according to a san antonio news station their running loose in south tx.



http://www.foxsanantonio.com/news/f...ted-south-texas-13541.shtml#.VXwoV0YbXIU

SAN ANTONIO - It was a myth until September last year. Texas Parks and Wildlife officials weren’t looking for what they were about to find.

"So they were doing a deer survey, and as they were flying, they came across that, and got low enough to take a picture of him...this is the first documented citing," says David Veale, from TPWD.

Two hundred and fifty pounds of African Warthog spotted in La Salle County. You can see their signature five inch tusks growing from their mouth, muscular frame, with only a little hair.

"Just like Lion King, you know, that's what they looks like,” Veale says.

Since then at least five have been spotted together in the wild, living problem free. David Veale thinks this is just the beginning. "At least one person has seen a baby, so we are getting into some natural reproduction," he says.

Pretty much all of south Texas is an ideal habitat for these warthogs, now they're mostly grazers, so they need grass to eat, and trees during the day for cover. One of the big concerns of the introduction of these African warthogs is the spread of swine related diseases.

“Because we have such a wide variety of exotic wildlife species in Texas, you just never know what you're going to come across in the brush,” Veale says

Despite Pumbaa's friendly outlook, in the Lion King real warthogs can be nasty when they need to. "They can be kind of territorial; these guys can fend off lions in the wild. Definitely not something a human wants to take on," says Jessica Adam, a zoo keeper at the San Antonio Zoo.

They can be bagged in a hunt, if you're lucky enough to find one of the few. "No hunters were successful this year. A couple saw them, I think one took a shot but was not able to connect," Veale says.

It's those hunters, who will be the only enforcer of the circle of life for these hogs. Their natural predators were left in Africa.

As much as I like the idea of going after one of those I gotta wonder how big a PIA they will be for Texas.

Texas is screwed. Might have one as governor one if these days.

She lost in the last election.

had a buddy, that was sitting in his blind on a lease near larado back in 08, when an eland came walking out. he killed it with a 270.

Just sent link to young son and he said that he heard someone had shot one (warthog) last month somewhere down there.

"first documented citing"...I kinda thought it might be a sighting....but carry on...


" Two hundred and fifty pounds of African Warthog"....Gee...they grow EVERYTHING bigger in Texas.


Too bad that don't have fact checkers and proof readers before they print this schitt.....

I know a man in S. Texas that imported warthog and released them on his ranch.
They ARE there, I've seen them with my own eyes.

siting was by Texas parks and wildlife.

sweet!

Do they interbreed with the hogs already htere?

Jim

What's an average adult African Wart Hog weigh, Tom?

Ed

Dood, they're just citing the sighting! C'mon, broaden your grammatical horizons...




Facts, schmacts. Everything IS bigger in Texas. For example, my waist size grew 6 inches since I moved here.

See, I told you about those freaking yankees. They often act like yankies.

Let me know when the free range sable start showing up, I'll book a flight.

Now that would be nice.

No, they have a different number of chromosomes.

Warthog
In accordance with WALLACE and FAIRALL (1967)
and BOSMA (1978) there is a total number of 34
chromosomes, including the sex chromosomes, a
relatively large metacentric X and a small metacentric
Y.

The diploid number of chromosomes in both domestic and feral swine is 38 (Barrett 1971, Bosma et al. 1991, Mayer and Brisbin 1991). Wild boar/feral hog hybrids can have 36, 37 or 38 chromosomes (Mayer and Brisbin 1991).



I hunted on the ranch next to where they were released. Originally they thought they only had the one in the picture but last time I heard they have five. I also heard one person got a shot at one but missed.

These things might be more of a challenge for bow hunters. They love to shot regular hogs and javelinas already. Hasbeen

Warthogs in Texas have something warthogs in Africa likely don't have, 5 tons of shelled corn every 1/4 section....

Hillary is in Texas?

Maybe that'll improve the taste.

Maybe they wrote it a ticket.

If a Game Warden was doing the sighting, there was probably also some citing involved.

A LOT closer to 100 pounds....and thats a good one.

I know the Mecom Ranch had some in an "escape proof" enclosure back in the 1970s. Never heard what became of the ranch and all the critters after John Sr. passed away...

I am lucky I did not have the coffee up to my mouth.

Thanks for that one.

The warthogs will be entertainment for the rhinos they're planning to release...

A PH I was hunting with some years back mentioned once that if warthogs ever got loose in Texas they'd never get rid of them. We'll find out in about ten years if he was correct.

It's FOX news...

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/warthog/

http://www.outtoafrica.nl/animals/engwarthog.html

I would LOVE to see a 250 pounder!


This is the biggest Ive ever seen...he was 83 kilos ( 182 pounds)

I guarantee Roger / STXHunter would hunt one with a Bowie Knife! And my money would be on Roger!

Now, I know you weigh more than 183 lbs. Quit lying.




Okay, my bad you were talking about the warthog.

No doubt!

Ol' GW don't cut much slack.

I'm betting you didn't use the .223AI on that one.

Ed

which one is you?

They'll overrun the entire state. In South Africa warthogs cannot be contained by game fences. They simply burrow under them.

If they over run the state then landowners will be begging hunters to come control them. Free hunting is good, they do dig those big holes tho.....

As if we don't have enough trouble with feral hogs, now we got these bastids to deal with!!!

About 15 years ago I had to wait for a cape buffalo to get out of the road in the hill country. Too bad I wasn't packing a serious rifle that day.

You oor the warthog? just kidding sir!

actually according to a pretty reliable zoological reference book i have on the shelf lists 330 pounds as the high end.....granted while i dont have the cited reference im inclined to believe thats an overfed zoo animal on the fat end.....

Cape or Water buffalo?

I agree with ingwe, as far as weight on a warthog. I looked over a lot of them in RSA, back in 2008, before shooting this ole boy. He might have weighed a short 150 lbs.





maddog

I think S. Texas harbors just about everything.

Flooding and washed out water gaps have allowed all sorts of exotics to roam free for years. If a ranch had warthogs on it, then they probably aren't within the boundaries of the ranch any longer.

Even heard stories of monkeys and big cats being spotted in S. Texas.

Would like to hear more about that..was it behind a fence or free ranging? Is there a huntable population there?

Yea, I looked over quite a few wartys in Namib, and now, while looking at his skull and tusks, one could easily suspect the one I took weighed a lot more than he did--maybe ~ 100 lbs or so. I really have no idea.

Relative to most critters they have a disproportionately large noggin'.

I started to say it's illegal to hunt them, but it appears they are not on the list:



I don't think there are more than a handful of cape buffs in Texas.

Of course, if the warthogs get to be a problem, they could import African Lions to deal with them. Which should also fix illegal immigrants walking across the river

Thanks for that..

Running into a Cape Buff while deer hunting might be "interesting" although I believe certain areas down there have feral Spanish Fighting Bulls? If so, I could imagine those being even more aggressive in such circumstances...

These guys are on my deer lease:





They are called Corrientes, and are smart, and athletic - good jumpers. The calves are commonly wanted for roping contests. If they are near a gate, when they see you drive up they'll make a bee line for the gate, and force you to reconsider your plans.

I was rather startled the first time I saw them, but they are docile as near as I can tell. I've walked among them, and fed them a time or two. The ranch hand told me he was once pouring feed from a 50# bag, making a line, when suddenly he just wasn't holding the bag any longer. He turned and the bull had quietly walked behind him, and nimbly hooked the bag with a horn, and yanked it out of his arms, without touching him.

Nope had to go big or go home on that one! He got it with a .22-250!

I have not heard of any Cape Buffalo in Texas...but then theres a lot I haven't heard of, and after having an ostrich down there try to kick our ass, I don't think theres anything about Texas that would surprise me.

There's only one ranch that I know of offering cape buff. The 777 and I think that a recent offering. They are more than a bit proud of them. Lots of water buff around though.

I have never really understood what Texas plans to do with all these fugging things 50 years from now.

But hey, it's Texas.




Travis

Good thing you had that firepower available to you!

Ed

They give folks something big to hunt between deer seasons.

Ed

Yep. I was just there chasing Axis deer....between deer seasons.

They'll make good fodder for the T-Rex once A&M finishes sortin' out the cloning... Better start applying for tags now.

I can hear it now.

"These dagg-gum T-Rexes ate my whole herd!"

"Want me to shoot them?"

"Well... the guys from Houston that lease this really like to have 'em around...."




Dave

lmao lot of truth in that.

Or, they will call the local TV station to come do a story on all the damage they do and whine, cry, and wring their hands about how difficult they are to get rid of.
When the local hunters call up and offer to help thin the herd, they want $400.00/day per hunter or will just flat tell you no, you can't hunt on their place.
I've seen this very thing play out twice in the last year here.

Ed

Ed;
Top of the morning to you sir, hopefully this finds you and yours well.

So I'm just hoping that you don't mean they've got the T Rex thing figured out quite yet - this IS another animal that you're referring to?

Every time I've toured the big dinosaur museum in Drumheller, AB I come away thinking how much fun it would be shooting an overgrown lizard......

The family war chest just isn't full enough to have me fly down to Texas to hunt them yet Ed!

Anyway I just wanted to say hi and send greetings to you sir. It's about that time that we've got to slither down the road for Sunday services too I see - so I'll wish you folks all the best and sign off.

Dwayne

PS;
Happy warthog hunting to all my Texas 'Fire friends.

Good morning to you as well, Dwayne!

No, not referring to T-Rex, but good, old fashioned Sus Scrofa.

There are some of the TV "hunters" that would have you believe that you are after T-Rex when hunting feral pigs, but it just in't true.

I, too would like to try my hand at T-Rex. I'll have to study the anatomy a bit to figure out a DRT shot, as I really don't want to go into the brush after one.

Ed

really liked that museum in Drumheller.....stopped there on one of the trips to Calgary

"Shoot 'em, hell I'm still tryin' to sort out the feeder. Spinner still has me baffled. Oh, and them boys asked if we could make the blinds a tad bit taller..."

With all of this talk about the vast array of animals in Texas, my wife just sent me a Facebook picture of my grandson from Austin playing with a baby kangaroo on a ranch belonging to a friend of my oldest son somewhere in the Hill Country. The kangaroo even has a diaper on, so it’s obviously a baby kangaroo, but I have no idea concerning the current weight or what its ultimate weight might become.

Ed, It would be more running into the brush with one closely following... methinks that a brain shot would be a difficult thing to try on any toothy-saurus, specially on the run

Lots of Wallabies around the Camp Wood area.

Still wish I coulda photographed their kudu

Pablo, I will let you do the running, I'll do the shooting. The estimated top speed of an adult T Rex is ~ 45mph.
IIRC, the brain in one of those things is long(relatively speaking), narrow. and high and back in the skull.

On second thought, you are a better wing shooter than I am. We'll let the young guys run.

Ed

Hunter killed one on public land this week.
156lbs field dressed.

Hasn't happened yet. Oh, the land-owners will cry about the "invasive hogs" but when it comes time to hunt them:

"Enjoy Texas Hospitality On Your Next Warthog Hunt! First-class amenities (barn) and fine dining (PBJ sandwiches on stale bread) await your hunting group in the exciting pursuit of Wild Texas Warthogs!! Book your hunting party now, slots are limited..."

I want one of those San Mateo Bulls!

Damm I thought they put some A-10s to work down there.

Second warthog killed this week by youth hunter.

Thats cool.

In West Texas a Cape Buffalo is a definite possiblity!

Have you ever taken a side trip off I-10 in the Hill Country of West Texas?

I have, it will simply blow your mind as to how many ranches out there that have Exotic Game on them. There is a big market for surplus Exotic Big Game in that area.

You'll see quite a few on Hwy 290, west of Austin. Axis, blackbuck, gemsbok, Bison, etc. A few years ago on our lease one guy had a huge fallow buck walk up and just stand there. He had no idea what it was and so didn't shoot it

I was surprised to hear that rhinos apparently can not stand cold weather. Apparently nilgai are the same. I wonder if it may be true of wart hogs.

And I still think a few African lions would not only control the wart hog population, but reduce illegal immigration, too.

Didn't know that but do know warthogs are subterranean. I suspect the rocks in the hill country would stop them.

African lions would make walking to/from your blind in the dark stimulating!

A warthog is something I would go to Texas for ...

Would Cape Buffalo thrive in Texas?

probably, a buddy killed an eland that wondered onto his lease a few yrs ago, with a 270 no less.

EXACT thing happened to my buddy two years ago outside of Glen Rose. 270 too. Huge eland.

My uncle just sold his ranch near glen rose

Do warthogs make for good eatin?

Buddy's place backs up to Rough Creek Lodge

Little chewy, but tasty.