From the February/March, 2007 issue:

Feral hogs plague Georgia farms

Farms across Georgia are suffering the horror of feral hogs. Under the cloak of night, the hogs stealthily enter fields to root for food and leave damaged crops in their wake..

“We’ve had problems with hogs going into our fields and rooting up young plants. We’ve had them damage our peanut, cotton, soybean and corn fields,” said Dan Fletcher, who manages a farm in Stewart and Quitman counties. “It’s hard to put a monetary value on the damage the hogs do, but I estimate hog damage has probably cost us several hundred dollars an acre. Hogs are also hurting timber growers by rooting up young trees after they’ve been planted.”
They may look harmless, but feral hogs have become a costly nuisance for many Georgia farmers. Herds attack at night and multiply quickly, making them difficult to eradicate.

Besides crop loss, feral hogs also damage the structure of fields.

“I’ve had problems with feral hogs coming in our peanut fields from the time we plant the field until after we’ve harvested the crop. They put their nose in the ground at one end and come up at the other,” Wilcox County farmer Mike Simpson said. “Trying to drive a tractor through a field afterwards is like trying to drive through a fox hole.”

A 1988 map of the feral swine population in the United States published by the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study showed concentrated populations of feral hogs were mostly located in the Northeast Georgia mountains, central Georgia, coastal counties and in scattered pockets across the state. The 2004 edition of the same map shows feral hog populations have spread to almost all Georgia counties but the metro Atlanta area.

“Georgia’s feral hog population has been expanding for the last several decades due to the natural reproduction of the feral hog population, escape of hogs, and also due to illegal relocation of hogs for hunting purposes,” Georgia Department of Natural Resources Chief of Game Management Mark Whitney said. “They are damaging not only agriculture crops, but also forestry and are competing with wildlife for food resources.”

Eradication Options
Farmers looking to eradicate feral hogs have several options. Feral hogs may be hunted year round on private lands with a valid hunting license. Also, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources issues feral hog control permits to commercial agricultural operations of three or more acres experiencing crop damage. These permits allow permittees and authorized assistants to shoot feral hogs from a vehicle not on a public road with the aid of a 12-volt light in the immediate vicinity of bait at night. These permits are not valid March 11-May 15 nor from Sept. 1 through the end of firearms deer season. DNR feral hog permits are issued through the department’s seven regional offices. Anyone interested in receiving a permit or with questions should call the state office at (770) 918-6416, Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Call in the U.S. Army!
Farmers who don’t have time to hunt may want to contact Master Sergeant Rod Pinkston, who manages the Olympic Shooting Team for the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning. Pinkston and off-duty soldiers from the Army Marksmanship Unit are available to conduct night hunts for Georgia farmers experiencing feral hog damage. The off-duty marksmen will use Pinkston’s personal guns equipped with commercial infrared scopes, which allow the marksmen to hunt the hogs at night without using any artificial light. Some of these soldiers will compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Pinkston said.

Whitney said farmers who use Pinkston’s services do not need to have a DNR feral hog permit because he uses infrared equipment. However, Whitney recommends farmers notify their local DNR official and neighbors when a shoot is planned.

Feral hogs not only destroy crops when rooting for food, but they also damage fields and pastures, making it bumpy for driving tractors.
“Hogs often become completely nocturnal from daytime pressure. My equipment allows us to see hogs up to eight hundred yards away in the dark. It is the same technology Army snipers use in combat. This is a very efficient management method that often removes a dozen or more hogs per night,” Pinkston said. “I started offering night hunting services to farmers last year as another method for Army shooters to train on moving targets. I have worked closely with DNR’s southwest regional supervisor to insure that we operate our hunts within the parameters of the law and will contact the appropriate DNR officials who need to be notified before hunting a farm.”

Pinkston may be reached at (706) 545-2797. The only compensation Pinkston requires is roundtrip gas mileage reimbursement from Ft. Benning at a rate of 50-cents/mile. Meat from any hogs killed will be donated to local food banks.

“Pinkston and his shooting team have harvested over eighty-five hogs on our place in two to three months,” Simpson said. “I’ve tried hunters with dogs and traps, but this is the best thing I’ve seen to eradicate them.”

The Georgia office of the USDA Wildlife Services Program also offers shooting services like Pinkston’s and offers trapping services. Anyone interested in having someone from Wildlife Services visit their farm to offer recommendations should contact Doug Hall, state director of the Georgia office, at (706) 546-5637. Hall says there is no charge to visit a farm and evaluate the situation. He estimates services cost about $30 an hour.

“If a farmer wants long-term control of feral hogs, it’s important to get all of the landowners surrounding your farm involved,” Hall said. “If hogs are heavily hunted on one farm and not on surrounding land, they’ll just stop visiting the farm that is heavily hunted.”

Some farmers have successfully used traps to catch feral hogs. White’s Fence Company in Thomasville, Ga., makes a galvanized steel trap that can catch several hogs at once. Built of 16-gauge tubing and covered with a four-gauge wire mesh, the trap gate works on a springing system that allows multiple hogs to enter the trap, but makes it almost impossible for them to exit. Trap dimensions are four feet tall, eight feet long and four feet wide. The trap costs $550 plus shipping charges. Call (229) 226-3611 for more information.