In the 1960's-70's, it was rare to find a wild hog, though a few were still around. Whitetail deer were not very common either. Then deer population skyrocketed,. But most "deer hunters" today come from a different background. They hunt mostly for sport and are not driven to kill everything in the woods. Unfortunately, most don't really know how to anymore. This is good for the deer, but great for the feral hogs, which reproduced exponentially.
Free range pigs were so common all across the Frontier way back to the Seventeenth Century at least that our first major Indian War, King Philip's War in New England, was sparked in part by the sale and ownership of them, Indian hog products apparently underselling settlers in the Boston markets.
Relevant to Texas, in the 1830's there are accounts of a squatter underclass of Whites along the Sabine subsisting largely on feral hogs, in some places these hogs so bold and numerous that making camp along the trail was difficult. Certainly, much more than venison, pork and lard along with cornmeal had long been the staples of early settlement and even Frontier diet. More of 'em and easier to kill.
Birdwatcher
