I guess it all depends on how the questions is phrased in the survey. I don't know. I haven't received one since hogs were added.

If the question asks how many pigs did you kill while hunting and not including trapping or hog dogging. Then my answer would go way down. It all depends on the wording of the question.

I don't know about total population, but our kill rates increase each year from 20-30%. Based on the records that I keep, hogs tend to expand about a mile per year. This is based on acreage with river frontage and has pretty much been spot on. There is one exception, there is a piece of property that I hunt that is about 600 acres. It has big swamps, a creek from the river and multiple ponds on it. We have yet to see a pig track or any sign at all on the place. I have killed hogs on all three sides of this piece of property. The only theory we have been able to come up with is that the land owner keeps the property clean, as in there are no thickets, no palmettos, Buckbrush or pines. It's just old growth hardwoods where you can see a couple hundred yards in winter. When I say he keeps it clean, he will stop the tractor just to go cut a piece of river cane or a sweetgum that the bush hog will not reach.

Barry, point-blank......you are basing your estimates on the properties that you work.
But, you are forgetting about all the land you drive through in search of productive properties. Hogs are NOT evenly distributed about the landscape like deer. If they were, you would not be driving down here near my home to 'work' when you live 2 hrs away.
If your estimate is near 1 million on hogs......how many deer do you estimate the state to have?

Are you sure they added it to the hunter survey?? I don't see any hog questions on the January 2016 Survey. I've wondered about hog populations in Alabama. Some areas are over run, but other areas don't seem to have any.

Danny you do make me laugh. Of course I didn't estimate the entire state the same.
Here is one of the approaches. Like anyone else, it is just a SWAG. You can argue that 100 per square mile is too high, but you could also argue that more than 5% of the state has a high population. I would guess that about 5-10 percent of the state has a high population. So, this is just a SWAG. But, that is all anyone else has.

50,750 Square miles in Alabama - Land
5% High population percentage per square mile
10% Medium population percentage per square mile
85% Low population percentage per square mile
100 Estimated pigs per square mile High
50 Estimated pigs per square mile Medium
5 Estimated pigs per square mile Low
723,188 Estimated population within Alabama

Wouldn't have a clue on the deer.

I think that those estimates are extremely high!

Nearly 50% of the State has NO (zero) hogs.

I guess others disagree. It is well reported that there are hogs in every county in Alabama.

Danny, why don't you simply list which counties don't have hogs and lets let the ALDEER gang verify or not.

http://swine.vet.uga.edu/nfsms/information/map2015.htm

Based on this map, we have hogs state wide now.

My gut reaction to the harvest stat of 110,000 hogs being taken by hunters would be that harvest number is grossly over estimated. I have a substantial background in statistics and just from a basic line of reason that number seems high????

110,000 hogs would equate to about 1 hog being killed to very 5 deer being killed in the state of Alabama. Just from the basic conversations with hunters that I know maybe 1 hog taken for 15 to 20 deer taken seems more plausible???

I guess it all depends on where you are hunting. Some properties have a lot more hogs than others.

For example, in our club we have killed about 24 deer in the past 1 1/2 seasons and about 225 hogs, about 45 coyotes, and no telling how many coons. We have had probably 10+ occurrences where one of us killed 2 or more hogs in a hunt.

And don't forget, you can hunt hogs year round.

You are talking square miles.....not counties.
There may well be at least 1 hog in every county in AL.

But, you can well believe that people would never pay $600/night to hunt them if they could walk out there back door, go to their hunting club, or just ride down to their local WMA and shoot one!

That's a fact, Jack!

I know dang well I would not drive near as much, and far, as I do to hunt them. And, neither would you!

I would wager that there is close to a 50:50 split on this very forum of folks who have ever even actually SEEN a wild hog in the woods of AL.

Wanna take a poll?

Danny,

Very few of my hunting clients are from Alabama.

Walk out my back door!! and hunt hogs! I almost wet my pants on that one Danny! Are you talking about me! LOL

I have not seen you looking for any Hog Outfitters lately there, Jayhook! :

Barry, just out of curiosity.....how many clients do you bring to the State and them buy non-resident big game hunting licenses?

Had 1 so far this year.

Dadgum.......if most are NOT from AL.....I guess that is the only client you have had????

I answered your question as asked. LOL

The truth is you don't have to have a big game license to hunt hogs in Alabama. You can buy a small game license. You have to have a big game license if you are going to hunt deer or turkeys.

I have had 65 out of 90 hunters purchase a Non Residents small game license so far. The others were residents. A few of the residents had to purchase licenses as well. They normally don't hunt.

Yep, you are right!
They are a Big, small-game, fur-bearer that is getting as many Rules and Laws of late as the dang deer and turkeys.

SMH......