick up a trail and then follow that trail until the coon trees. The hunters catch up by listening to the coon hounds and decide if still on the trail or if the coon is treed. Had fun going with these hunters a few times and many coon hunting stories floated about when standing on a hill in the woods listening to the dogs.

One video of using ATV to scout while the dog rides along. Dog seen riding and the yute in the background is for hauling hogs after being gutted. 
catching boars on the quad - one out action - YouTube

[Ianab]

There's some similar videos online of NZ pig hunting, I won't link them as the language is often quite "colourful". Like when they can hear the dogs, so the guy pulls out his gps tracker, and says, "200m North, but 400 metres above us". "Ahh... #$%$#" says his buddy and they start climbing through the scrub. That's where the otherwise perfectly sensible ideas of cage traps and night vision scopes simply don't work. They work great on more open farmland, but that's not where the local ones hang out, because if they do, they get shot easily, with said night vision scope. 

I'm all for responsible and ethical hunting etc, but there is often a place for dogs, especially with wild pigs. And to take on pigs, the dogs have to be tough. 

[beenthere]

This young fellow in Mississippi traps hogs for farmers, residents, and hunting clubs. Has a phone/camera system that he can deploy the trap when feels the time is right and most or all of a sounder is in the trap. He then "knocks them in the head" and delivers the hogs to families in need. Interesting young man. 
OMGoodness. The wild hog stragglers just kept coming. - YouTube

Another fellow in TX also has a trap that is set and triggered by phone/camera. He loads the hogs in a trailer and has a market where he sells them live by the pound. Gives a wild hog market report.  :D
Trapping 16 wild hogs on the golf course with Muddyfeet. - YouTube

[SawyerTed]

This thread reminds me of the sophisticated fly fisherman who died.  In life he always thought that heaven would be fishing a beautiful mountain stream full of trophy trout.  He was known to occasionally exceed his limit or bend the rules a bit.  After all nobody really seemed to care.

In his after life he found himself in a beautiful setting, a Scottish lodge, miles of stream to fish and a gillie to attend his fishing.  

On the first day he and his gillie went to the stream and the man started fishing.  His first cast produced a beautiful trout about 10".  Every subsequent cast to the same hole produced a 10" trout.   

The man asked the gillie if they might move up stream to the next riffle and hole.  The gillie explained, "Sir, club rules require an angler continue to fish the same hole until no more rises are seen."

The fisherman said, "I thought heaven would produce bigger fish than this!"

The gillie responded, "Nobody ever said this was heaven."

[JD Guy]

Here in SC it is illegal to transport a feral hog ALIVE.  They are moving increasingly into more territory easily enough already!! Anyone who hasn't experienced the destructive damage that these hogs can do to land and fences just could not comprehend the desire to eradicate them by whatever means necessary.

Fortunately we do not have them here in our area yet but I have heard that they are being found not far away just the other side of a small river so it's likely just a matter of time before they are on our property..

[WV Sawmiller]

    I have an old HS classmate who married a guy there in N. Fla and he was telling me he has one of those camera operated traps. His is suspended in the air and has a camera and he can drop the trap by using his cell phone. He watches and when he drops he says he may catch 30 hogs/pigs at a time. He says the hogs do not get wary of the suspended traps like they do stationary ones and he can continue to catch more big numbers in the same spot. 

   I think the law there in Fla as like as mentioned in SC. Kill them on the spot before transporting them to prevent the spread of disease. I was surprised at the USDA program in Ohio where the lady said they catch and vaccinate the feral hogs then let the owner raise or butcher them as he chose - basically just domesticating them.

     I'm not a big fan of torture but I would have no problem releasing a bunch of catch dogs to chase, catch and kill the hog. That is not different than most of nature at work where wolves, lions or coyotes go kill a prey animal. If the dogs can't finish him go in and kill him with a gun, spear or knife. 

    The only issue I would have with poison would be how to restrict it to the hogs and not other innocent target animals. If they can come up with a delivery method that protects other animals I'd say poison them all.

[Southside]

Google Cyanide Bomb and see just how effective the USDA has been at killing and maiming pets and kids while blindly trying to deal with nusiance animals out west. 

[barbender]

I get that dogs may well be the best and necessary method in some situations. There is nothing good about feral hogs. My issue was having the dogs hold the pig so the hunter could dispatch it with a knife. Perhaps that is the best way to do it given the circumstance with a swirling mass of animals- maybe you can't shoot without hitting your dogs. But I've heard of similar situations where all it is, is some idiot trying to play tough guy at the expense of another creature's suffering (the fool that speared a bear in PA I think it was comes to mind).

[SawyerTed]

The feral hog problem is absolutely a crisis in some areas of the country.  The damage is real the health risks are real for other wildlife, domestic animals and humans.  The economic impacts are real.  

A little reading from various states' Extension Service research makes it evident that eradication of feral swine presents a challenge greater than the current number of wild hog hunters can accomplish - firearms, archery and dog hunters combined.  

This is Texas A&M's site

https://feralhogs.tamu.edu/feral-hog-distribution-and-expansion/

Here is NC State's

https://swine.ces.ncsu.edu/nc-feral-swine-task-force/

It appears many states are using and researching various methods for control/eradication.  "Bombs", traps, even the blood thinner Warfarin are being used.  Even night permits and depredation permits only appear to depress the population via hunting locally for a time. 

The expansion of feral swine since the early 1980's has been massive.  Hunters haven't made a dent in the expansion of range or population.

I understand the vitriol toward feral hogs. It is essential that isn't allowed to bleed over into other areas of hunting for sport. 


 

 

  

[beenthere]

And 2021
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/feral_swine/images/scwds-map-2021.jpg

Back a few years ago, Wisconsin found game hunting owners releasing wild pigs/hogs for hunters to shoot on their game farms, which was illegal, and hopefully they were caught and removed before they could become established. Have not heard anything in recent years.
The TX trapper (muddyfeetTV) showed concern from urban dwellers when the hogs discovered their manicured lawns. The damage a "sounder" can do in one night is remarkable, and causes some panic among the resident home owners.

[customsawyer]

For years I have worked my property to have diverse wildlife. I had deer, quail, turkeys, and lots of others that aren't coming to mind. I had my little piece of heaven on earth. A few years back the hogs moved in and now I have a few deer but not much else other than hogs. Everything else suffers from these beast. Nothing can nest here as the hog will raid the nest. Not much is left for other critters to eat as the hogs eat it all. I fully understand y'all and your stance on proper hunting techniques. However when it comes to a critter that you can't seem to get ahead of and they are tearing apart all of your hard work. All other game is starved out or eaten out of house and home. Then something needs to be done. I was running the mower on my skidsteer and a pair of hogs with some little ones came chasing me. Needless to say I just turned and tried to make chopped BBQ out of them. It didn't work but I tried. I have no illusions of getting my place back to the way it was until I get rid of the hogs. Keep in mind that nothing we are doing is working. They are still gaining on us. If you have a better solution us southerners are all ears.

[bigblockyeti]

Tannerite

[Walnut Beast]

I feel for you Bud!

You might want to invest in a quality not junk night vision scope. That would be your game changer


https://outdoorlegacygear.com/collections/night-vision-rifle-scopes


https://youtu.be/5Bv7S5GI7ys

[KEC]

There is a guy in New Jersey named Newt Sterling who sells snares for feral hogs and, so I understand it may be a good tool for some of you guys dealing with hogs. His business name is "Snare One."

[TN King]

Eradication of feral hogs is unlikely. To many states with different rules. 
All one can do is try to keep their numbers down.
Standard hunting practices don't apply here.
Night, day, no license, no season, no limit, no ammo restriction, dogs - no dogs, traps etc. etc.
Any questions?
 
 

[Southside]

Allowing the ends to justify the means is a very dangerous practice, no matter how noble the cause.  One only needs to look back over the past three years to see the ultimate example of that. 

[barbender]

I think that me and Southside are going to start a new group, Feral Swine Defenders or something like that😁

[caveman]

Hogs have been in Florida and most of the southern U.S. since Desoto brought them into Tampa Bay in the 1500's.  Their numbers have increased ever since.  Many have stated about the destructive nature of them.

Hunting them with catch dogs is a longstanding tradition and is not frowned upon in many areas.  The dogs, often black nosed cur or bulldogs, seem to be the local choice.  The terrain where they are hunted locally can be some of the thickest swamp or a jungle of palmettos, grape vines and wax myrtles one could imagine.  These hogs are dangerous.  Their razor-sharp tusks can eviscerate man or dog.  I shot one years ago in Manatee County that was wounded three weeks previous by an old man we used to hunt with.  The hog's back was infested with maggots from the 30/06 wound but otherwise it seemed fine.  I thought it was a bear or a steer when I first saw it walk out of the woods and into a clearing.  I helped a friend butcher one from the same ranch that had a 50-caliber bullet from a muzzle loader that did not penetrate the shield near its shoulder.  Another shot killed it.

When I was 12 years old, my granddaddy and I built a trap to catch hogs.  The first night we set it we caught four and the next night we caught three.  My neighbor commercially traps them, often 30 at a time using a suspended pen that he can drop using his phone from anywhere.  The traps that I've built are basically a pen with a narrow, guillotine style gate that is attached to a cable tied to a stick that is held by two pipes or sticks driven into the ground and the one with the cable is held by those two.  I cover the mechanism with sweet feed or soured corn.  When it is bumped, the door is triggered.

These wild hogs are tough and athletic.  I caught a three-legged one with a group in a trap several years ago.  It moved as effortlessly as the rest of them through the woods.  We ate it one New Year's Day after feeding it grain for a few weeks after capture.  I saw one go over a four-board fence after release from a trap.

[barbender]

Cool stories, Caveman! I was watching a video someone made of a trap they had, they caught lots of pigs but this old boar always managed to get away. They finally put a camera on the trap, when they sprung it that huge old boar would climb right up the side of the trap- and it was at least 6' high! 

[Andries]

Few would have thought that feral pigs would survive on the Canadian Prairie. A provincial biologist told me that they dig holes in snow drifts and a number of them will curl up together in what's known as a "pig pit".
Their numbers are growing up here too.

[WV Sawmiller]

BB,

   Maybe you and SS can fund your new enterprise selling pulled pork sandwiches. :D If business starts booming maybe the whole problem will be worked out by simple supply and demand. :D :D

[thecfarm]

Andries, not something I want to hear. 
I always thought the snow and cold would keep them away.

[Andries]

Us too, but they are tough and adaptable porkers, for sure.
Maybe @caveman might share the Florida recipe for grain fed pork? 

[barbender]

WV- "modern problems require modern solutions"😂

It is a real head scratcher how some animals you can't keep their populations from exploding, and others even with very intense management it is difficult to maintain healthy populations.

 I've read that coyotes respond to lower coyote numbers by having bigger litters. Almost the harder you hunt them, the more you end up with. I wonder if pigs do the same?

[Southside]

It's not that they have more pups, it's that more pups survive because there is less competition for their preferred food source so they have improved odds of making it. 

[Ianab]

I've read that coyotes respond to lower coyote numbers by having bigger litters. Almost the harder you hunt them, the more you end up with. I wonder if pigs do the same?

Less animals means more food for the few that are there, so possibly bigger litters and better survival for the young-uns. Conversely a dense population probably limits food, and reduces the breeding success. 

Of course pigs being smart, a shortage of food would encourage them to move to new territory.

The issue with endangered animals is often an introduced predator or competitor. This either simply eats the endangered species, or eats it's food supply. Someone mentioned how pigs hit the ground nesting game birds (turkeys etc). Too many pigs running around and you might find turkeys become endangered?  Most of the NZ conservation efforts revolve around controlling introduced predators (like pigs, rats and stoats), or species that are basically eating the forest (goats and Aussie possums). Take away those introduced problems (in a fenced reserve or Island etc) and the otherwise endangered animals breed normally and build up their numbers. 

Kiwi birds for example only lay one large egg, and if there are stoats or ferrets in the area the survival rate is less than 10%. As you can imagine that's a quick road to extinction. But remove the predators and survival is 80-90%, so after a few years numbers soon build up again. The local fenced reserve is having to rehome kiwi birds to other areas, with decent pest control, but still some risk. The adult birds can defend themselves, but young chicks are sitting ducks. 

[WV Sawmiller]

BB,

  Good point. We learned in wildlife biology classes about the larger litter sizes and the females will breed at earlier ages and sometimes have more litters. That generally assumes habitat conditions are at or near ideal and populations are low.

  The basic tenant of wildlife biology is manage the habitat for the target animal. That includes food, nesting/denning conditions are met and in some cases predator control and initial stocking/re-stocking may be required.

  As Jake mentioned species like feral pigs are deadly on ground nesting birds like quail and turkeys. Quail were already seriously threatened by fire ants where they have been introduced. Ground reared mammals like fawns and rabbits are at great risk. Even snakes and turtles are at risk. If the pythons in the Everglades had legs and hair, they would be feral pigs.

[TN King]

"Feral pigs are known carriers of at least 45 different parasites (external and internal) and diseases (bacterial and viral) that pose a threat to domestic livestock, pets, wildlife and human health. The threat of disease transmission from feral pigs to domestic livestock is a major concern to the farming industry.
Several of these diseases are swine specific (both feral and domestic) but others can affect cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, horses and several species of native wild mammals. Infectious diseases that are significant to livestock include: Pseudorabies Virus (PRV)
Swine brucellosis (Brucella suis)
Bovine tuberculosis (TB)
Foot & Mouth Disease
African swine fever and Classical swine fever (Hog Cholera)
Zoonotic diseases transmissible from feral pigs to humans include:
Leptospirosis,
Brucellosis, E. coli,
Salmonellosis,
Toxoplasmosis,
Rabies,
Swine Influenza viruses,
Trichinosis,
Giardiasis and Cryptosporidiosis.
 
Agricultural practices or irrigation.  Irrigation pivot pulls water from a fecal e-coli infected water source and irrigates a spinach field. Consumer purchases the spinach from a local grocery store and eats it without thoroughly washing, then gets sick or dies from e-coli bacteria. This scenario already happened in California where ignorant people protect feral swine while suing farmers for allowing e-coli in their food.
 
Reproduction: A single sow (female) will produce two litters of six to 10 pigs annually and their offspring will reach sexual maturity in six to eight months of age. 100 sows can escalate to 1,600 pigs (100 x 16) in one year. Feral pigs destroy agricultural fields just as termites destroy residential homes. A farmer has the same right to remove feral swine from their fields as your right to remove termites from your home. Insect versus mammal makes no difference to the legal definition of a pest when public health, property damage and disease is concerned."