Feral hogs

I posted this recently in the Amarillo Globe News after seeing some obvious misinformation in some comments to an article:

"Feral hogs are domestic pigs gone wild. In one generation they are as wild as heck, and in two they revert back in terms of hair growth. The next several generations revert back to the original wild look of the longer snout, tusks, etc. Different traits, coloration, etc., come from the different breeds of originating domestic stock. The mention of Russian boar affecting today's feral hogs is totally erroneous. Any releases/escapes from decades ago (and they certainly were not up here), and points east, were quickly bred out by the regular feral genetics, way back, and a truck load released today would be bred out with out a trace quickly. Javelinas are not even related, so should not even be mentioned here. There are no hogs native to North America!

As for the ferociousness, you are fine provided 1) you don't walk up on an injured one, 2) you don't try to grab one, 3) and I wouldn't want to test too many times what a sow might do if you walked in between her and her piglets. Keep in mind they have terrible sight. If they cannot make you out by smell they may venture towards you to get a better look. In a panic - and partly due to this poor eye site - they may scatter in all directions and, yes, some may come your way. But they are not going to hunt you down. :)

That being said, they are terribly damaging to range, and may impact wildlife particularly rare species, nests of dense-nesting ground birds, and during times of drought when production is low due to poor cover/poor reproductive conditions.

Internet Myths - Monstrous Rattlesnakes

Have you seen e-mails that include the following?  Raise the suspicion flag if it involves:

1) Rattlesnakes over 7-foot, and ones weighing over 20 pounds.   

Folks, if you hear or read of a rattlesnake over 7 foot, instantly raise the suspicion flag.  A western diamondback (Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona) over 7.5 foot would be a record and is probably not possible.  In Texas, that new record will be in South Texas where they have a longer "growing season"  to feed.

Eastern diamondbacks (SE US); a 8.5 foot one would probably be a record.  How much do the monsters weigh?  16-17 pounds is ballpark; maybe a 20 or so could be out there. 

Concerning photos, people make them look larger by holding them weigh out in front (old fishing trick).  A five-foot rattlesnake will make a man grimace holding it due to the length-weight.  Kind of like it is very awkward to load a deer into a pickup by yourself.

Often Snoops.com will reveal the fraud of these photos.  A 9-foot rattlesnake turned out to be a 4-foot snake held out in front of a man.  Usually, the fraud e-mails will show up as "sightings, photographs, or captures" claiming many sites, and even many years - same photo.  :)  Cracks me up.  No actually angers me because of what I know!

TRUST ME!!!!

Skellytown Lion

Do the descriptions of the goat carcasses sound like a lion kill.  Absolutely not.  Mountain lions do not "rip their prey in half."  And they return to there kill to feed several times.  Was an expert called into to look for signs of mountain lion predation.  No.  Do many people know how to tell a lion track from bobcats or even dogs?  No.  Is it confirmed that something scaled a tall fence.  No, and a gate was laying on the ground.

TX Panhandle Mountain Lions

In the 1980s, a mountain lion was shot by a farmer north of Dalhart, and a treed lion was shot in the Channing area.  Back in those days deer densities surely limited the ability for a lion to "stick" in an area.  But the breeding range of lions is relatively close (New Mexico and even the Black Mesa area of Oklahoma).

Today, things are different.  White-tailed deer, mule deer, and feral hogs are all doing very well in the canyons and creek and river bottoms, and even in the flat plains.  Javelina are even spreading north from a stocking (1980's or earlier) site in the Rolling Plains in the Dickens area.  Folks, it takes a pretty high density of these prey types to hold a lion.

The home range of a lion here would be linear in shape, for example encompassing a drainage/creek/river (for the required density of big game prey), and encompassing 100s of square miles (males for sure).  Even bobcats have huge home ranges, and both species are very territorial.  Bottom line, a drainage in any one county would likely not hold more than male and a female.  They are not under every bush.  More on this topic later.

Trust ME!!!

Rumor on Cats

There is a rumor that government agencies are releasing bobcats and mountain lions to control the deer herds in the Panhandle.  The Clarendon area seems to be the focus.

I assure you that no agency is stocking cats in the Panhandle.  Bobcats are faring well, here, in response to increasing brush density (canyons and Rolling Plains) and a lowered coyote population (mange, etc.).  They are even doing well in the High Plains where structure exits (abandoned houses), weedy  pens and equipment yards.

Agencies do not stock animals in areas where they are already doing well.  The fact someone should make this kind of rumor up - just puzzles the heck out me.  And, though males will take a few adult deer, and both sexes will take fawns, bobcats are not going to control deer populations.

TRUST ME!

I'll address lions in another post.