The Wild Hog Youth Trapping Corps Wrangles Mississippi Wild Hogs
In partnership with: Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce
Mississippi youth help reduce the wild hog population across the state through the Wild Hog Youth Trapping Corps.
You might say wild hogs have gone “hog wild” in Mississippi, since these animals cause more than $60 million in damage to property every year across the Magnolia State.
The majority of the property wild hogs destroy is on private agricultural and forestry lands, causing catastrophic losses for farmers and landowners. Wild hogs also pose risks for disease transmission among livestock, pets and humans.
“We’ve had a problem with wild hogs for decades, and now they can be found in all 82 counties in Mississippi,” says Chris McDonald, director of Federal and Environmental Affairs for the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce (MDAC). “These nuisance animals have a tremendous impact on agriculture and property because they destroy crops, levees, pastures, wildlife habitat and so forth.”
Mississippi Wild Hogs Under Control
MDAC is offering wild hog traps to private land managers through its Wild Hog Control Program, an initiative that works to reduce the number of wild hogs on private agricultural and forestry lands.
The smart traps cost about $8,200 each, but through the Wild Hog Control Program, the only cost to landowners is their labor, time and bait, which is typically shelled corn.
“We got legislation passed in 2020 that gave Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson the authority to start a nuisance wildlife program,” McDonald says. “We are only concentrating on wild hogs because our state wildlife agency handles other nuisance animals, and we don’t want to overstep our scope.”
The program started with 10 smart traps donated by the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation and two smart traps donated by the Mississippi Pork Producers Association.
The smart traps are outfitted with a live-video camera system, and when the camera detects motion, the smart trap sends a signal to the user’s smartphone or tablet. Once the user verifies the type of animal in the trap, they can remotely drop the gates with the push of a button.
“You want to verify you are getting the whole group of wild hogs because if you don’t, you will educate those that were not captured, which makes trapping more difficult. We’ve captured as many as 32 wild hogs at one time in a single trap,” McDonald explains. “They are most active during nighttime, and this results in a lot of work for the trapper.”
Wild Hog Youth Trapping Corps
High school students from FFA chapters across Mississippi have joined the trapping effort through MDAC’s new youth initiative – the Wild Hog Control Program Youth Trapping Corps. The Youth Trapping Corps helps students gain communication skills and learn about the impact of nuisance animals all while helping landowners and farmers in the management of wild hogs on their properties.
FFA chapters were eligible to apply for grants of up to $25,000 each to establish wild hog trapping programs in their communities. This funding was made possible by a federal appropriation to MDAC sponsored by U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Brandon High School FFA was one of the first chapters to get involved, and there are now 23 FFA chapters participating. FFA chapters are now in the process of purchasing trapping equipment and completing training needed to safely trap wild hogs.
“With this program, we’ll have the ability to build our own traps. We have kids with good mechanical minds who are good with their hands, and they’ll build traps and repair traps when they get damaged,” says Kramer Sowell, agriculture teacher and FFA advisor at Brandon High School. “Our students will learn mechanical skills such as welding, cutting, grinding and using power tools, which prepares them for the workforce. They will also develop communication skills by talking with landowners and learn about safe handling of wild hogs.”
Youth Doing Their Part
While they won’t be able to eradicate these nuisance animals, participants hope to save farmers time and money by slowing down the wild hog population.
“This program brings awareness to what our students are capable of building and doing and how they are able to put their skills to use,” Sowell says. “It will serve them for life.”
Smithville Attendance Center FFA also joined the Youth Trapping Corps.
“We are ordering our traps and preparing for our training,” says Kayla Eaton, FFA advisor for Smithville Attendance Center. “I have reached out to local farmers, and we will start setting traps on their property to help them remove hogs that are destroying their crops.”
Eaton appreciates the opportunity for her students to serve their community.
“This program will allow students to better understand wildlife management, provide them with a supervised agricultural experience to control wild hogs, and help them work in our community to solve a problem that causes several other problems, both monetary and physical,” Eaton says. “The students will gain career skills that will help them as they graduate high school and throughout their lives.”
McDonald says the whole purpose is not just capturing wild hogs – the main purpose is to educate youth and show them a new world of conservation and management and how they can help through community service.
“They will be able to get in front of professionals and stakeholders in the agriculture community and conservation community,” McDonald says. “I want to stress it’s about professional development and teaching youth life skills. We can also provide assistance to local landowners in the process.”
Wild Hogs Facts
Wild hogs are not native to North America and are not classified as “wildlife.”
Each year, approximately $1.5 billion is spent in control costs and public or private land damages.
Wild hogs most often target row crops, newborn livestock, young forests, water sources and infrastructure.
Wild hogs are found in all 82 Mississippi counties.
Wild hogs can live up to 10 years.
Sources: Mississippi State University