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This is proven by the fact that they have done extremely well in other areas across the globe where they’ve been introduced: Japan, China, Southeast Asia, Africa and Australia. So not only do they reproduce quickly, the fact that they are omnivorous and able to utilize food resources that many animals can’t assures that they will be successful in most any area where they are introduced. Much of the food they consume (roots, tubers, insects, earthworms, fungi, etc.) is rooted up from beneath the soil surface, allowing them to take advantage of a resource that few other animals utilize. They’re omnivorous, and their diet generally consists of 75% to 80% plant material, with the remainder made up of animal matter. Because of their dietary habits, they are able to find food in most habitats, and do well in a multitude of climates, landscape types and ecological regions. What more could an off-season deer hunter ask for? But wait … it gets better.Īs I described previously, the earliest wild pigs in North America were domestics that were released into the wild. They’ll replace themselves (and more) as fast as we can shoot them. This all adds up to a huntable animal that we don’t have to worry about over-harvesting. In comparison, a female white-tailed deer will generally produce her first fawn (and usually only one) around her second birthday.
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By the time a female pig reaches her second birthday, she might have produced 10 to 15 piglets. They have litters of five to six piglets, often have two litters/year, and can have up to three litters in 14 months if conditions are good. They are generally sexually mature at 7 months, and our research group has found 4-month-old females that were pregnant. Domestic pigs have been selectively bred to maximize reproduction, and these genetics have carried over into wild pigs, resulting in the most prolifically reproductive large mammal on Earth. Are wild hogs the greatest threat to our deer herds?īecause wild pigs are primarily descendants of domestic stock, they have an astounding rate of reproduction. These first introductions, along with early laws that allowed domestic pigs to be raised free-range, served as the foundation upon which the current population grew.
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Domestic swine have always had an incredible ability to survive and reproduce in the wild, and so these explorers would have a ready supply of fresh meat that they were familiar with when they returned on later voyages. They are not native to North America, but were first introduced by early explorers who released them in areas they planned to revisit in the future. Wild pigs are descendants of a combination of released, pure-blood Eurasian wild boars and wild descendants of domestic swine (most domestic swine were selectively bred from Eurasian wild boars). At the current rate of spread, every deer hunter in the country is soon going to be able to scratch their “big game itch” all year long. They are found in large numbers across the Southeast from Texas to North Carolina, in California and Hawaii, and there are spotty populations developing in the Midwest and other areas of the country. They make the perfect quarry to pursue during spring or summer for a deer hunter experiencing withdrawal.Īlthough wild pigs aren’t found everywhere, their range has rapidly spread over the past 25 years, and at one time or another have been found in 47 of the 50 states. Wild pigs are very similar in size to deer, they provide meat for the freezer, and there are generally no season or bag limits for these animals.
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One rapidly growing pastime for deer hunters that enables them to get into the woods throughout the year and hunt large game is wild hog hunting. Deer season for me was the same as Christmas for a 7-year-old … it came once a year, and was gone before I knew it. So, outside of those few days I could hunt deer, I would read about hunting, watch hunting shows and daydream about mature bucks. Usually, this meant I could hunt somewhere from five to seven days during the season … far fewer than I would have been able to hunt if deer hunting was legal throughout the year.
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I began hunting with a 16-day gun season, and I did everything I could to break away from my obligations at school during those short windows of opportunity. For gun hunters, the most common type of deer hunter, the season might be as short as nine days.