Please do not tell us you have feral hogs tearing up your crops. Is it the corn?

Yup, it is feral hogs. Nope, it is our Winter cover crop and daikon radishes. We are working on it. I am ordering some hot .45 caliber hollow points for my rifle. They will never know what hit them. We may also engage a trapper.

You might need a nuclear weapon to wipe out all of them They sure can reproduce quickly. A lot of the folks here who live directly adjacent to river bottom land or Wildlife Management Area land have hog traps.

We don't have a lot of hog trouble here on our property, and it usually is restricted to the back portion of the property (about 800-900' west from the house) or the creek bed areas. I thought we did have a lot of damage, but then one day we went to a fire, I think in the spring of 2014, on a piece of property with very sandy soil directly adjacent to the Red River, and I saw the results of a real, true hog problems that made our tiny damaged areas on the edge of the woods look very minor by comparison.

The residents had abandoned their muskmelons and pumpkins and let them rot in the field the previous fall, so you could see the vines and what was left of the melons and pumpkins. Pretty much every square foot was dug up by feral hogs. It was hard to walk without twisting an ankle. The ground reminded me of nothing so much as a dimpled golf ball. It was just totally wrecked and I felt sorry for them. It would be impossible to have a nice garden in that area without a sturdy hog-proof fence. I believe the hogs are why the residents just abandoned the melons and pumpkins. If they watered and made the soil even softer, the feral hogs just damaged it even more and there wasn't much chance the melons or pumpkins would have survived to maturity. When we were there, the melons and pumpkins were just rotted out shells of what they once had been. Even the absolute worst, most widespread damage we've ever had from armadillos digging just pales in comparison to what wild hogs can do. I haven't seen a hog since last winter and I like it that way.

Some people like the bacon made from feral hogs. Just sayin'.

One of the farms East of that field had a big hog hunt last year. There were >10 hunters, daily, for a week. They made a good dent in the population but I'm guessing some were just pushed West toward us.

A chef/farmer we know said the boars aren't good to eat but the others are. Maybe we will make a BUNCH of sausage.

I've only had bacon from feral hogs and it was okay. I didn't love it, but I appreciated having a neighbor share it with us (I gave him tomatoes, he gave us bacon) so we could see what it tasted like. It seemed to have a rather strong flavor compared to domestic hogs and it was really salty, much saltier than regular store-bought bacon.

Feral hogs are horrible here, especially in the bottom lands along the Red River. More than one local farmer/rancher (particularly those of a certain advanced age) have been threatened by them in recent years. You don't want to encounter a herd of them on foot with nowhere to go to get away from them. That's for sure. One elderly gentleman was pursued by them and barely made it back onto his ATV in time to speed away from them. It is scary to think what could have happened to him if he hadn't made it to the ATV. As it was, I believe he dropped his cell phone as he fled from them so he couldn't even call for help. It is scary enough to run into one or two. Running into a rapidly moving herd of them is terrifying.

No matter how many anyone kills, the darn things reproduce so quickly that you cannot kill them fast enough. About a decade back we had a huge coyote outbreak here, one that was much worse than usual. The ranchers were losing tons of calves and foals to them. It was so bad that the state hired hunters to shoot the coyotes from the air. They should do the same thing with feral hogs. They could shoot them all day every day for a month and I bet the folks who live here would barely notice a dent in the feral hog population. We used to be overrun with whitetail deer. Now we're overrun with feral hogs.

I just tested some hog and bear ammo this morning. I have it for my rifle and my pistol. Both are .45 caliber. I did my own penetration test. My rifle will put a solid copper slug through 6 inches of pine with minimal deformation. My pistol will penetrate four inches of wood.
I took the Oklahoma CCW class so I could legally open carry. I don't go to the woods without a weapon. The OSBI is still investigating me.

Look out hogs!

PS Oklahoma just sent me a free hunting and fishing license. Beat up old soldiers don't have to pay.

We have a similar problem. Out in parts of the woods it looks like a moonscape. A couple years ago one of our neighbors had a 300 lb boar charge him. There was not tree, large enough, nearby, so he stood his ground until he had emptied 16 22 long rifle rounds into the oncoming hog. It kept coming. At the last minute he tried to run, and it got him by the ankle. And when his buddy, back at the pickup saw this, he released his German shepherd, which probably saved his life. Since that time I rarely go into the woods without being armed.

Our own pasture and little patch of woods has so far escaped damage. I believe this is because we have three livestock guardian dogs, on duty at all times. They treat hogs and deer as trespassers to be run off. Up until now the hogs seem to think it's easier to go somewhere else.

Macmex,

You may have just been more helpful than you planned to be. How did you train your dogs to treat deer and hogs that way? We are very interested. We believe the most desirable way to deal with a problem is to prevent it.

Johnny

It's mainly instinct. At most, all they need, is to sense that you don't appreciate the "visitor." The dogs naturally know to run off predators. I've never had one which wouldn't run off deer and hogs. Though, interestingly, two summers ago, two of my dogs ended up stuck in a hog trap for at least a day. They had wandered out into the woods a way, and found some fawns which were without "Mamma." The fawns had just lost their spots. Anyway, the fawns went into the trap because it was baited with corn. The dogs went in, because they were guarding the fawns. The next day the neighbor discovered them and let them all out. He said it was amazing to watch the fawns walk off into the woods with my dogs escorting them. So, when they chase deer, its only because they are getting them off my place (and probably off a little piece of the neighbor's).
Here's a picture of them in the hog trap.

If you're interested, I know of a litter which should be born any time now. They're out of the same parents as my favorite dog and will probably cost about $100 each. We should also try to talk on the phone sometime. I've learned a whole lot about handling these very unique dogs. It would be helpful for you to know some things early on. Also, I would recommend a bare minimum of two dogs. They work in a team. That's how they manage not to get killed (most of the time).

Please let me know when it is convenient for you. I'd like to listen to you in person and meet your dogs. I am retired now so I can do what I want.

Johnny, click on my sreen name and choose to follow me. Then I should be able to message you with my phone number and you the same. We can chat this week!

Johnny, I'm glad you're loaded and ready for the hogs...and bears!

I agree with Kim. You already paid, and we appreciate your service.

George, I am glad your friend survived. We don't go off into the woods without being armed either. We have three creeks that run through the woodland acres and those hogs travel through those creek beds, which often are dry or nearly dry so they make excellent wildlife highways.

I've seen adult deer caught in a hog trap (they crawled into the trap in 2011 to eat the bait food in it, and were trapped until the resident checked the trap, found them and released them), but your dogs are the first dogs I've ever heard of going into in a hog trap. What terrific dogs they are and it would have been such a special moment to see them escorting the fawns.

Dawn

Some dogs really have the protective instinct. I had one who slept in the hall with in site of all my kids doors. She was never far away from my children. When the kids were older and she could barely get around, someone came over with a baby in a carrier. Where ever she put that baby down, Gizmo was right there, protecting the baby.

Protecting fawns, they must have realized they were just babies!