DNR encouraging blaze-orange brigade to target feral swine

Bruce has been a vegetarian for 25 years, but I swear he would kill and eat a feral pig if he had the chance. He sends this.

By Jim Lee
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

VIROQUA — A successful Crawford County hunter returned home from the 2007 gun deer season with 225 pounds of pork, a trip to the taxidermist with his trophy and congratulations from the Department of Natural Resources.

"It's entirely legal to shoot feral pigs," said Brad Koele, DNR wildlife damage specialist.

The department urged hunters to target wild pigs during the fall deer season as part of an ongoing effort to rid the state of a potential problem.

"I know at least six wild pigs were shot during the deer season in Crawford County and one in Eau Claire County ," Koele said. "It looks like a hunter shot a pig in Calumet County that was really a domestic pig that escaped. He was able to keep the animal, which weighed about 400 pounds, because it had been on the landscape for several months. I'm sure he got a few dinners out of it."

Feral pigs — sometimes known as wild boars, wild hogs or razorbacks — are a recent addition to the list of undesirable, non-native species that have found their way into the Wisconsin countryside.

Descendants of early European swine or recent domestic swine that escaped or were released by their owners, feral pigs are found in nearly two dozen states. They have proven to be hardy and highly adaptable. In some southern states, their numbers range in the hundreds of thousands.

Feral pigs have been documented in Wisconsin since 2000 and have been spotted in at least 29 counties, according to the DNR.

"Free-roaming pigs can be found across a wide variety of habitats and are highly destructive because of the rooting they do in search of food," Koele said. "They're also efficient predators, preying on many species, including white-tail deer fawns and ground-nesting birds like grouse, woodcock, turkeys and songbirds."

Feral pigs are known to sometimes carry brucellosis, pseudo rabies and other diseases damaging to the domestic swine industry. There have been reports in Wisconsin of wild boars jumping into swine pens in an attempt to mate with domestic pigs.

There is no bag limit or closed season on hunting wild pigs in Wiscon-sin. A small-game license and landowner permission are the sole requirements. Landowners hunting pigs on their property do not need a license.

In 2007, the DNR received reports of wild pig sightings or wild pigs killed in Calumet, Clark, Crawford, Eau Claire, Jackson, Marathon, Oneida, Pierce, Polk, Sauk, St. Croix and Wood counties.

"In Crawford County , we estimate there are 50 to 100 feral pigs, based on a survey we did last winter," Koele said. "That is the biggest population that we know of, and Crawford County is definitely our biggest area of concern."

"We really want to get more trapping taking place," Matheys said, "because hunting alone hasn't eradicated the pigs."