As I travel through 7 counties that I work in the Northwest part of Alabama I continue to get a lot of calls concerning the encroachment of feral hogs. The main problem with these animals is they wreak havoc and cause major environmental problems throughout the United States. And the main problem is they continue to get worse. If you look at a map of the United States and where feral hogs were in 1980 and compare it to a map today it will amaze you as to how for they have spread. Feral hogs are virtually in all 67 counties for the state.

If you have never had problems with them you think what could be such a big problem with hogs out in the wild but if you can imagine a tractor and a plow tearing up your front yard a wild hog does just that. Or if you have seen what a small armadillo does to your yard then just multiply that by 10 and you now have hog damage.

Feral hogs multiply like crazy and females begin mating as early as 6 months of age. The other problem is after they reach 30-40 pounds there are not any predators that are willing to tackle a feral pig of this size. I deer hunt in areas where there are feral pigs and it seems that they would be easy to just kill out while hunting from a deer stand but there is one big problem with hunting them and that is they go nocturnal quicker than a deer. That means they only move at night when you are laid up back at the camp.

Last spring I had the opportunity to work with the USDA Animal Damage control folks to set traps in Bankhead Forest and these folks know feral hogs. As you know Bankhead is a big area but we set 6 traps and caught 25 hogs. That may not sound like many until you set down and figure out how many hogs that would have been this year if they hadn't been caught and killed.

The main reason I don't like feral hogs is they tend to compete with deer for the same foods and deer usually do not like to be in the same areas as a bunch of feral hogs. They also seem to mess up my squirrel dogs when we get to an area where a bunch of feral hogs have been.

If you are having a problem with feral hogs on your property I have plans for a trap that we used in Bankhead that works really well if you understand a little bit about the nature of feral hogs. I have compiled a list of everything you will need from your farm supply to construct a trap that I think works really good. If you experiencing what you think are feral hogs don't wait until they get out of hand, give me a call and lets talk about controlling them. You can reach me at my office in Hartselle at 256-773-2549 or my cell phone number is 256-612-7587.

This article was written by Ronald W. Britnell Regional Forestry, Wildlife, and Natural Resources Agent with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Ronald works Franklin, Colbert, Lauderdale, Limestone, Madison, Lawrence, and Morgan Counties.