What do wild hogs eat?
Feral hogs and wild boar eat almost anything — mostly plants, roots and acorns, plus crops, insects, eggs, small animals, fawns and carrion — and what they eat changes with the season.
Wild hogs eat almost anything they can find. Texas A&M calls feral hogs "opportunistic omnivores" — most of their diet is plants (green growth, roots, tubers, acorns and fruit), and they add insects, eggs, small animals, carrion and farm crops whenever they can (Texas A&M AgriLife). The same is true of Eurasian wild boar and hybrids: they are all one species.
We buy live-trapped hogs in Central Texas, and what they eat shapes everything from where you set a trap to how much damage a sounder does in one night.
A plant-heavy diet, with meat when they can get it
Hogs need high-energy, high-protein food, so they follow whatever is richest at the moment. They prefer tender green vegetation over tough forage because they do not digest cellulose well. USDA APHIS sums it up the same way: the feral swine diet "consists largely of vegetation," which puts hogs in direct competition with deer and turkey (USDA APHIS).
What wild hogs eat by season
This is Texas A&M's summary for Texas hogs (Texas A&M AgriLife):
| Season | Main foods |
|---|---|
| Spring | Grasses, forbs (weeds and wildflowers), roots and tubers |
| Summer and fall | Soft and hard mast: prickly pear, mesquite beans, guajillo, huisache, grapes, plums, persimmons and acorns |
| Fall | Rhizomes, bulbs and tubers become important |
| Winter | Grasses, forbs and grain — corn, milo, wheat, oats, rice and soybeans |
| Year-round | Insects (especially beetles), grubs, carrion, eggs and any small animal they can catch |
Hogs also travel to find food. Texas A&M notes that boars may roam as far as 15 miles for food or water, and that fall and winter home ranges are bigger than spring and summer ones because food is scarcer.
Rooting: how hogs find food underground
A hog's snout is flat and backed by a plate of cartilage, which lets it dig through almost any soil. Hogs root for grubs, worms, roots, bulbs and tubers, and they will work an area until the food runs out. Rooted ground can cover several acres and, in soft soil, go as deep as 3 feet (Texas A&M AgriLife).
Do wild boar eat meat?
Yes. Feral hogs eat animal matter whenever it is easy to get. Texas A&M lists arthropods (especially beetles), amphibians, reptiles, eggs, birds, small mammals, carrion, and the young of wild animals and livestock. Large hogs may even eat piglets (Texas A&M AgriLife).
Fawns, lambs and kids
When the chance comes, hogs prey on kid goats, lambs, calves and fawns, and they are drawn to birthing grounds where they feed on afterbirth. Some individual hogs become efficient predators. Because a hog often eats the entire animal, this kind of loss is easy to miss (Texas A&M AgriLife). USDA APHIS lists fawns as one of the ways feral swine harm deer (USDA APHIS).
Ground-nesting birds and eggs
Turkey, quail, woodcock and grouse all nest on the ground, which leaves their eggs and chicks exposed. USDA APHIS says feral swine prey on "the nests, eggs, and young of ground-nesting birds" and also root up the cover those birds need (USDA APHIS).
Turtle eggs, snakes and other reptiles
On some Atlantic coast islands, hogs dig up sea turtle nests. USDA researchers documented nearly total loss of loggerhead nests to feral swine on North Island, South Carolina, in 2010 and 2011 (Engeman et al., 2019). Reptiles in general, snakes included, are on Texas A&M's list of foods, but they are an occasional meal, not a staple.
Crops wild hogs raid
Farm crops are high-energy food in one place, so a sounder that finds a field comes back. Texas A&M lists sorghum, rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, potatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, pecans and peanuts among the crops hogs damage, plus pumpkins and orchard fruit. They eat seed, seedlings and mature crops, and their rooting and trampling ruins more than they eat. Shelled corn spread for deer is a magnet, and it can become a large part of a local hog's diet (Texas A&M AgriLife).
They also eat and spoil feed meant for livestock and wildlife, wreck feeders and food plots, and muddy ponds and stock tanks with their wallows. Texas A&M's Natural Resources Institute estimates feral hogs cause about $800 million in damage in Texas every year (Texas A&M NRI).
Competing with deer, turkey and squirrels
Acorns and other mast are a big part of the fall diet for deer, turkey and squirrels, and hogs eat the same foods. USDA APHIS says feral swine compete with deer for acorns and beech nuts and push deer off good feeding areas. Because hogs eat more and digest faster than turkeys, they easily outcompete them for acorns. They have even been known to raid squirrels' buried food caches and to hunt small mammals such as ground squirrels (USDA APHIS). On a hunting property, a sounder at the deer feeder means less feed for the deer.
Water, wallows and where hogs feed
Water and mud shape where hogs eat. In warm weather they wallow in moist spots to cool off and coat themselves against insects and sun, and they prefer moist bottomland along creeks, rivers and ponds. They usually rest in dense, shady cover by day and move out at night to feed and drink (Texas A&M AgriLife). That pattern is why the best feeding sign is often found between thick cover and water.
Reading the signs
Fresh rooting tells you hogs are digging for roots, grubs and tubers. Texas A&M adds that hog scat, which looks a lot like dog droppings, can show what the hogs have been eating — useful when you are deciding how to control them.
How diet affects the meat
A free-living hog eats a changing mix of roots, grasses, mast and the occasional crop, and works hard to get it. The result is lean, firm, darker meat with more flavor than farm pork. Fat is where diet shows most, and wild hogs carry little of it.
Diet is not the whole story. For meat sold to the public, the hog has to arrive alive and pass inspection before and after slaughter, and clean handling matters as much as what the animal ate. Read how we source and process our hogs, and can you eat wild boar for safety and cooking — always to at least 160°F (71°C).
What this means for landowners
The same habits that make hogs so adaptable make them expensive neighbors:
- They follow food. A planted field, a deer feeder or an acorn drop can pull a sounder onto your land overnight.
- They come back. Hogs revisit good feeding spots, which is exactly what makes them trappable.
- They breed fast on good food. Texas A&M notes that with plenty to eat, sows can breed as young as 6 months, and a population can double in 4 months (Texas A&M AgriLife).
If hogs are tearing up your place in Central Texas, our landowner signup connects you with hunters and trappers who sell their hogs to our plant.
Using their diet to trap them
A hog's appetite is the trapper's best tool. Texas A&M's corral trap guide recommends pre-baiting with the trap door open until the whole sounder is feeding inside, keeping most of the bait inside the trap, alternating baits if needed, and souring corn in water to avoid attracting deer (Texas A&M AgriLife, L-5524). Use only as much bait as the hogs clean up each day so they keep coming back (Texas A&M AgriLife). Our guide to trapping feral hogs walks through the whole process.
Sources
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension — Feral Hogs in Texas (B-6149, PDF)
- USDA APHIS — Feral swine: impacts on game species (PDF)
- Engeman et al. (2019), Acta Oecologica — feral swine and sea turtle nests
- Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute — wild pigs
- Texas A&M AgriLife — Corral Traps for Feral Hogs (L-5524, PDF)
- Texas A&M AgriLife — feral hog trapping
Do wild boar eat meat?
Yes. Feral hogs are omnivores. Most of what they eat is plants, but Texas A&M lists insects, amphibians, reptiles, eggs, birds, small mammals, carrion and the young of wild animals and livestock in their diet.
Do feral hogs eat deer fawns?
Yes, when they get the chance. USDA APHIS says feral swine prey on fawns and on the nests, eggs and young of ground-nesting birds such as turkey and quail.
Do wild hogs eat snakes?
Reptiles are part of a feral hog's diet according to Texas A&M, so a hog will eat a snake it can catch or find dead. Snakes are an occasional item, not a staple.
What is the best bait for a hog trap?
Whole or soured corn is the standard bait in Texas. Texas A&M notes that souring corn in water helps avoid attracting deer. Pre-bait with the trap open until the whole sounder is feeding inside.