How much did severe winter conditions affect hogs in your area?

Fursniper

Fursniper

Well-known member
What's your best guess? Most hogs died or were they just slightly impacted by the extreme winter weather?

Anybody finding lots of frozen pork?
 
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Looks like the weather is taking a toll on the ground hogs.
 
It would indeed be a blessing if "most" hogs die as a result of this extreme weather but, I think only those that are in poor condition will have succumbed to it.
The weather has kept me home for 9 days/nights and I have an extreme case of cabin fever! Good thing is, as of today and for the next 7 days weather will not
hinder me in my pursuit of hogs or coyotes. They are both targets of opportunity!
 
I grew up on a farm in KY he had hogs. During cold weather they piled on top of one another to stay warm the ones on the bottom died. I suspect they do the same in the wild for warmth. I doubt many die because they are out in the open rather than being smashed against the side of a pen. They can survive some really cold weather.
 
When we had them in Indiana , weather like this was the best for hunting them. They moved in the daylight and you could locate them and track them in the snow. They kept me busy from the end of deer season to the start of turkey.

I miss them and wish I had thermal back then. We had a blast chasing them.
 
Rhett Steele said:
When we had them in Indiana , weather like this was the best for hunting them. They moved in the daylight and you could locate them and track them in the snow. They kept me busy from the end of deer season to the start of turkey.

I miss them and wish I had thermal back then. We had a blast chasing them.
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Are you saying you had hogs but don't now? Oklahoma and Texas would like to know how you got rid of them?:LOL:
 
22magnum22 said:
Are you saying you had hogs but don't now? Oklahoma and Texas would like to know how you got rid of them?:LOL:
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They were established here in 1996, or that's the first time I chased them anyway. I didn't think they could do it, but the usda came in and ramped up a huge campaign with a 5 yr grant, and trapped and helicopter hunted the things to extinction. The last one I killed was in 2017.

Last year I heard of a remnant population up river from my place. This year passed and I didn't hear any reports of sign being seen. I think they're gone.
 
I doubt that extremely cold weather significantly affects the adults. However the same probably is t true for the young. Around here (East Texas) a lot of pigs start hitting the ground in January/February. when the “snowmaggedon” hit Texas in February 2021 wildlife was affected all over the state. They had huge speckled trout kills in Galveston Bay and the gulf. Axis deer and black buck in south Texas were also significantly impacted with many reported deaths. In East Texas the hog population was knocked back significantly as well. Mainly to killing off young nursing pigs.

Wildlife in the south are not adapted to cold like those living farther north, so old, weak or young animals can be impacted. During that 5 day period in 2021 temperatures were near zero in places that had never seen that kind of cold in my lifetime. It had an impact, but after a few years they bounced back. The numbers on my lease are still not back to pre-2021 numbers. Not a bad thing in terms of hogs, but squirrels and other small game were possible impacted as well.
 
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