Hi Lesley
It isn’t really an exact science. There are many variables. It depends to some extent when they went into hibernation, where you are in the country etc. The males tend to hibernate earlier than the females and come out of hibernation earlier. Some in March, which is not long now. The females tend to hibernate later (they are often delayed by hoglet rearing duties) and it can be as much as two months later that they return.
But we don’t really know how climate change might effect all this. Already quite a few hogs are deciding not to hibernate at all. Although it’s possible these are mostly first year hogs – more research is needed to find out how many, whether mostly youngsters, etc.
So, start preparing – hogs could return soon.
