Pigs in New Mexico

[ermont]

I was watching the news this morning and heard a story about pigs invading NM. They said there were now pigs in 17 of the 33 counties. The state is now allocating a million dollars to trapping and aerial shooting to try and eliminate them. A million dollars sounds like a lot of money but give me a break, 17 counties is A LOT of ground. Anybody have any experience or thoughts on effectiveness of these methods?

[snakewood3]

Both methods are used around here. They hold the population in check but come far from eradicating.
 The helicopters spook out other species very badly. Areas they work will become devoid of many species for some time.
 Hogs run single file when being worked from the air. The gunner usually is shooting a high capacity semi auto shotgun with heavy #4 loads. The goal being to seriously wound or cripple as many as possible.

[Kamm1004]

We've had them work their way into southern Colorado before. Luckily we had the big blizzard or '07 to help kill a lot of them. I doubt it's long before they're in Colorado if they aren't already. If the get established along our rivers in Colorado there is no way they'll ever eradicate them all.

[ermont]

That's kinda my thinking when I heard this. You may get rid of some of them but they are so prolific, once your million dollars runs out, they'll just spring right back.

[gringol]

A million sounds like a lot, but when spread over 17 counties with aviation fuel and pilot time thrown in, it's nothing.

[ermont]

17 counties is about the size of two or three New England states, maybe more, depending which counties are included.

[beachbowhunter]

We have a new and growing population in San Diego county. DFG has decided to eradicate them too.  Good luck. If you've been in our back country you'd know that it is a pipe dream.

[TxAg]

The bears and cats oughta eat good.

[Kamm1004]

Originally posted by TxAg:
The bears and cats oughta eat good.

Very, very doubtful that any bears and cats actually dine on them piggies. I think of it this way, if I were a mountain lion would I go after the wild boar with 2in razor sharp tusks on each side and thick skin like body armour, or go after the little doe or elk thats an easy meal? Not to mention they reproduce about five times as fast so lions and bears would have to eat A LOT before they even made a dent in the population

[TxAg]

Originally posted by Kamm1004:
 

Originally posted by TxAg:
The bears and cats oughta eat good.

Very, very doubtful that any bears and cats actually dine on them piggies. I think of it this way, if I were a mountain lion would I go after the wild boar with 2in razor sharp tusks on each side and thick skin like body armour, or go after the little doe or elk thats an easy meal? Not to mention they reproduce about five times as fast so lions and bears would have to eat A LOT before they even made a dent in the population [/b]

I wasn't suggesting that the cats and bears would control the population, merely that they would have additional sources of protein. Maybe I should've added a smiley face    

I would think a small pig would be easy pickings for anythng that can take down an elk.  As often as the breed, there are always plenty of small ones running around.

[Kamm1004]

Sorry TxAg, I meant no offense by my post. I'm sure the little ones would get eaten occasionally but nowhere near enough. Where I last hunted pigs in southeast oklahoma, our guide said the DOW was thinking about releasing mountain lions to try and get some of the pigs but they were doubtful they'd actual hunt the pigs and would just devastate deer populations instead. There are some interesting youtube videos of national geographic type people filming wild boars fighting off wolves and other predators, they are very tough! I'd say hands down tougher than any elk or deer, which is too bad since those animals don't devastate habitats

[TxAg]

No worries. I'll have to check out those youtube videos. I've actually found myself wondering what a couple wolves could do to a pig.

[Kamm1004]

depends on the pig!

[gringol]

Cats do eat pigs down in south FL, but if you've ever been here you'd know that the pigs are definitely winning that battle.

[stevem]

No expert here, but these are my thoughts-
1. You can trap a few, but hogs are very smart and after a short time I don't think you will trap many more.
2. shooting from the air might work, but to get landowner permission would make this seem like a lot of waiting and little shooting
3. the Judas pig idea seems pretty good
As was mentioned above, once the money runs out I think you would be back to square one.  I have shot 3 here in NM and enjoy hunting them and eating them.  I'm good with having a few- enough so they are around but not really a major problem.  If I had a farm I would feel much different.

[tippit]

The Big ones don't need to worry about much of anything...

   

[Kamm1004]

Gringol, maybe your pythons will get big enough to strangle a pig lol one invasive species helping eradicate another kind of ironic

[ermont]

I saw the continued story today. They said a necropsy done on one hog showed 47 toads plus snake and small mammal bodyparts found in 1 hog!
   

[moththerlode]

They just go nocturnal is my understanding

[Cmane07]

They normally go nocturnal or move to a different area.  They just reproduce too fast.  One study recently found that around 70% of the population has to be harvested to keep the population numbers from rising each year! Researchers here are trying to develop a method to poison them but can't figure out an application method that only the pigs would be susceptible.