Trapping remains the number one tool for landowners waging war on wild pigs. However, many beginning trappers soon become discouraged, which results in more damage and ultimately, more wild pigs. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has successfully utilized educational methods to assist landowners with efficient trapping methods to remove wild pigs from their properties. Trap size is largely dictated by the size of the wild pig sounder as confirmed visually or by the use of remote-sensing cameras. The landowner’s goal should be to remove the entire sounder in as few trapping attempts as possible; therefore larger traps generally are more efficient. The design or shape of the trap is dictated by the fate of the pigs: if pigs are to be euthanized within the trap, shape does not matter. However, if the pigs are destined to be loaded from the trap and trailered away from the capture site for slaughter or to a buying station for sale, the design of the trap is of utmost importance. Myriad gate designs have been successfully employed to trap wild pigs. Regardless of the design, many experienced pig trappers have come to realize that wider gates can reduce the “training time” necessary for pigs to accept and enter a trap. Trigger designs are as varied (if not more so) than gate designs. They range from traps that are “triggerless,” where pigs push through flexible panels, to highly sophisticated remote triggers that can release a gate by sending a signal from a computer or cell phone. However, as important as the trap size, design, gate, and trigger may be, landowners should follow a consistent protocol in order to win their war on wild pigs.

The wild pig is an invasive exotic introduced into what is now Florida in 1539 by the explorer Hernanado de Soto. Texas has been home to wild pigs since 1565 with a current population estimate of 2.6 million animals. From 1980 to 1990, a perfect storm of clandestine releases, access to vast amounts of wildlife supplement, and the highest reproductive rate of any ungulate found worldwide led to a wild pig population explosion in Texas. As the range and population of this intelligent omnivore increased over the ensuing 25 years, agronomic damage alone increased to over $50 million annually. Inter-specific competition with and/or predation upon native wildlife species, damage to wetlands and sensitive plant communities, and water quality degradation have also been attributed to wild pigs in Texas. Damage to urban and suburban landscapes has also increased sharply over the past decade and negatively impacted humans via pig-vehicle collisions, greenscape damage to lawns, sports fields, golf courses, parks, and cemeteries. Legal control methods include shooting, snaring, dogging, and trapping. Among these methods, trapping is often cited as the first line of defense for private landowners. However, many landowners fail to employ “best management practices” when attempting to abate damage through population reduction. Trapping wild pigs is a process, not an event. The process includes the following steps: 1) pigs must be trained to bait, 2) sounder size must be estimated via the use of remote-sensing cameras to determine the size of trap needed, 3) pigs must accept the trap presence, and 4) pigs must be trained to routinely enter and feed inside the trap. Following this trapping protocol can save landowners tremendous amount of time and money in the war on wild pigs.

Texas has the largest wild pig population in the nation, estimated at 2.6 million animals. Damage to agronomic enterprises is conservatively estimated at $52 million annually with total economic damage to agriculture and the environment in urban, suburban, and rural Texas possibly reaching 10 times that figure. In response to damage caused by this invasive exotic species, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service (Extension) increased educational programming efforts and direct control of wild pigs via Wildlife Services. From 2006 -2013, earmarked grant funding (5 projects over the 8-year period) was obtained from the Texas State Legislature via the Texas Department of Agriculture. Project funding facilitated the development and deployment of an integrated strategy of direct control of wild pigs by Wildlife Services’ personnel and Extension-led landowner education via one-on-one contacts, group meetings, demonstrations, and publications. Website availability and mass media contacts including television and radio interviews, newspaper articles, and magazine articles were also utilized to increase public awareness and education on wild pigs and damage abatement. Landowners participating in Extension educational events were surveyed to characterize damage and control efforts as well as measure the impacts of education efforts. Direct control via Texas Wildlife Services employed all legal methods including trapping, shooting (both ground and aerial), snaring, and dogging, focusing control efforts on areas where pig damage compromised agricultural production and threatened sensitive environmental habitats and/or endangered and threatened species. This integrated approach of public education and direct control reduced the agronomic impact of wild pigs by 66% on cooperator-controlled properties in the pilot phase (2006-2007) of the project. Additional information on methodology and impacts of education and direct control from January 2006 through November 2013 is discussed.

Texas has the largest wild pig population in the nation, estimated at 2.6 million animals. Damage to agronomic enterprises was conservatively estimated in 2004 at $52 million annually with total economic damage to agriculture and the environment in urban, suburban, and rural Texas possibly reaching 10 times that figure. In response to damage caused by this invasive exotic species, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service increased educational programming efforts of wild pigs and damage abatement. From 2006-2014, project funding from multiple sources facilitated the development and deployment of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service-led landowner education via one-on-one contacts, group meetings, demonstrations, and publications. Website availability and mass media contacts, including television and radio interviews and newspaper and magazine articles, were also utilized to increase public awareness and education on wild pigs and damage abatement. Participants (n = 21,752) attending Extension educational events were surveyed (n = 13,054) to characterize damage and control efforts as well as measure the impacts of education efforts. The most commonly reported negative impacts by landowners were pastures/hay meadows (72%) and owner/employee time (38%), while the most commonly used control technique prior to participation in an educational event was trap and destroy (51%). The average amount of losses attributable to wild pigs in the year prior to attending an educational program was $4,764 each and their predicted loss after participation decreased to $3,565. Over 98% of respondents indicated they increased their knowledge of wild pigs and damage abatement and planned to adopt an average of three new management practices each, with the most commonly cited new practices being using larger traps and pre-baiting wild pigs. A Net Promoter Score of 60.4% indicated that survey respondents were very pleased with the information they received by attending an Extension educational event directed at wild pigs and the abatement of their damage. This educational model can serve as a template for other states dealing with wild pigs as an emerging issue whenever their negative impacts on agriculture, the environment, and human health and safety occur.