By D. E. Smoot
As printed in The Muskogee Phoenix, June 21, 2007.

Oklahoma's rapidly rising feral hog population has prompted a new study to assess the reproductivity and ranging patterns of the wild swine.

Feral hogs – defined by law as any hog without a known owner that is running at large – have been around eastern Oklahoma for years, providing sport for hunters and creating a nuisance for farmers. Previous laws that restricted hunters from harvesting feral hogs allowed the population to swell and spread across the state.

Researchers with the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, an Ardmore-based organization dedicated to improving agriculture production techniques and advancing plant science, initially mapped the feral hog population in 1996.

The foundation's comprehensive study found high density feral hog populations primarily in southeastern and southern Oklahoma. Free-ranging swine populations were found to a lesser extent in Adair, Cherokee and Sequoyah counties in eastern Oklahoma.

Andy Qualls of the Muskogee County Conservation District said there have been several reports of feral hogs in Muskogee County. A feral hog caused a motorcycle wreck in March on the Muskogee Turnpike near Webbers Falls.

David Rempe, an Oklahoma State University senior studying wildlife ecology and participating as an intern with the Noble Foundation's feral hog research project, said his initial research revealed the wild swine population has spread into all 77 Oklahoma counties.

"What I am trying to figure out is where the wild hogs are in the state and what their density levels are in state," Rempe said about the research project. "Density levels appear to be highest in the southern one-third of the state."

According to the Noble Foundation's initial study, there are a number of unknown variables related to the state's feral hog population. An excerpt from the study, which can be found online, states "feral hogs are an ecological black box."

While many sportsmen enjoy hunting wild swine, Rempe said the creatures often compete for food with other game animals and can wreak havoc on cultivated crops.

"There are a number of agriculture damages associated with feral hogs," Rempe said. "Crops and hay meadows have been damaged by rooting and foraging that tears up the ground."

According to Noble Foundation researchers, the rooting hogs can alter soil properties and the successional sequences of vegetation. Some of the negative effects include "soil erosion, consumption of native seed crops, consumption of threatened or endangered species ... and reduction of overall species diversity."

Rooting animals, researchers say, can have positive effects. Some positive effects of foraging feral hogs include "increased quality of seed beds, increased water infiltration, shift in plant succession toward increased diversity, accelerated decomposition of organic matter and increased mixing of soil horizons."

Rempe said his research was prompted by a concern about the potential problems presented by a population explosion. Rempe said landowners or others who have seen feral hogs should report that information to the local Oklahoma State University Extension Office or Natural Resources Conservation Service offices.

Rempe said the information he is looking for includes:
  • Population density.
  • Feral hog locations.
  • Agricultural damage caused by feral hogs.
  • When feral hogs were first found in the county.
  • What kind of hunting leases or opportunities landowners are willing to provide.

More info
Samuel Robert Noble Foundation's feral hog research: www.noble.org/ag/wildlife/feralhogs/Index.html

This article appeared in The Muskogee Phoenix, www.muskogeephoenix.com, on June 21, 2007.