They have been regulars so I set the trap 3 nights ago--nada. But, I'm persistent and caught these last night--3 boars and 2 sows, and the sows had 9 buns in the oven--

Good Job, that is a good example of what it is going to take to get a handle on managing pigs.

Shoot every sow on sight, taske a boar if it presents a dshot biut make an effort to kill every sow, no matter how small.

As my landowner says, shoot the sows first, but don't let the boars get away!!!

Had they dropped these in a month or so, there would have been 14 in stead of 5---that's how fast they reproduce.

Don't know what you have experienced, but I have seen sows that were maybe 50-60 pounds with a litter of piglets.

I don't recall seeing one that small with piglets, but I did see a big solo sow with either 15 or 16 piglets down in the S. Tx brush.

feral hogs ..
at 6 months old, have 7 piglets at live birth -- only 13 make it to reproduce

Around here I see it fairly regularly, little sow that goes 50 pounds + or -, with 4 to 6, pound and a half piglets following her.

Thev firstv time to see it, it looks like she is being followed by Guinea Pigs, they are so small.

I've killed quite a few in the 50-65 pound range that either had piglets or were about to. It's pretty common around here.

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
feral hogs ..
at 6 months old, have 7 piglets at live birth -- only 13 make it to reproduce

That sure does seem to be the case!

quote:

feral hogs ..
at 6 months old, have 7 piglets at live birth -- only 13 make it to reproduce

That would be damn funny, if it wasn't so accurate!

3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days.... gestation time.... at least it was for domestic hogs...

I think it is the same way for Feral Pigs, and that is why they can not be controlled.

Gestation is the same for feral pigs as they are just domestic pigs which have reverted to the wild. No genetic changes although there seem to be primarily black ones.

Im have noticed that it depends on the area for some reason.

Around this part of Young county, we have a lot of Spotted Pigs.

At my place in Real county we seem to have more spotted and red colored than black.....go figger.

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Interesting variance and approach.

In Europe you never ever ever shoot a lead sow or one that has a litter in tow. Shoot the litter, the boars and the piglets, yep, but never the pregnant or leading sows. In fact there can be heavy penalties and fines if you do.

I fully get the management and control angle and get the why etc but not on the European side of the pond.

Cheers

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If the population has gotten to the point that you have to trap then using the right mesh size, feed layout, and trigger mechanism should all work towards catching the sow and young at the same time. Use too big a mesh and you'll catch the sow and have piglets get out to annoy you at a later date, set the trigger wire too light/ low and you'll catch the piglets and gilts and not the matriarch.

Because I've spent too much time with German hunters I'm not keen on oportunistically shooting big sows until I've caught all the littluns I've seen on camera in a trap, boars are another matter

Have had a sounder of 8 visiting the past 4-5 nights so I set the trap tonight. Tomorrow morning will tell! Hopefully I get them all. Couple of larger sows so I expect a real killing if I catch 'em all.