Question about Wildlife

While I was in AL I noticed an unusual thing happening with the wild hogs and wonder if anyone can provide a clue. Last summer we had a drought that killed a lot of grass and vegetation and the water in my pond got about 50% lower although it is fed by 3 springs and has now partially recovered.

All the oak trees on my place produced a normal supply of acorns and the walnut and hickory trees had an abundance of nuts. The deer are still feeding on the grass and acorns around in my yard. If the trees on my property produced I'm assuming they had normal crops everywhere else.

Wild hogs are coming out of the swamps and being killed on the highway. Thank God I don't have any on my property but there are some on the adjacent property. Hitting a deer with a car is less damaging than hitting a wild hog. It's like hitting a huge boulder and does more auto damage. This is a new but frequent occurrence and I wonder if anyone can provide an explanation as to why the hogs are leaving their natural habitat and coming out onto the highway.

Bug I'm not an expert on hogs but I know if it has been abnormally cold down there they might be doing it for the heat the road is putting off, just a guess! PS hope your not getting to much ribbin from your Auburn friends....if you have any..LOL Chuck

I'm gonna guess it's just hogs doing what they do and that is wander and forage. They can destroy an area! They reproduce like crazy so maybe there are more hogs around now?
I haven't seen too many hit by cars when growing up in Florida. They usually stay away from people and highways since they are kinda skittish. Just guessing...

Maybe they are following the chicken and the possum and just trying to get to the other side.:D Sorry, couldn't resist the temptation on an old joke.

[QUOTE=riverrat12;437921]Bug I'm not an expert on hogs but I know if it has been abnormally cold down there they might be doing it for the heat the road is putting off, just a guess! PS hope your not getting to much ribbin from your Auburn friends....if you have any..LOL Chuck[/QUOTE]

The hogs were coming onto the roads in the summer. It didn't get cold down there until the middle of December. I wonder if there is, like deer, an over abundance of them. The deer population is so large that we are encouraged to drive with our headlights on high, at night, as much as possible to avoid collisions with them. I left about 3-3:30 am coming back home and saw lots of deer feeding right at the edge of the asphalt. Now that can rattle your nerves because one never knows which way they will run. Do hogs all stay together in herds or do they separate?

I do have some Auburn friends and I just told them that Bama may not win all the games but they have never lost a party. Actually, most of the time when Bama and Auburn play, Auburn fans either stay over or come over (depending on where the game was played) and party the rest of the weekend away at Bama.

[QUOTE=Tyme2fish;437933]Maybe they are following the chicken and the possum and just trying to get to the other side.:D Sorry, couldn't resist the temptation on an old joke.[/QUOTE]

You may be right but those fat rascals had better learn to run if they want to make it to the other side. They are donating some fine hams to the crows and buzzards.

It's a population thing bug. I've heard some things from fellow hunters saying the Hogs are exploding in numbers in certain states. Get you a tag and go bust a few, they are darn good eatin.

They are expanding, it is what they do. They populate very quickly. They are a nuisance species, they tear up land like crazy and will hurt the deer and turkey because they outcompete them for food.

[QUOTE=mhall;438041]It's a population thing bug. I've heard some things from fellow hunters saying the Hogs are exploding in numbers in certain states. Get you a tag and go bust a few, they are darn good eatin.[/QUOTE]

I don't need a tag in my state, just my 30-06, some good ammo, and a strong man to load them. I have a little cousin that is 10 years old and quite a marksman; he had to have some good firearms safety and target training before his dad would allow him to even hold a gun. He killed 4 adult hogs one morning and when his dad and grandpa got them loaded, they filled the bed of the truck.