This week, I finally got my first call about feral swine being a nuisance up in the Lake Shore Estates area—a call that I’ve been waiting for since I started here in 2019. Feral hogs are present in all 159 counties of Georgia, but Lincoln County has been fortunate that they haven’t been a huge nuisance (or at least I haven’t heard of them being one) up until now. With feral swine doing around $150 million in damages per year in our state, this is an invasive species everyone should be familiar with.
All feral swine are the same biological species, sus scrofa, but they may be called different things such as wild boar, wild hogs, or wild pigs. A few factors have contributed to the spread of feral swine populations in the U.S. In the 1700’s and 1800’s, pigs often free-ranged on farms, where they had the ability to roam, and in the 1900’s wild boar was introduced for sport hunting purposes. The interbreeding of these two types led to a huge population boom in feral pigs, which is also why free-ranging practices are mostly illegal in today’s day and age. Other contributions to the feral hog population include the escape of stocked animals from fenced hunting preserves and illegal translocation, where wild pigs are captured and released in new locations for hunting purposes. In addition to property damage from feral swine populations, they present a significant threat to human and domestic animal health. Feral pigs can carry or transmit at least 30 known diseases and 37 different parasites. Most human transmission of these diseases will occur during field dressing or through the consumption of undercooked meat or pork products from an infected animal. Livestock can be infected via contamination of water, feed, and direct contact with wild animals.
There are some significant biological factors that influence the rapid growth and spread of swine populations in the U.S. First, hogs have a high reproductive potential- pigs hit sexual maturity at as early as 6 months of age, and sows can have up to 16 piglets each year. This might not sound like much, but in a sounder (group of swine) of 4 mature females, that’s 64 additional pigs per year! Feral swine are also habitat generalizers- which means they can essentially adapt to any type of environment or climate, and opportunistic omnivores, eating everything from plants to animals. This means they can survive in a lot of different climates and on a lot of different food sources—which makes them very resilient. Finally, hogs have few natural predators or causes of mortality (disease, parasites), especially as they mature and get larger. The majority of population control in hogs comes from human hunting and trapping.
There are a few things you should know in regards to identifying and managing feral swine on your property. Often, these animals can go mostly unnoticed until you see significant damage or a live pig. Keep your eyes open for tracks, manure, and other signs such as crop damage, rooting in lawns, gardens, and other areas, mud wallows, beds or nests, and post rubs. There are a variety of control options to consider. You may consider excluding or fencing the animals off of your property, aerial gunning, hunting with dogs, traditional hunting, or trapping. Trapping and removing the whole sounder is the most effective method of control, as you can take all individuals out of the area at once. Most hunting methods can scatter the hogs, which makes further attempts to hunt or trap them more difficult. While trapping is most effective, homeowners should know it is illegal for them to trap and transport live hogs without a permit from the Georgia Department of Agriculture to do so. If you do choose to trap on your property, be prepared to euthanize the animals before you move them if you do not have the correct permit to do otherwise. Most folks will choose to hunt the hogs on their property instead of trapping. On private land in Georgia, there is no season or bag limit for hogs and you can hunt them over bait.
If you have more question about feral swine in Georgia, please let us know at uge3181@uga.edu or by calling 706-359-3233.
