Population Growth Calculator
Five-Year Population Projection
See how removal pressure can change a feral hog population over time.
Enter the size of your property, then adjust the share of the estimated hog population removed each year. The tool illustrates how the population could change over five years using published Texas research.
Your Property
Estimated starting population
≈ 2hogs on 50 acres
Based on the regional population-density estimate used by this model. This is not a survey of your actual land.
Where the density estimate comes from
Texas A&M AgriLife’s broader statewide estimate ranges 39–72 acres per hog. This calculator uses the higher-density figure specific to pineywoods/coastal prairie habitat, the ecoregion this area sits in (1 hog per 26 acres).
Hogs Removed Each Year
29%Estimated Texas rate
What does 29% removed actually mean?
If 10 hogs are using an area and about 3 are removed during the year, that’s roughly a 30% annual removal rate.
Published Texas research estimated that about 66% annual removal was required over the long term just to hold the statewide population stable — while the estimated statewide harvest was about 29%.
Explore the 66% Problem →What Could Happen Over 5 Years?
Starting estimate
2 hogs
Removed each year
29%
5-year modeled estimate
4 hogs
At 29% removal, the model still indicates population growth: about 4 hogs after 5 years, or roughly 2.0× the starting estimate.
Population Over Time
The chart shows how the modeled population changes each year under the removal rate you selected.
Optional comparison lines
The 66% Problem
- Research-based annual removal benchmark
- 66%
- Estimated Texas annual removal rate
- ~29%
The gap helps explain why feral hog populations are so difficult to control.
This is an illustration, not a property survey
The calculator combines published population-density research with an interpolation of the statewide Timmons et al. population/harvest model. Actual local numbers vary with habitat, food, water, hog movement, reproduction, control activity, and other conditions.
The source model was designed for broad, state-level assessment. Scaling it to a single property is illustrative — not a prediction for any specific property. The slider stops at 66% because that is the highest removal rate the published model reports; higher values would be extrapolation.
This output is not a removal recommendation, management plan, legal advice, or safety guidance.
Sources
- Timmons, Higginbotham, Lopez et al. 2012. “Feral Hog Population Growth, Density and Harvest in Texas.” Texas A&M AgriLife Extension / Natural Resources Institute, SP-472. Modeled statewide scenarios used here: 0% annual harvest → 28% annual growth (3.33× over five years); 15% → 22% (2.51×); 28% → 16% (2.02×); 41% → 12% (1.63×); 66% → 0% (stable). The publication also estimated statewide harvest in 2010 at about 29%. Values between those scenarios are piecewise-linear interpolations.
- Ilse & Hellgren 1995, Journal of Mammalogy 76:784–789 (9.5 individuals/km² in pineywoods and coastal prairie habitat), as cited in Adkins & Harveson 2007, Human–Wildlife Conflicts 1(2):152–160.