Texas declares war on hogs gone wild!

DALLAS (Reuters) – October won't be the best month to be a feral hog in the state of Texas.
The state's Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples has declared October "Hog Out Month - Get the Hog Outta Texas!" as part of a campaign to eradicate the pests.
The campaign aims to get Texans to lock and load and hunt down the animals, which cause widespread damage to farmers and other landowners.
"Not only are feral hogs a costly nuisance to agricultural operations and wildlife habitats, but they are increasingly finding their way into urban areas and destroying residents' yards, public parks and golf courses," Staples said in a statement this week when the campaign was unveiled.
"On my ranch in East Texas, I have eliminated a number of hogs and I am asking Texans around the state to step up and join the county challenge to learn about feral hogs and how best to legally hunt and trap them in their area," he added.
Feral hogs are mostly domestic pigs that have gone wild, with some European wild boars that have escaped from exotic game ranches thrown into the mix and bloodlines.
State officials estimate the feral hog population in Texas to be around 2 million and they are estimated to cause around $400 million in damage annually as they eat or root up pastures, crops and even golf courses.
This makes them one of the most costly invasive species in the country.
The campaign may not please some animal rights groups but Texas farmers don't need much prompting to pull the trigger when it comes to feral hogs.
Their numbers are growing because they are prolific breeders with few natural predators and are moving into suburban and urban areas.
They are also regarded as a challenge to hunt or trap because they are wary and intelligent. In author George Orwell's novel "Animal Farm," the pigs ran the show for a reason.
"Get the Hog Outta Texas" month will feature a challenge among Texas counties that will run until October 31. The county that documents the most hogs removed during the month will get a $25,000 grant toward what the Texas Department of Agriculture terms "feral hog abatement technologies."

Still wont help where people have them as a huge problem but either wont let people hunt on their land or charge out the arse for it. If they are that big a problem, just let people hunt them.

sweet!

That will always be the problem the state wants to declare war but 98% of Texas is privately owned

Exactly!! I know a guy in Red River County who owns quite a bit of land and he wont let us or anybody come catch/kill the hogs. The landowners all around him suffer because of it. They want us to come hunt their land but we cant because we dont want our dogs to get on his land, he'll prosecute. We asked him one time if we could hunt the hogs on his land and he said he'd call us and let us know in a day or two one way or the other. Still waitin on that phone call

They would do better rewarding the hunters by county that bring in the most tails

If they really wanted to get rid of the hogs in a hurry, all they would have to do is put a bounty on them!

Have my bowie and willing to travel. If they put a bounty it would be like leading the lambs to slaughter.

This is the problem. People either don't want people on there land or they want to charge for it. I can understand both but letting the problem get larger is not a viable option. If you don't want others to do the killing you should do it. A bounty would be a perfect soloution. I love hunting hogs and don't give a crap about bambi's.



Reggie

As a landowner, nobody but me and friends/family hunt the property. We take out the hogs when they are around as best as possible. It's in our best interest.

If I wasn't a hunter, the same rules would apply. I would like to give hunters the benefit of the doubt, but you never know what kind of liability you could get yourself into. Yeah, you could get them to sign waivers and anything else, but there's always someone who could get injured on the property, and attorneys coming out of the woodwork. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but insurance costs enough as it is.

Perhaps the state could help open up access to some of the land. Obviously there are farmers/ranchers that want the pigs gone. So the TPWD compiles a county by county list of landowners that will allow hunters access. The hunters purchase a special permit from TPWD that grants them access. Part of the purchase of the permit could include some sort of "hold harmless" agreement for protection of landowners and the state.

Sounds like a win/win/win to me. Landowners have fewer hogs, the TPWD makes a little extra money for it's various programs and hunters enjoy more access to private land at an affordable rate.

LandPirate- great post. I wonder if addressing the liability issue would ease many landowner's concerns or if those concerns are just window dressing for the fact that they don't want folks on their property- period. That's their right I guess. I wish I could afford to own 300-400 acres to hunt on...

I like that idea, LandPirate.

I knew of a farmer who plants a large field in corn and one year he posted a sign, "free hog hunting" because the hogs were tearing up his fields and costing him his crop, and then he found that people were driving all over his fields at night and doing more damage than the hogs were. He put an end to it, but then he had to run people off that ignored his signs.

To this day he won't let hunters in!

thats the other part of the problem. There are to many bubba's that dont respect peoples property, thrash it, or worse start stealing things. (not pointing fingers) Dont get me wrong, i would be all over free hog hunting, but there is always that one idiot in a group that ruins it for everyone. One to many, "hey, hold my beer and watch this." moments. I agree with land priate, but that would also need to include a liability clause for the hunter to be held liable for the damage they may cause.

I know of several similar situations around San Marcos. The farmer granted access to a few hunters and before long everyone and his brother and their dog was running all over his fields all night, shooting up the joint. Then one group arguing with other groups over which group actually had the right to be there. Now nobody does.

Like pet coons...if they can't tear it up they'll S*%t on it.

there will be no EVEN ground when it comes to this

Texas declares war on hogs? Bill Kilgore has been commanding the air war against hogs in this video I made mixing the Apocalypse Now 'Death from Above' air cavalry assault on the Vietnamese beach with helicopter hog eradication.
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Apocalypse Hog - Bill Kilgore leads Texas Air Cavalry on Helicopter Hog Eradication Hunt Mission

http://www.youtube.com/user/300YardNoScope
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I also have some video clips from the one man pig assault team, Brian 'Pigman' Quaca from www.pigmantv.com.

Feel the Love.

Oh, man...that was friggin' hilarious!

Exactly..... and then one of them steps in a hole and sues the landowner...

There are more compelling reasons for ladnowners to say no, especially at night, than to say yes.

Bingo!!

Throw a $5 or $10 bounty on each head - then sit back and watch 'em drop!!

The all-mighty dollar gets things done with a quickness!

Bounty on hogs, hell I would stop going to work. Hunting and making a little money, or going to work????? Lets go huntin' boys.

Amen.



It's brilliant and already working well in Kansas in the form of its WIHA (Walk-In Hunting Access) program.

I really like that idea and I think most people would be respectful, but the few that are not always mess up a good thing. I would like to see some accountability of the hunters accessing the land with some kind of registration box at a minimum. As someone that grew on on large tracts of private land and now hunts primarily public land, I would be devastated if someone treated my beloved home the way the public does some of the public lands I hunt. Most places are just backwoods dumps, with an occasional visit from a boyscout troop who picks up what they can. Then there are the idiots that think primitive campgrounds somehow equate to shooting ranges - usually at 3am. I have had more than one highschool kegger pop up as well. People in every manor of vehicle of off-road toy in areas clearly marked as off limits to vehicles. Calling the sheriff, rangers, or GW is all but a waste of time, but if nothing else they have an incident report on file, even if they always show up too late to do any good. There is no way I would deal with this crap on my family land. The state and counties would have to put a bunch more money into game wardens and sheriff departments so that there would be enough staff to respond to land owners with unruly "hunters" on their land. I don't know, I would love to have more land available to hunt, and would love to take out a bigger percentage of the hog population, but I am not sure I want just anyone on my land.

-ww