Feral hog workshop is available today

Dogs equipped with tracking collars pursue hogs to "bay them up" Thursday at Boggy Creek Outfitters. Their owners are training them to capture hogs in the wild.
Dogs equipped with tracking collars pursue hogs to "bay them up" Thursday at Boggy Creek Outfitters. Their owners are training them to capture hogs in the wild.

The Miller County Extension Service is offering a free feral hog control workshop from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. today at the Southwest Electric Cooperative building.

Preregister for the workshop by calling 870-779-3609 or emailing [email protected].

The topics will include managing the feral hog problem, the boar buster, recognizing signs of feral hogs and legalities. This class is free and open to the public.

"Feral hogs are domesticated swine released accidentally or purposefully for sport hunting. After a generation or two, progeny of a domesticated hog appear untamed, with thickened fur and tusks. Sows produce litters (average six piglets) starting at 6 months of age and have few predators after reaching maturity," said Janet Smallwood, administrative specialist.

"Their feeding and wallowing behaviors create a number of problems, including agriculture crop loss, pasture damage, wildlife habitat loss, water pollution (e.g., sedimentation, transmission of E. coli), and disease transmission to livestock and in rare cases, people. Non-native feral hogs compete directly with native wildlife species for limited food supplies, disturb habitat, and consume small mammals and reptiles, the young of larger mammals (fawns), and eggs and young of ground-nesting birds (bobwhites, wild turkey)," she said.

Controlling the prolific feral hog has proven difficult. Feral hogs are very adaptive and learn to avoid hunters and traps. Hogs are very mobile, and will range for miles in search of food or mates. Most feral hogs are nocturnal, and therefore unseen. Signs of feral hogs are rooting, tracks, wallows, nests or beds, tree and post rubs.

To register call 870-779-3609 or email [email protected] or [email protected].

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