Angelina County Extension Office To Host Feral Hog Seminar

Date:

Feral hogs are the bane of many rural folks’ existence.  With nuisance wild hogs destroying agricultural, residential lawns and other sites, the Angelina County Extension office will be hosting an educational event to learn how to best rid these pests.

To address this common problem, the Angelina County Extension office has invited Dr. Aaron Sumrall, a County Extension agent with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Newton County to speak on the issue of reducing hog problems on Monday, May 16 at 6:30 pm.

Sumrall has studied and document effective as well as ineffective measures used to control hogs in rural areas.  Sumrall says a standard small trap is and educational trap that “teaches the older hogs what to avoid.”  The result is a poor effort to eliminate hogs from the targeted site.

Feral hogs were brought to North America in the 1500’s by Spanish explorers.  The hogs were able to forage for themselves traveling with exploration parties and providing a valuable protein source along the way.

In the early years of settlement in East Texas, running hogs in the woods was common practice and marking the hogs with notches on the ears was a way of “branding” your livestock.  Hogs were, and still are, very adaptable which made them such a great asset early on and such a nuisance today.

Feral hogs are not a game or non-game species in Texas. Instead, feral hogs are considered “exotic livestock” as described in Texas Parks and Wildlife Code.  Because of this distinction, they fall under the ownership of the landowner and not the citizens of the state according to the Texas Agriculture Code.  Indeed, if you could control the feral hogs on your property, you would own them.

This designation is completely different from game animals such as deer, quail, squirrels and other wildlife on your property that have a hunting season.  Non-game animals would include songbirds, armadillos, and wildlife that there is no “season” to hunt them.  Both game and non-game wildlife are considered property of the state of Texas.  As a result we have to obtain a license from the state to harvest specific wildlife species at certain times of the year.

Landowners are allowed to kill feral hogs on their property without a hunting license if feral hogs are causing damage.  However, any landowner that plans to trap or snare hogs should have a valid Texas hunting license, since these activities could affect other wildlife species.

For those who hunt feral hogs for trophy and/or food, a Texas hunting license is required.  And yes, you can hunt hogs day or night all year long.

Program participants will earn 1.5 CEUs toward their Pesticide Licenses with the Texas Department of Agriculture.  Cost is $10 per person to attend.

The Angelina County Extension office is located in Lufkin on south loop 287 next to the Famers Market.

Cary Sims
Cary Sims is the County Extension Agent for agriculture and natural resources for Angelina County. His email address is cw-sims@tamu.edu Educational programs of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age, or national origin.

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