FIGHTING BACK AGAINST HOG ATTACKS

MEMBER

The author took out this young boar with an air rifle. Modern air rifles are powerful and in Texas as well as other states are legal for hog hunting. This hog was living just outside a city limit area and was part of a sounder moving in and out of a neighborhood. (Photo by Lisa Moore)

BY CHESTER MOORE, JR.

“I know what death looks like, and it’s big, black and hairy, and has tusks.” Ricky Morgan spoke those words a few days after a feral boar slammed him to the ground and viciously attacked him on a dirt road near Lake Sam Rayburn last March. Morgan was walking his Great Pyrenees mix “Ace” when the boar, which he estimates at about 150 pounds, walked out in the road in front of them. “At first, I thought it was just going to walk back into the woods, but then my dog started barking. The next thing I knew, the hog was on top of me, and I was on the ground,” Morgan said. While Morgan fought to keep the hog from slashing his face or neck, the dog was pulling on the backside of the hog’s head. Eventually, the hog gave up and retreated into the woods. “There’s no doubt if I didn’t have ‘Ace’ with me, I might not be alive today,” he said. Morgan only got cuts on his knees where the boar’s hooves dug into his flesh, but not all of the scars were the visible kind. “I had nightmares for about a week after the attack. I know it could’ve ended much worse. I never carried a gun while on my walks around our camp. Now I never leave without one,” he said. Christine Rollins of Anahuac, TX, was not so fortunate. Hogs killed the 59-year-old outside a home near Highway 61 in Anahuac

November 2019. Despite animal apologists’ outcry on social media stating that hogs likely took the blame for a human killer, Chambers County Sheriff’s Department officials were adamant hogs were to blame. In this particular case, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said there is “no doubt in my mind or that of my criminal investigator Captain

John Miller that multiple animals were responsible for the attack.” While researching for my book, Hog Wild, a decade ago, I came upon a disturbing trend of significantly rising hog numbers and soaring human populations in the same areas. As I predicted, the mix would mean more attacks, and unfortunately, that has been the case.

As hunter-conservationists, there are some trends with hogs we need to be aware of not only to stay safe but to make an impact for the good of the wildlife, habitat, and people feral hogs are harming in many ways.

URBAN iNVASiON

Feral hogs are the new coyote.

In other words, they have become the latest sizable wild creature living quite cozily within the city limits of urban centers. Their numbers are rising from Houston to Tampa, Florida where a 400-pound boar was trapped where elementary-age kids saw it a few yards from a school bus stop. I believe what we are about to see is cities harboring some monster-sized hogs.

In the past, I have written and lectured on what I call “Monster Hogs,” which weigh more than 500 pounds. Such animals are few and far between, but some of our cities offer all of the right ingredients to make it happen.

There is adequate habitat, food, and cover and large boars in particular, which tend to be solitary, are excellent at remaining hidden. They may possess more “intelligence” than any wild animal in North America.

Add to this a lack of hunting pressure. The fact that firing guns in city limits is a no-no will give hogs with monster genes the opportunity to live to maximum potential.

I have been fielding increasing reports from shocked citizens seeing normal-sized hogs in greenbelts and suburbs, but how will the public react to seeing a boar just shy of average grizzly proportions (600 pounds) strolling down Main Street?

I’ll never forget opening the door for my then-girlfriend (now wife) on a date to a seafood restaurant back in 1993. Visions of shrimp and sausage gumbo danced in my head.

Then as Lisa stepped out of the car, I heard something move in the tall cane behind us.

As we fixed our eyes toward the racket, a huge mud-covered animal emerged.

At first, in the dim light at the back end of the parking lot, I thought it was a young steer as cattle are common in any pasture, woodlot, or the woods next to the restaurant.

But it was no steer.

This was a hog, one that weighed well beyond 500 pounds.

It grunted heavily when it saw us (we were only ten steps away) and then went on about its business of rooting up the ground. The animal’s area is a piece of wild land, probably in the 300-acre range, and industrial buildings surrounded it.

That huge hog, perhaps the offspring of a domestic set free to graze as used to be common in Texas was wild at this point. It does not take hogs long to go back to their wild origins and integrate into purely feral populations.

Interestingly just a few miles from that location, hogs have invaded several neighborhoods, and I have been able to photograph them. Nearly half of them were white, which is relatively uncommon in feral hogs. One of the white boars slipped onto a friend’s property just outside the city limits, and I took it with a .357 air rifle.

Do the genes of the giant hog I saw years ago still exist in the area? One of the white ones I photographed recently would easily go over 300 pounds.

MiSJUDGiNG MOMMA

Few things in nature are cuter than feral hog piglets. And in my opinion, the only creature more savage than a feral sow defending her young would be a grizzly doing the same thing.

This is where I believe we will see some problems.

As hog numbers increase everywhere, from the deep woods to walking trails in Houston, people will encounter baby pigs and quite likely approach them or even try to “rescue” them and meet an outraged mother.

Hunter Dru Bishop was bowhunting the Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge in South Texas when he saw a hog near the water’s edge.

Moving behind an elevated bank to stalk toward the pig, he lost visual contact.

“As I hit the edge of the patch of thick trees and cover, I slowed way down and continued to move around a bend in the bank, but the hog’s last location was not yet in view,” he said.

“When I was within 50 yards of my target location, I suddenly heard a tremendous commotion coming from roughly 20 feet away from me but upon the cut bank in the trees. After a second or two, it registered with me that I was hearing piglets screaming, and I was right on top of them!”

Bishop immediately drew back and, at the exact moment, began to hear their mother approaching fast and grunting and snarling.

Below: The author photographed these sows at a construction site in the city limits near his home. The hog numbers in many urban and suburban areas are skyrocketing. Sows with piglets are super dangerous and the author is concerned about unsuspecting people seeing baby pigs in parks and approaching them. (Photo by Chester Moore)

A few seconds later, she appeared and was coming straight at him from her elevated position on the bank.

“As soon as she cleared the brush, I let the arrow fly. It hit her in the face just above her left eye and buried to the fletching. She was three yards away and pretty much dropped right there. Within a few moments, her snarling gradually slowed as she passed, leaving me with just the sound of my heartbeat booming in my temples and the still screaming piglets dashing about,” he said.

Bishop had a bow with him. Most people won’t have a weapon, so education will be the key to keeping people out of trouble, especially in urban areas.

HOGS iN UNLiKELY HABiTAT

Feral hog numbers are rising in Texas, the Deep South, and around cities in these areas and the Mountain West.

Hogs are now in Montana, with populations moving south from Canada, where populations are established and rising in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Colorado has increasing hog numbers in certain areas, as do New Mexico, Oregon, and Nevada. Hunters in many of these states have no experience with hogs and therefore may not heed signs of danger.

State wildlife officials are doing their best to eliminate the hog threat in these areas. The good news is hunting can be impactful on this front, and I believe tackling the hog issue with an education and eradication-based mindset is critical.

A SENSiBLE STRATEGY

Here are basic tenets I believe everyone needs to know to begin making progress on the hog issue. The first of these tenets will be common sense for those reading Hunter’s Horn, but they are here to share with others in our communities. • Hogs are dangerous. They can attack and kill. Never approach them. • Never approach even cute piglets. Baby feral hogs are adorable, but their mothers (sows) will go to any length to protect them.

The sow may be out of the line of sight if you see tiny pigs, but she is nearby and will respond. • Do not feed hogs. Unless hogs are baited in a wild location in preparation for hunting them, please do not feed them. Never feed around houses or in parks. In areas like urban centers where hogs receive no hunting pressure, they can seem tame.

Do not make them accustomed to seeing people as a food source. Additionally, do not throw scraps outside. That can also attract hogs. • Be especially mindful of large, solitary boars. If you see such an animal on a hiking trail, for example, give it a wide berth and report to officials. That animal certainly needs to be targeted for removal and elimination. • From a hunting standpoint, there are some things we can do to at least help stop the overall growth of hog numbers in the areas we hunt and manage. • Shoot big boars. Many hunters don’t like killing big boars due to the smell and taste of meat, but statistics show most fatal attacks (nearly 90 percent) are large lone boars. Kill these hogs

Mike Ray took this massive boar by bow in Northeast Texas. Bowhunting is a fun way to get involved with hog hunting and is an alternative in some jurisdictions where rifle hunting is not allowed. Hunters should not hesitate on killing large boars as they are statistically the most likely to attack and kill people. (Photo Courtesy Mike Ray) with no hesitation. They are often alone, so you can’t use the excuse you didn’t know which one to shoot. • Shoot sows first. If you have a group of hogs coming in with the typical size structure of hogs 150 pounds and below, shoot sows, then boars. The more sows we take out, the fewer hogs areas will produce. • Trap. Trap. Trap. If you have a deer lease, pool resources with other lease members and get hog traps going. Mature hogs will become trap-shy, but you will catch younger hogs along with others. Keep the pressure on year-round. No mercy. • Turn in hog traffickers. If you know of people releasing feral hogs into open range for hunting purposes, turn them in. It’s illegal. Very few people do this anymore, but this is the crucial reason hog numbers have spread so far. A handful of hunters have released them into different areas.

THE ONLY APPROACH iS LOCAL

There is no dealing with feral hogs on a statewide or national scale. That day is over. The only impact we can make is on our ranches, in our communities, and in other localized zones. This is a golden opportunity for hunters to positively impact others in a way that will get some much-needed good public relations. I have worked with the City of Orange, TX, to create a series of social media videos about hog safety and taking the opportunity to weave in that hunting is a viable way of localized hog population control. The videos have received very positive feedback from hunters and non-hunters alike. Even people who may not like hunting change their tune when a raging boar eats their pampered poodle in the front yard. Hog hunting is a fun way to contribute to wildlife management and help safeguard our communities from further tragedies. It’s simple math. Fewer hogs mean less property damage and fewer opportunities for people to get hurt. Let’s put the crosshairs on some hogs and show the good hunters can do when motivated by a cause. ★