Richard Moore Outdoor Report: Hog Wild

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Like some creature from the black lagoon amidst swirling morning mist, an immense wild hog trudges along the shore of this South Texas pond patrolling his porcine domain.

Next, the huge hog vigorously rubs against several trees like a big black bear threatening to uproot them.

Finally, the big boar pauses his morning ritual, wading into the water and tanking up for a long, satisfying drink.

An estimated seven million feral pigs are roaming the United States, and Texas leads the nation with some three million of them.

Feral hogs, essentially domestic pigs gone wild, are a huge problem for farmers and ranchers throughout Texas. The prolific pigs have spread rapidly in recent decades and plague just about every ranch in deep South Texas.

The destructive hogs inflict as much as $500 million in damage annually to crops, suburban lawns, waterways, and wildlife. With near constant rooting and wallowing, the omnivorous porkers cause extensive harm wherever they go and will eat just about anything from native vegetation to quail eggs and fawns.

The nonnative invaders are also prime hosts to hordes of fleas and ticks and carry dozens of pathogens, such as E. coli.

Columbus carried pigs on his historic voyage to the Americas, and early Spanish explorers introduced them more than 300 years ago.

Later, settlers brought them in as livestock, and over the years, many escaped and rapidly reproduced.

In the 1930s, European wild hogs or Russian boars were imported into Texas by some ranchers for sport hunting, and they soon interbred with the established feral hog population. 

Many consider feral hogs fine table fare; however, even with year-round hunting, they are reproducing faster than they are being eliminated.

Despite concerted efforts to control the burgeoning feral hog population by a variety of means, the wily beasts are here to stay in the Lone Star State.