One should not make universal statements about the breeding properties of wild hogs. In SW and SC OK wild sows very seldom have more than one litter of pigs per year; even in years when there is a bumper acorn and pecan crop. i routinely trap and kill sows that are 2-3 years old that have never had a litter.
In the past two weeks a friend and i have trapped and killed 47 wild hogs, including 26 sows. Two sows had litters and five were pregnant with a total of 27 pigs.
i'm not a fish and game biologist: i have spent many thousands of hours trapping, hunting and observing wild hogs and have developed the ability to quickly identify individual wild hogs.
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What REALLY caused this? I mean how did we get these massive herds of wild pigs?
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The expansion of the hog population here in OK may be typical of other states as well. About 20 years ago it became popular to release hogs into the wild. At about the same time there was a proliferation of hog hunting "ranches". The sale of trapped hogs to hunting "ranches" is a booming business in parts of OK. People buy hogs at livestock sales and turn them loose. At our properties in SC OK i often kill hogs that look like dirty show pigs.
There was an infusion of Eurasian boar blood into the feral hog population in parts of OK. This resulted in a meaner and more hardy hog better suited for survival in cold weather.
Control of the wild hog population in OK has been frustrated by the OWDC. The ability to hunt hogs in the WMAs are greatly limited by the OWDC. Never mind, they hire helicopters at great expense to reduce the hog populations in those same WMAs. No crops or livestock are raised on my hunting properties. That means i don't qualify for a permit to kill live hogs at night using a light.
Any lactating sow will allow any pig in the sounder to nurse. i've seen individual sows running with pigs of various ages.