Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

The wild pig is an invasive exotic introduced into what is now Florida in 1539 by the explorer Hernanado de Soto. Texas has been home to wild pigs since 1565 with a current population estimate of 2.6 million animals. From 1980 to 1990, a perfect storm of clandestine releases, access to vast amounts of wildlife supplement, and the highest reproductive rate of any ungulate found worldwide led to a wild pig population explosion in Texas. As the range and population of this intelligent omnivore increased over the ensuing 25 years, agronomic damage alone increased to over $50 million annually. Inter-specific competition with and/or predation upon native wildlife species, damage to wetlands and sensitive plant communities, and water quality degradation have also been attributed to wild pigs in Texas. Damage to urban and suburban landscapes has also increased sharply over the past decade and negatively impacted humans via pig-vehicle collisions, greenscape damage to lawns, sports fields, golf courses, parks, and cemeteries. Legal control methods include shooting, snaring, dogging, and trapping. Among these methods, trapping is often cited as the first line of defense for private landowners. However, many landowners fail to employ “best management practices” when attempting to abate damage through population reduction. Trapping wild pigs is a process, not an event. The process includes the following steps: 1) pigs must be trained to bait, 2) sounder size must be estimated via the use of remote-sensing cameras to determine the size of trap needed, 3) pigs must accept the trap presence, and 4) pigs must be trained to routinely enter and feed inside the trap. Following this trapping protocol can save landowners tremendous amount of time and money in the war on wild pigs.