At the heart of the extraordinary growth of the feral hog population is the sow, a female feral hog that has reproduced. The sow’s rapid breeding rate and innate protective behavior is a large contributing factor to the feral hog population.

On your next hunt, make sure you take full advantage of hog vulnerabilities. Here are just a few.

Keep your eyes on this one. As deer hunting approaches its final month in Alabama, Alabama’s Black Belt is already reporting one of its best seasons in years. Trophy bucks are being taken on a regular basis, and lodges in the region are reporting heavy traffic.

The feral hog has an arsenal of advantages with respect to behaviors and adaptability that make it challenging quarry for the hunter. To ensure success, the wise hunter needs to understand these advantages and use them against the hog.

Feral hogs by definition are descended from domestic pigs gone wild. In North America, domesticated hogs were originally brought over from Europe by the Spanish conquistadors: Columbus in the West Indies (1493) and Hernando de Soto in Texas (mid-1500’s). These domesticated ancestors were diurnal (active during the day).