Just how bad are the piggies in TX?

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deerslayer303

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Hey Ya'll,

I was just reading another thread and was wondering. How bad is ya'll hog population in TX? Is it to the point that fish and game are worried?. I know here in kakalaki there is no season on them and a game warden I know says they worry about it all the time, being the number of offspring one sow can produce. He also told me that the problem is your back yard hog farmers with less than adequate fencing. As much as the pigs are a PITA for deer hunters, I like hunting them too and I'm one that will hammer one of them the first 10 minutes in the stand during deer season, some of my buddies scowl at me for it but, hey I like pork too.
 
They come in waves in some areas depending on the weather and such. Me coming off of a brutal summer and wild fires, I have not seen any in a while. I just found evidence if their presence.
 
Somewhere around $50 million per year in crop damage...
Click to expand...

With all this rain we have had..the ground is soft and they are turning over acres upon acres of hay meadows and pasture right now..around here.....
 
I posted this in the other thread.

Here's a small sample.


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Just across the Red River in the Hugo, Oklahoma area, I know a couple of ranchers that were complaining year before last, about how bad the hogs had rutted up their pastures, and hired a guy out of Antlers to trap for them.
They told me that he trapped 163 hogs of different sizes and kinds, off of an area of about 800 acres. They did not have much problems with them last year, but are now back rutting the fields again.

Given the rate of population, and the adaptation abilities these animals have, I'm not sure there IS a solution. Even as thick as they are, there is no guarantee of success without a pack of dogs. My buddies and I have gone out several times and have come back empty handed, and seen hogs all day, but could not get a shot. They are not as easy to hunt as people think, but they are the most FUN to hunt because there is no season on them and they can be hunted about anywhere, anytime.
They also fill up a smoker right nicely.:D
 
I live right in between Houston and Dallas. 130 miles either way. The hogs are everywhere. The town I live in is a population of 1800 and an interestate runs right beside us. For 30 or so miles right in the median and on the frontage road there is roots. Sometimes Ill go sit on the interstate or a highway overlooking some bottom land and catch them coming out in the evenings. Just a fun way to shoot them from 100 to 400 yards. Theres plenty people around here to hunt their property just to help knock the populations down but everytime you see a sow she always has some piglets are sholtz with her. They multiply like rabbits. They generally start having liters at 8 months old and have 2-3 liters a year and a liter is 10-14. Ranchers hate them but hunters, shooters like myself love them... Great fun! and good eating
 
There are pigs nearly everywhere AND the property owners, most of them, will insist on charging you to eliminate THEIR problem. I have a couple of places to shoot'm for free but they tend to be the exception to the rule. I guess if it ever gets bad enough then more gates will be opened to hunters????
 
Hey shotgun
what are some of the prices the land owners are saying that they charge to rid the pigs off their land?

I wish I had some friends/family who lived in Texas that had hog problems!!
I want to try out my 270 on one of these varmits.
Can we all say "ROAD TRIP" ?!:)
Thanks,
John
 
It's half and half here in Leon County. Half say no hunting or the other half actually about the other 70 percent say come as you please and kill every one you see please/ no money. For most land owners their a big problem but I'd love them to be running and tearing up my yard. I live in the country and there's about 10,000 acres that join my back fence and I got permission to hunt it like its mine half woods and half open. All bottom land and springs here and there do hogs are always there. I got another place though me and my friend pull truck in gate and overlook big bottom land and shoot out of truck. Get to shoot every 30 minutes or so. Great fun.
 
Funny.....I have a friend that works for the Department of the Interior and he gets paid (very well) to shoot pigs from aircraft in the areas that it's an overwhelming problem.
So, it's a fact that there is a problem and it's a fact that it costs money (both "matched funds" from counties and US Tax money) to deal with that problem.
Now then.... how idiotic do these ranchers and farmers have to be to try to charge hunters to do them a favor?
If they can't get them shot off, they have to pay higher taxes and they still don't get the problem handled as well as if they just let hunters do it for them and welcomed the hunters to do them those favors for free.
When I lived in Nevada the jack rabbits would get so numerous in some areas that the farmers would buy a case of 22 shells and GIVE them to the high school boys to shoot rabbits with. It worked quite well.
I wonder how may rabbits would have gone un-shot and how much more crop loss they would have had if they had been stupid enough or greedy enough to try to charge the kids to come on their land and solve their problem for them
 
People wanna hunt pigs, and they wanna pay. Hunting provides extra income that many farmers need.

On the other hand, many farmers turn to so-called professional hog removal people and get burned. Live pigs can be sold on the hoof, so arrangements are made to tend and empty traps and share the take with the farmer. Then the traps suddenly dry up, home built or purchased, traps are expensiv ans often provided by the farmer.

Many farmers have issues with pigs leaving alive.

Many ranches are large enough to absorb the impact of pigs.

Pig hunters have a bad rep with farmers. Hogdoggers are particularly mistrusted. It is a false assumption that hogdoggers release pigs to to perpetuate thier activities for the future.

These are not my views, I know a lot of farmers and these are their opinions.
 
Closest place to me (5 hours) for hog hunting is $200 a day and includes 1 pig. 2 for $500 (instead of a combo, can i just get two single orders and save myself a hundred bucks? :rolleyes:).

Add in gas, and all the other costs….


:(


$2200 for the chance to hunt a deer.
 
Once I echoed the frustration of those who have difficulty gaining access to farms where the ranchers are complaining about hog damage. In Oklahoma, I faced the same thing.

I went to a local peanut co-op and talked with the manager in my first week there and he bemoaned the sad state of affairs with the pigs. I offered my services, with a kid or 2 in tow under my supervision, to go out anywhere and hunt them or set traps. He gave me close to 2 dozen names/numbers of ranchers he knew personally to call.

I gave up after the first dozen, as they all said no, some rather rudely.

At first, I was confused. You could hear the locals talking about the problem in the diners, Wal Mart, farm stores, etc.

Then a local farmer sought me out after a chance meeting. He had 450 acres with cattle and asked if I would take a stab at thinning the herd. I went out there with my kids and had a blast (pun intended). As I got to know the owner better, he confided that the reason most ranchers are leary of letting folks onto their land is that they have been burned multiple times. Equipment stolen, or shot up, planted fields driven through, animals left to rot, deer poached out of season, their dogs shot, etc. To summarize, a few slobs ruin it for the rest of us. 1 rancher has this experience, shares it with others, and before you know it, everyone is against strangers coming onto their property.

By them leasing out their land, there is the perception that if you pay for it, you'll behave better.

And so that others will learn from my lesson, I almost messed up my own good deal. I set a circle trap for pigs, and didn't get back to check it for 3 days. I SHOULD have called the landowner, who was out there almost every day and let him know. I just got too busy flying local training sorties, and after spending 14 hours trying to train someone to fly, just didn't have the energy to drive the hour round trip to get out there. A heffer forced his way into the trap and sat there for 2 days. He was not in too good of shape when the owner found him. Although the landowner was generous and forgiving, I still feel bad about that and it was 4 years ago!

This same landowner, while we were out there, had someone drive by and shoot his dalmation from the road adjacent to his property, as well as put a couple rounds into his barn, proof that there are people out in the country up to no good.

So, word to the wise. If you earn the trust of the landowner, always go above and beyond to take care of them and their property.
 
As with any pig problem thread, it always turns to the hunters complaining about not being able to hunt them freely. Globemaster explained some of the issues as did I. It's numerous causes that give pig hunters a bad rap, each little thing collectively adding up.

I just got offered to hunt some pigs on another property, but, the guy trusts me.

Another issue is when the hunter gets the trophy or tired of dragging pigs off they quit. You have to commit a lot of time to pig killing, and most of all, you have to be willing to pile them up to rot, and, that's where most sportsmen draw the line. You have to kill mote than you can eat, give to friends or donate. You have to kill a lot of them just to kill them, like rats. If you wanna be out at 10, 11, 12 or 1am when you gotta be at work at 5am then the job is for you.
 
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