I have a cousin coming down from Iowa in April. He has never been hog hunting. No better way to introduce him than to do it out of a helicopter, plus I have never been helicopter hunting them.

Anyone know of a good guide within 2 hrs of Fort Worth?

Im also intrested in this if its not crazy priced.

I've looked at a few. The average price is about $1,500.00 an hour...some more, some less, but that's a good average to plan on.

If you find a property that will allow helicopter hunting you should be able to rent your own chopper/pilot for $400 an hour or so and dodge the "hunt" markup.

$400.00 an hour for a chopper is really cheap.

Try Doubledrophunts.com/or Doubledrophunts facebook

Hey guys Im a Dual Rated Pilot, heli's and airplane, and thought Id give you all a little insight on how it all works. Me being a pilot that does not own my own heli, will, for the smallest helicopter, cost me almost 300-400hr just to rent it. The problem is finding a heli where I want to hunt hogs. Heli's are not efficient or remarkably fast so if the hunt is in say Uvalde and the nearest heli I can rent is San Antonio well then we have a problem. If I fly and it takes 2hrs well, do the math. BTW we dont call them choppers any more, thats reserved for bikers...lol. Anyway, for guys that do own their own machines the expenses are still quite high. Again if the hunt is more than an hour away from home base they will usually pull the helicopter on a trailer since fuel for a truck and trailer is still cheaper than maintenance and fuel for a heli. The other factor is risk management each time we fly and log hrs on the aircraft before more FAA maintenance is required.(100hr inspections, time limited parts, AD's, and annuals) The small Schweitzer CB300's burn about 12 gallons an hr of 100LL. The point is heli's aint cheap and are not without risk so insurance is another cost. I hope that helps ya'll in understanding why its so expensive, but it will be the best damn fun you ever had!!! I hope this helps. God Bless and great hunting ya'll. AS Bello, Waco, TX

Iv got a good friend that is doing a few of these hunts. I have flown with him a ton working air medical and he's a great pilot. They own and operate a Hughes 500 and I can tell you I know the 400 an hour price won't touch it. Most of the insurance policies won't cover the type of flying that is required to do this. I think if you were just to go rent the chrapest helo on the market, say a R22 or Schweitzer, it'll cost 300+ an hour plus the fuel. Whoever you choose to go with, make sure theyve got a lot of experience. Everything about these are dangerous. You put low altitude, low airspeed together in a helo and couple it with someone that messes up and gets a little down wind, youve got nowhere to go but down in a lot of the little under powered helos. Id be glad to get you hooked up with him. They really don't have a per say place to hunt but if you go out and talk to several farmers, it won't be hard to get permission for hog eradication. Iv got several places I know I could get you in and probably could come up with some extra people to help with cost. It'll be somewhere in the 1k per hour cost and that'll cover the pilot, helo, and a fuel truck. Pm me if interested

Heli Hunter is just south of Dallas, they have nice equipment, great pilots, and thousands of acres to hunt.

I agree with medic. If you get into a turbine aircraft like the MD500 you're gonna have to pay to fly no doubt. Just to reiterate on my post, just renting a Schweitzer "my cost" is 300 hr minimum. I was not saying by any means that would be a ride along's cost as I was responding to the claim in an earlier post in regard to 400hr. It just aint gonna happen. The jet turbine I flew billed out at about 900hr just for a normal flight. Again any flying is not without risk especially when we add low altitude and strategic maneuvers like chasing hogs. There is a lot that can go wrong quickly aerodynamically with heli's when operated outside their design limitations and improper flight practices as well as poorly executed control inputs. Good luck and good hunting!

I want to clarify my earlier post so there is no confusion on what I was trying to say a little more simply. Operating costs to owners of even the smallest helicopters are very expensive. You will be hard pressed to just go out and find a pilot to go rent a heli and fly you around in order to bypass costs. You will most likely have to find an operator that is already doing that kind of stuff and has access to a helicopter. I was simply trying to give you an idea of why it is so expensive. Helicopters are almost always billed out wet so that is your price per hour no additional fuel costs will be added. As far as the under powered helicopters, I do disagree, from my experience having flown and been checked out in at least 12 different aircraft. If the aircraft is flown within its design limitations less power should not be a problem. The Schweitzers have a very safe record when you look at the hours flown to accidents in the FAA and NTSB data bases. As for Robinsons and low inertia rotors, tail strikes and mast bumping along with other things, they simply are not my choice of aircraft to fly or ride in. Experience is always a plus! Fly safe. Capt. AS Bello, BS Aviation Science

That's funny I just flew about 30,000 acres of deer surveys in an R44 for $400 hour. Pilot has 20+ years experience.

Oh yeah ill call it chopper if I want...I guess it's a new deal with the youngsters to call it a helo...lol

We offer the R22 for $1600 for 2 hours.

(We use the same pilot as some of the other outfitters mentioned BUT we aren't nearly as expensive...)

I just talked to my buddy. We can get a deal set up for up north of DfW for 6 guys as 1k each. It'll be in a Hughes 500. Basically the way that they typically do is 6 guys go, 2 shooters in at one time. You'll fly approx 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. Could add guys and reduce price if each wanted to fly less but typically that gives each person a morning and evening hunt. They killed 200 last Saturday down south and the places I have are loaded with pigs. Pm me if you have a group that wants to go and ill get y'all set up

If anyone can get him to fly for 400.00 an hr thats a great price! I wasnt trying to offend just found it hard to believe unless he owns the heli or as you said he's your friend. Thats terrific! I dont see how he'll make money at that rate considering the risks and having to travel all around Texas. Call it what ever you want doesnt matter to me, It was a joke. Fly safe.

It cost us $9,000 an hr to fly our rotary wing and thats not countin fuel. We burn 1500-1700lbs an hr and jetA is runin around $4.60 a gal and it weighs 6.8-7.2lbs per gal. thats an expensive flt just for an hr in the air, not countin run up n shut down. Iv been workn and flyn on these buckets of rivets for 11yrs and u gotta hav a lot of $ to make a lil $ in avn. Heli cptn, where u out of?

Im flying fixed wing right now (C-152, 172 and BE-35,) out of KACT. Im a safety seminar coordinator and mentor for the Air Safety Foundation, but Ive got time in the Hughes269,300, Enstrom 280, Bell 47 & 206B, Allouette II, Robbie 22. What are you flying a UH-60? Thats a lot of fuel burn...lol!

Ah [censored] I just realized I put Waco's identifier. I fly out of KILE duh???, at least thats whats on my airport gate key, but Ive been to ACT and PWG a lot!

I have hunts right now, turn key. $500/hr with 4hr min.

I wish i flew them, i crew on them and its an ICH-47F for the dutch airforce here at hood. Im a student rite now at kile with ctc. Im hoping to get my fixed by jun/jul if weather permits, n plan on transitioning to rotory wing when i can get money built back up. I may make a run overseas again and get my rotory w/ inst in both fixed n rotory, dual eng n complex in fixed.

Thats a good deal.

Keep in mind that chasing hogs through the country at 50'-100' is SKILLED flying and its kind of dangerous. Not every rotary winged pilot is ready for that type of flying.

$400 for a R-44 is really good. I'd love to try that, until then I guess there's you-tube.

I'd love to go hunting from a heli. Even if it seems a bit unsporting.

Well maybe you know Green Beret MSG John Ridout Retired or Ranger SF Colonel Mike Pinson retired, both MEI's and CFII's.

Boeing makes a good heli and the Shithook is a great heli!

Aint no orher helo can beat a shithook, i dont care what them apache pukes lue about. Ridout sounds familiar for some reason. Where does he work now, when did he retire? My last tour in iraq, my unit had a lot of dealings with socom boys. We would take them bean, bullets n mail and i had my wife organize a colection plate and donations to giv to the guys in them fwd outlieing camps. Hell we had a px where i was at n would get a list from them n go buy the stuff for them n bring it to them on our nxt resupply runs.