Bob Mount: Something should be done about area’s wild hogs

Not too long ago, a friend of mine, Fletcher Little, showed me some disturbing photographs. They were made with a motion-sensitive camera displaying animal life on a wildlife food plot he had established within the forested area west of Tamplin Farms Subdivison and south of Wire Road.

Among the animals photographed were deer and turkeys and one that surprised me, a wild hog.

I was aware that wild hogs occurred along the lower reaches of Choctafaula and Chewacla creeks, in Macon County, but was unaware that they had invaded Lee County.

Where they occur, they are considered the most destructive inhabitants of our countryside, especially in and in the vicinity of creek and river bottomlands.

As agronomic pests, the hogs are particularly troublesome to farmers attempting to grow corn or peanuts.

In addition to the obvious problems they cause, they are detrimental to several other wildlife species, as competitors for food supply.

Dr. Keith Causey, a retired wildlife biologist, is co-owner of some property in rural Macon County infested with wild hogs and accessible only by a dirt road. He informs me that during wet weather rooting by the hogs makes the road virtually impassable.

Until a few years ago, it was illegal to bait hogs and kill them.

It was required that hogs must first be caught in traps before they could be killed.

That silly regulation has since been rescinded to allow a permitted licensed hunter or property owner to bait and kill hogs up to two weeks before the beginning of deer hunting and during the period following the end of deer hunting season until two weeks before turkey hunting season begins.

People who kill and dress wild hogs are warned to wear heavy rubber gloves and to wash their hands with soap and hot water afterward to avoid contracting the disease swine brucellosis, a form of undulant fever.

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Sportsmen who enjoy hunting, fishing, or both should read the 2008 report “Season’s End” produced by some of the country’s leading conservation organizations, including Ducks Unlimited, Izaak Walton League, and the Wildlife Management Institute.

The report deals with the potential impacts of global climate change on populations of game animals and fish.

Sportsmen who ignore the warnings in the report are, in my opinion, misled.

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Nearly every young person I encounter hereabouts seems to notice and respect my elderly status. I am especially impressed by the courtesy displayed by Auburn students with whom I have face-to-face contact.

A few, however, lack common courtesy when behind the steering wheels of their automobiles. I refer to those who tend to ignore speed limits and those who neglect to use turn signals. Most of the latter, I suspect, are chatting on cell phones.

Bob Mount is emeritus professor of zoology and entomology at Auburn University and writes a weekly column for the Opelika-Auburn News.