Feral Hogs Prowling the Hills of Southern Illinois

It's a bizarre situation in Southern Illinois. Among the species of family wild animals like white-tailed deer, squirrels, rabbits, and the like, which you expect to encounter in southernmost Illinois is one that is actually a former domestic animal.

Several lightly-populated counties along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers noted for their hilly terrain are home to free-ranging hogs.

Origin Unclear

Roaming the thickly forested hills of the Shawnee National Forest, they are almost indistinguishable from the original domestics, European wild boars, or hybrid offspring.

Theories as to their origin differ. In speaking to an Illinois state wildlife biologist I was informed that the original hogs were brought in by hunters who hunted them in Texas and other states where wild hogs are not uncommon. Other sources say they are long-established in Texas and have been steadily moving north from there on their own. There's another theory that there has been an illegal release of European wild boars or a relatively recent accidental loss of domestic swine from area farms. Still another theory has it that feral hogs are actually descendants from escapees from the unfenced homesteads of the original German settlers of the early 1800's.

In any event, there was a long stretch where feral hogs went unreported until 1993, when the Illinois Department of Natural resources announced they had located wild hogs in the state.

Range

In any event, the once domestic pigs are now living in the wild in Union, Gallatin, Hardin, Johnson, Lawrence, Massac, Jackson, Pulaski, and Pope counties where they've been reported. They

feed on almost anything and face no natural predators that might control their population. They appear to engage in nighttime activity, especially in the summer, although they switch to daytime during the winter.

Feral hogs reach maturity in one year and have litters of 8 to 10 young. They live about 11 years.

Disease and Damage

Hunting

As nuisance animals, they may be hunted year-round without a license, requiring only the landowner's permission.

Hunters use the bow and firearms of adequate caliber to bring down wild hogs. The hogs

are sought in areas frequented by deer and turkey due to similarity in diet, but herds tend to be small. In fact, the state is welcoming any information on helping to determine the extent of their influence. The wild hogs are considered nuisance animals, disease carriers which compete with other animals like turkeys and squirrels for acorns and other food resources, while causing damage to crops, fences, water sources with their habit of wallowing and rooting. They're also responsible for stream erosion.