# How Far Down the Road for Michigan?



## Forest Meister

Sounds like hunters are a big part of the problem! FM 

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com...4160033/Damage-by-wild-hogs-cost-Alabama-800M


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## Patman75

What I can't stand is the hunters that are using feed/bait stations to kill hogs. Those TV show guys talk about how much damage hogs do, then hunt over a bait station. 15-20 hogs come in and they kill 1 and then act like they did some huge community services. Hello! Your feeding them and not doing any measurable population control.

Sent from my XT907 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


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## roger carv

Patman75 said:


> What I can't stand is the hunters that are using feed/bait stations to kill hogs. Those TV show guys talk about how much damage hogs do, then hunt over a bait station. 15-20 hogs come in and they kill 1 and then act like they did some huge community services. Hello! Your feeding them and not doing any measurable population control.
> 
> Sent from my XT907 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


 Never thought of it that way... Makes Sense


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## Honkkilla59

I got to hunt on a ranch in Oklahoma that had a hog problem yet the farmer didn't want us to shoot sows if possible and I thought that was odd as they produce the babies so if a problem wouldn't you want the females to go first.
The following year he decided he could make money on hog hunt so he wanted $200 a day per man to help reduce his nuisance hogs.


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## Townsend Harris

From the link provided by the OP: 

"The number of wild hogs in Alabama has increased to a quarter million, partially because hunters have illegally moved feral swine across the state for hunting purposes, according to Dr. Mark Smith with the Auburn University Alabama Cooperative Extension System."

I have heard only one rumor concerning such an action in Michigan. Anyone else?

Good point about baiting.


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## Jager Pro

Honkkilla59 said:


> I got to hunt on a ranch in Oklahoma that had a hog problem yet the farmer didn't want us to shoot sows if possible and I thought that was odd as they produce the babies so if a problem wouldn't you want the females to go first.
> The following year he decided he could make money on hog hunt so he wanted $200 a day per man to help reduce his nuisance hogs.


IMO if you truly have a problem, then you're not going to charge others to help you fix it.


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## Scout 2

I go to an Army buddies place in Texas hunting. You don't have to bait them as they come into the water stations for his cattle. They make a mess and stick up the whole area. We shoot every one we see and I can tell you they are smart after the shooting starts. They get started and we will never get rid of them. I would love to go on one of those copter hunts with a 50 cal


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## Tron322

I heard of one group of hogs being released around croton back in the late 70's early 80's.

between winters and people putting them down the several years... I hunted there I never heard of any still in the wild, never saw any or sign of any.

good thing this isn't Alabama. I am still waiting for a population to take hold so I can get some pork year round.


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## Luv2hunteup

Townsend Harris said:


> From the link provided by the OP:
> 
> "The number of wild hogs in Alabama has increased to a quarter million, partially because hunters have illegally moved feral swine across the state for hunting purposes, according to Dr. Mark Smith with the Auburn University Alabama Cooperative Extension System."
> 
> I have heard only one rumor concerning such an action in Michigan. Anyone else?
> 
> Good point about baiting.



The biggest problem is farmers in this state. It is their hogs that escaped, their farms that had CWD and their cattle that infected the deer herd. The DNR even caught the farmer attempting to release deer into the wild from the farm that had cwd.


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## ridgewalker

Wild hogs are far more nocturnal than deer, yet the DNR refuses to allow night hunting for hogs in Michigan. It is obvious that the DNR could care less if wild hogs become established.


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## Huntfish247

Feral hogs been in MI longer than any of us. 

So now the DNR is gonna fix it.


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## MERGANZER

Saw a group of them in 2005 and shot one in northern Newaygo Cty. Haven't seen one since then. I think the weather up here may help.

Ganzer


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## Okie Hog

Hunters are always part of the problem. Hunters in OK are trapping wild hogs and releasing them in other areas. They also buy hogs at stock sales and release them into the wild. The state has laws against that but they are not being enforced. 

Hogs are big business here in OK. i trap a lot of wild hogs. i kill those hogs and give them to folks who need the meat. For over two months hog sellers repeatedly stole hogs from my traps. They sell those hogs in TX to processors and to the hog ranches in OK and TX. 

With the exception of shooting hogs from the air, hunting as a control measure is an abject failure.


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## Billy_D

heading to Georgia in the morning for a 3 day state land hunt. Wish me luck!


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## Robert Holmes

Jager Pro said:


> IMO if you truly have a problem, then you're not going to charge others to help you fix it.


 There are lots of hunters lined up to help fix the problem and it becomes part of the problem.


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## MERGANZER

Ganzer


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## Wildwood_Deckers

ridgewalker said:


> Wild hogs are far more nocturnal than deer, yet the DNR refuses to allow night hunting for hogs in Michigan. It is obvious that the DNR could care less if wild hogs become established.


 I couldn't agree more... I have been saying this for years, and one of the reasons I pretty much gave up on hunting them....


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## Wildwood_Deckers

Another thing, our winters are nothing for hogs... hogs don't loose body heat like other animals... they retain it all.... and the largest boars are in Russia, where there winters are much worse than ours... It may slow down their spread, but it isn't going to stop them....


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## swampbuck

Wildwood_Deckers said:


> I couldn't agree more... I have been saying this for years, and one of the reasons I pretty much gave up on hunting them....



I agree, I was active on the hogs in the beginning, it was like trying to hunt with one hand behind your back. 

That combined with the direction of deer management lately, has brought me to the point of leaving them alone, hopefully someday we will have a huntable population.


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## Wildwood_Deckers

I spent hours upon hours tracking them to end up at private property lines, etc... however, I did find some interesting things... while tracking a group I found where they had come across a opossum and the area was just completely covered with tracks around the few remains of that opossum... the skin was the only thing left... and it was in clear sand of a two track...


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## john warren

clearly the problem as i perceive it from these posts, is the farmers, the tall fence game ranches, the dnr, and the hunters.


did i leave anyone out?


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## fairfax1

Paint me skeptical.

IMHO, hogs ain't never gonna be a big problem in Michigan. Despite all the media bluster of 3 or 4 years ago about out-of-control wild swine.

Our winters will tighten their herds. Our snow will allow finding them. In ag areas...local farmer/hunters will gun 'em down in a nano-second come January. Hell, the myriad groups of hound-running coyote-hunters will gladly switch targets.

I think we all....and absolutely the DNR too.....had a bunch of fun those several years ago when 'sightings' were rocketed around the web as if we were being invaded by aliens.

Much ado about nothing. Fun....but more smoke than bacon.


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## Fishndude

fairfax1 said:


> Paint me skeptical.
> 
> IMHO, hogs ain't never gonna be a big problem in Michigan. Despite all the media bluster of 3 or 4 years ago about out-of-control wild swine.
> 
> Our winters will tighten their herds. Our snow will allow finding them. In ag areas...local farmer/hunters will gun 'em down in a nano-second come January. Hell, the myriad groups of hound-running coyote-hunters will gladly switch targets.
> 
> I think we all....and absolutely the DNR too.....had a bunch of fun those several years ago when 'sightings' were rocketed around the web as if we were being invaded by aliens.
> 
> Much ado about nothing. Fun....but more smoke than bacon.


I agree with this, but will qualify my agreement by adding that I don't really hunt at all, anymore. But I grew up hunting deer, ducks, and small game. 

How about this thought? If we had big numbers of feral hogs in MI, don't you think the Black Bear population would increase commensurately, and keep the hog numbers in check? Bears are the largest predator in our State, and I have to think an adult bear could catch, and kill almost any adult hog they might find. Maybe not some of the game ranch monsters, but adult feral hogs shouldn't be a problem for a grown bear. 

And don't even let me ask about marauding packs of Wolves preying on feral hogs. :yikes::lol::lol: And Cougars! If they can catch deer, they surely can catch pigs! Yep, I did that. Sorry. At least I didn't mention Bigfoot. :evilsmile

But I was serious about the bears.


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## 2508speed

Fishndude said:


> I agree with this, but will qualify my agreement by adding that I don't really hunt at all, anymore. But I grew up hunting deer, ducks, and small game.
> 
> How about this thought? If we had big numbers of feral hogs in MI, don't you think the Black Bear population would increase commensurately, and keep the hog numbers in check? Bears are the largest predator in our State, and I have to think an adult bear could catch, and kill almost any adult hog they might find. Maybe not some of the game ranch monsters, but adult feral hogs shouldn't be a problem for a grown bear.
> 
> And don't even let me ask about marauding packs of Wolves preying on feral hogs. :yikes::lol::lol: And Cougars! If they can catch deer, they surely can catch pigs! Yep, I did that. Sorry. At least I didn't mention Bigfoot. :evilsmile
> 
> But I was serious about the bears.


When the DNR said you could shoot feral hogs on site as long as you had a small game licence, it was the most non brained, easiest decision they ever made. They knew it was internet hysteria! Another way to sell a license! I'm sure there are a few escapes from farms and game ranches, but it's not epidemic as some would wish. (Just to prove the DNR wrong)!


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## plugger

If we had pigs in this area it would be easy to jump on a snowmobile in the winter and run them in the ground. Every so often some one has cattle go feral and come winter and deep snow they get run with snowmobiles until they are easily caught.


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## Duckhunter66

ridgewalker said:


> Wild hogs are far more nocturnal than deer, yet the DNR refuses to allow night hunting for hogs in Michigan. It is obvious that the DNR could care less if wild hogs become established.


Not completely true...although there is no regulated night season for them you may harvest a pig if you are hunting at night for other night game (***** Ect)


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## cabledad

Howdy from Texas, No bears won,t control hogs,people that told me they didn,t mind a few hogs have no pastures just hog tilled pastures. You can't believe how fast they multiply. Around here in North Texas they will kill 150 a day out of helicopter. My advise is don't let one get away if you can. Right now I am going to set up my high powered Texas bores 8 led light and hunt until midnight over a patch of corn and chicken scratch. Its my hobby. Cabledad


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## Fishndude

cabledad said:


> Howdy from Texas, No bears won,t control hogs,people that told me they didn,t mind a few hogs have no pastures just hog tilled pastures. You can't believe how fast they multiply. Around here in North Texas they will kill 150 a day out of helicopter. My advise is don't let one get away if you can. Right now I am going to set up my high powered Texas bores 8 led light and hunt until midnight over a patch of corn and chicken scratch. Its my hobby. Cabledad


Texas, and Michigan are different. I was in TX last week, and it was nice and warm; while back here in MI the temps lurked around freezing most of the time. Texas has had wild hogs forever, but Michigan hasn't, which makes me believe our State isn't really conducive to them - or else we would be overrun with them, like TX. 
Why won't bears control the hog population? Bears need to eat every couple days, when they aren't hibernating. Hogs live for quite a while. That gives bears quite a while to prey on any particular hog, and make some meals of it. 
Are there even enough Black Bears in TX to have an open season on them? How about Wolves? Cougars? :lol:


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## cabledad

Germany, Russia both have wild pigs


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## Fishndude

cabledad said:


> Germany, Russia both have wild pigs


Yep, they sure do. And Germany is having problems similar to TX, and a few other U.S. States. So why aren't wild hogs native to MI? They have been in the U.S. forever.


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## randall729

2508speed said:


> When the DNR said you could shoot feral hogs on site as long as you had a small game licence, it was the most non brained, easiest decision they ever made. They knew it was internet hysteria! Another way to sell a license! I'm sure there are a few escapes from farms and game ranches, but it's not epidemic as some would wish. (Just to prove the DNR wrong)!


seems like years back, the dnr told everyone to shoot the hogs no questions asked. just get rid of the hogs. no need for any license or hunting hours and dates, times, etc. now it's getting more complex and people aren't going to take any chances of breaking the law. also, how is it going to look if someone is carrying buckshot or slugs while out small game hunting?


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## plugger

You wont see a large hog population in Michigan with our winters. There is not a problem in Utah, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Michigan. Well Southern Michigan might but the way those people act and think I consider southern Michigan an extension of Illinois.


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## dasuper

For those who think hogs can't take our winters. While with the army in Germany for winter fun in the snow we saw plenty of hog trails in snow more than knee deep so I don't think our winters will bother them much.


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## randall729

dasuper said:


> For those who think hogs can't take our winters. While with the army in Germany for winter fun in the snow we saw plenty of hog trails in snow more than knee deep so I don't think our winters will bother them much.


The feral pigs are "conditioned" for winter. It's just that I doubt breeding occurs as winter snow banks are undesirable. Winter weather won't phase the feral pig population.


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## plugger

dasuper said:


> For those who think hogs can't take our winters. While with the army in Germany for winter fun in the snow we saw plenty of hog trails in snow more than knee deep so I don't think our winters will bother them much.


 The locals probably weren't running them down with snowmobiles.


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## GRUNDY

I think sasquatch will eat keep the hogs in Check. I heard that Matt Money maker says there's sasquatch in MI, so I'm not worried about hogs.


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## randall729

must be one roamin around mason co. sas that is. hardly a hog anywhere be found


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## huntingnut

A decent size wild hog can kill a bear. I have or had a video that was sent to me about 20 years ago, of large boar ripping a big bear apart before the bear could scurry up a tree to safety.


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## Rockokloco

I was in mid-west TX the third week of Feb hog hunting. We had 800 acres to hunt. I went with my six brothers and four nephews. All of us saw hogs. Six of us had shots at hogs. I got 3, 123lb, 110lb 107lb. I saw over 40 in one group. About 30 were little piglets. I shot at two 300 pounders. I am sure I got one, but it crossed onto the bordering property. I saw over 100 hogs during the five days of hunting. The damage they do is incredible. IMO, I don't think we want them here.


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## jackbob42

huntingnut said:


> A decent size wild hog can kill a bear. I have or had a video that was sent to me about 20 years ago, of large boar ripping a big bear apart before the bear could scurry up a tree to safety.



I don't buy that for a minute !
I'd like to see that video please.


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