Been seeing a whole lot more pigs feeding by the highway. On i 20 from lindale all the way up through hutchins and i45, they get out there by the highway and root around. Amazing i dont see more roadkill pigs. Mostly just deer and raccoons, armadillos, etc.

I feel like pigs are alot smarter than the deer.

Well they say pigs are smart enough to get bored and that's why they just eat all the time, idk how true that is but I wouldnt be surprised

Intelligence in animals is extremely varied and dependent on the criteria being assessed. In some ways, hogs may be smarter than deer. In other ways, maybe not. Using the roadway example, rats and mice tend to be smarter than deer and hogs, along with most other animals. However, explaining away the lack of roadkill based on intelligence may be more of a misapplication of perception. Turns out that while hogs will cross roads, they are often much more hesitant to do so than animals such as deer, regardless of traffic. I have witnessed this twice with calling hogs that stopped on the opposite side of the road, middle of the night, no traffic.

You won't find a lot of roadkilled rats and mice for a variety of reasons. For one, they are harder to hit, but for another, they are less apt to cross. According to genetic and tagging studies of a few species of rats and mice, roadways can largely isolate populations from one another. There is no indication that this has anything to do with traffic and comprehension of vehicle movement, but more with avoidance of open space with a lack of cover.

People are pretty darned stupid when it comes to traffic as well. We get it grilled into us for years to look both ways before crossing, crossing with a light, crossing at corners, etc., and despite the education, people get hit and often killed while crossing roads. Heck, people get hit a train crossings, LOL. And we think we are so intelligent...

Interesting info DNS.

Thinking about it... I've only ever seen hogs sprint across roads.

Deer, on the other hand, seem to take their sweet time crossing roads. There is an area on my property where I can see them coming down from a hilly area. The deer will come down, jump the fence, slowly cross the public road, jump the fence onto my property, and then sprint across the open field eventually slowing down as they get closer to areas with more cover. This happens mostly during the morning/daytime. During the evening they head back up to the hilly area but do so much slower.

Also, another observation... possibly related... is hogs in my area seem to rush from one feeding area to another. Rarely see them walking. Most of the time they come rushing into the feeder/food plot areas - eat - and then rush to the next spot. Seems they know exactly where the food is and the shortest route to get to the food. Several times on the game cam I've seen a sounder at one feeder show up at another within 5 minutes or so of being done eating at the first. Can't say I've ever seen deer on the game cams bounce around the feeders as fast.

I appreciate the lesson. If nothing else, it should tell you how fast the pigs are booming. Some areas i used to just see deer at night have hogs instead.