Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Texas Losing the War Against Feral Hogs

Just because the current route isn't working doesn't mean a different approach can't.

What would you suggest?

Please inform all of us people that don't know anything about the best procedure for permanent feral hog removal.

We do have a pest problem. It's called liberalism. As long as there is a place for hogs to be safe and multiply the rest of us have to contend with them.

It's illegal to hunt feral hogs in Nebraska, if you shoot one you have to leave lay.

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If Texas called them liberal or congress hunts, rather than pig hunts, they'd likely be able to double their prices.

Noah Smithwick stated in the 1830's. The two things alligators liked to eat were Negros and hogs. Not particularly in that order.

The only thing that flourished in La Salle's former colony at Garcitas Creek (1685-87) were the hogs they brough from France. Governor Deleon said they were everywhere along the creek. Bet they were Red Wattles!

You very well might be right that hunting can't control the population,you certainly know way more about it then I. I just don't see how people can restrict the hunting and in the same breath say hunting doesn't work. Hell people say the same things about wolves until hounds men were given a chance here. They killed them no problem.

I don't want to be the guy telling people from a different part of the country how it is or should be. The landowner mindset down there is way different and that's the barrier of understanding why you guys believe the way you do. Most Texans seemed to be happy with it,so clearly it works.

I see photos of RevMike with dead Florida hogs lying under a 7x57.

Surely he's making a difference...

DF

It's not only Texas. It's anywhere feral hogs are located. They breed and spread and multiply.

When I was a Wildlife Specialist, I wrote a feral hog control program that was adopted by the Natl. Forest Service and implemented into use.

Even with all plans of attack laid out and adhered to, the best anyone can hope for is to hold them at bay. And THAT'S very, very unrealistic in itself.

Feral hogs CAN be eliminated from an area or state (it's been done). However, the problem has to be identified FAST, it has to be contained as quickly as possible, and the means of eradication have to be brought to bear ASAP and kept up until eradication is completed.

It's just like any other infestation problem; if you don't get on it in the infancy and you let it get out of control, then you're screwed.

One can expand that concept to roaches, or illegals, or radical muslims, or any number of other problems - the solution is always the same, and it's always to fix it EARLY. Once it reaches a certain point, you've got Hell to pay.

I've got friends that have wanted me to go hog hunting with them down in Texas. I told them that as long as it costs me anything I'm not going. I'm not paying to do a favor for someone else. He found a ranch that we could hunt for free but the hunting license cost money so I told him no thanks. I'll continue to go north or stay home and hunt

Watching the game warden shows and seeing those California pigs writing tickets for improperly tagging your hog had me lol. No f'ing way I'm paying anything to shoot feral hogs!! They want to charge? They can GF themselves.

They can within certain areas.

Using methods such as trapping the entire sounder, or snaring in certain areas geared to that success.

Even helicopter hunting can get most of them in a particular area.

Problem is, as Pat stated, the areas around there have hogs, and soon the area is overrun again.

With each female birthing up to 24 offspring a year, starting at 9 months of age, the numbers are on their side.

I went South of San Antonio with friends and shot hogs a few years ago. The rancher put us up, cooked for us. We could not have found a better host.

This year. I looked at going on a hog hunt. The price started at $3,000. Then there was food, housing etc.

I say **** you ***holes. You can have your ****ing hogs. Don't whine to me about it.

"I swear, I thought that bull was a hog."

I could let 20 people a day hunt my place for hogs. I'm pretty sure that all I would get out of it are rutted up roads, litter, a shot up piece of equipment or two, fewer deer, and very wise spooky and nocturnal hogs.

The only kind of hunting that will make a dent is relentless hunting with dogs and traps. Letting a few yahoos out on your place to "hunt" hogs ain't worth the trouble.

Everyone keeps saying "Don't whine to me about it."

Show me where "they" have whined to you.

Elkhunter is spot on. As someone with a stake in land, I can also say there are other factors at play. If I manage my land of cattle, I don't want to hear any bitching about where the cattle are if you are hunting for free. I'm not going to change the way my cattle/ pastyres are managed to often to upset what I am doing. Cattle is the main business so they come first.

Also, my experience with letting people hunt for free with permission is they invite people to hunt that don't have permission. They have left gates open, cows got out on the road. If a car hits one, it's not his backside in a sling, it's the rancher's. I've seen people on the property that "heard" it was a great hunting place and they wanted in on it. I've seen locks cut, fences cut, trash left behind, etc... Some people have been burned enough that they only want people to pay, so they can lay down some rules. Others like to hunt too and letting too many people in cuts out their hunting.

Landowners own the land, they get to make the rules on who hunts it.

That is exactly the attitude to earn the special discount, three times half the asking price... just saying

Poison(sodium nitrite) is the most cost effective solution.

It's interesting (at least to me) that in contrast to the feral hog explosion, the true wild European boars introduced in West Virginia early in the 20th century are slowly disappearing. The state continues to allow hunting, but has pretty much given up on maintaining the population as a viable hunting resource. They inhabit some of the roughest terrain in the state and from all accounts are very difficult to hunt. You would think that if feral hogs can seemingly prosper to the point of becoming a pestilence, right under our noses, true bad-ass wild boars would at least hold their own under truly wild conditions. Apparently not.

The state suggests that habitat loss from mining and depredation by the growing bear and coyotes populations is a big factor. Poaching hasn't been mentioned, and given the terrain, I can see why.

Meanwhile, the threat of feral hogs invading from North Carolina, via Virginia seems to be very real. Go figure.