the pig apocolypse is drawing near.

God willing; I'm lining a up a hunt for 2013 to coincide with my attending the NRA convention in Houston the week leading up to April 26-28. I'm going to take that whole week off.
 
Females can have up to 10 piglets at a time( mostly around 4 or 5 is normal) and can have up to 3 litters a year (2 litters is more normal) It takes 114 days or 3 months 3 weeks and 3 days for her to have a litter, and can breed again shortly after having the litter. If only 1/2 of the litter is females, and they can breed at about 7 or 8 months old, you can do the math.
It is impossible for hunting and predators along with trapping, to totally get rid of the problem.
They are smart animals, and adapt to their environment better than just about any animal out there.
They will eventually take over everywhere in the U.S. but until they do, I keep eating as many as I can.:D
There are ways of ridding property of small herds for a while, but they will always return if there is plenty of food and water.
 
Hog Dogs

I am located in the DFW area in Texas. We have hog dogs and do NOT carry guns when hunting pigs. If anyone in Texas or New Mexico would like us to bring our dogs and help rid you of some wild pigs then please call or email me. (817)240-4503 or bdf_63@yahoo.com. Our dogs do not hunt anything other than hogs. They do not chase deer, quail, cows, or anything else and we would appreciate you coming on at least the first hunt with us to show us your property and see how we hunt.
 
Case Of Mistaken Identity

Worse case (or most funny) I ever heard of was some hunter from Penn. comes out west to hunt elk. He kills some ranchers llama thinking it was a cow elk. The picture I saw was of the gutted llama with the guys elk tag wired to it's ear in the bed of the guys pickup ready to head back to Penn. Picture was taken by the Dept. of Fish and Game when the hunter pulled up at one of their check stations. Geez, that had to be a riot...
 
Apparently in the southern 50 counties of Texas, the season is year round. The northern counties only have a 5 month season.
This data was cut and pasted from the TPWD website.


Javelina:
Northern 43 counties - October 1, 2010-February 27, 2011
Southern 50 counties - September 1, 2010-August 31, 2011
 
Javelina and feral hogs aren't the same.

How about taste? Which is better to eat? The In Laws are right on teh tx mex border so I could go down and hunt both anytime of the year?

What permit is needed for the javalinas? Is it considered large game like a deer and need a special tag? Sounds like it could be both fun and tasty :) a win win.
 
mark, poke around to your heart's content: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/

From memory: 3-5 day out of state hunting license is like $50, which you'll need to hunt hogs in TX, for sport or meat. If you're just a guest of a rancher and he just wants them killed, then no license required since it predation - not recommended - $50 isn't much, buy it and then you can take all the meat you want.

Check all the above statements on the TX Wildlife site. It might take some digging, like I did a couple months ago, but you'll find it.
 
Markj,

I don't know anyone that has happily eaten javalina, though I'm sure somebody has. I have a good buddy from South Louisiana and he can cook absolutely anything - but not javalina.

And as for the pigs overrunning all of us, they are making a mess of my place. The big hog was back in my front yard/pasture last night and dug a few huge holes that you'd have to see to believe. I've never seen anything like it. But tonight I have the traps baited with truly smelly rotten corn, and a snare set in the 18 inch wide gap he has to use to get to my front pasture. Maybe tomorrow Mr Hog and I can have our final discussion. I sure hope so.
 
MOA,

I got him last night. Went out about 10 pm with the Primos gun light and he was 40 yards from me in the front of the house. I had the white light on (had taken the red lens off), and he didn't even notice the light - he was so intent on the acorns. I got him with the 223 and a Nosler 60 gr Partition. He wasn't as big as I had thought. I hope he was the one that dug the giant holes. If not, this isn't over...but I have plenty of bullets...
 
I have elk in my back yard

But no pigs
so last month I flew down to TX, A guide took me out on a 300 acre parcle, he had touted his feeders and blinds etc.
I paid $50 for a 5 day license.
I paid $200 to rent his wife's rifle and told him I expected to be able to test fire at a target to check accuarcy. Nope, no target no safe place to shoot!
So I walk the property, there is a housing development a few hundred yards from the property line.
The feeders have been turned off for over a month.
I am sitting in a Blind that is nearly impossible to enter/exit with terrible fields of fire.
No moon but I can see the ground due to the frost reflecting star light.
Around 9pm the guide says he has to leave, (it's +18 degrees and he's cold).
We make one more walk around the property and finially a small pig breaks cover, I throw-up the rifle and the scope lens has ice on it!
The pig is running full tilt towards me so I fire off a shot and he disappears
unharmed. I spent the night sleeping in a horse stall.
What a rip-off.
If TX wants to control the population they should pay hunters to hunt.
It's not worth the cost to go down there, for the cost I could have bred my own herd of feral pigs.
 
Heck, if I thought it'd get rid of most of the hogs, I'd pay somebody to shoot them. But shooting them is a slow process. I shot one last night. Big whoop...I only have a bazillion left to shoot. I usually do better trapping them. A couple of times I've had 12 or 15 in my big trap. But lately I've come up empty time and again. They're out there, and they're breeding like crazy, and maybe I need a better bait.

And I should mention that the reason I don't have folks over to hunt too often is strictly legal - Insurance reasons. What if someone gets hurt. I've decided that it's just too risky.
 
i have got one pokey dotted monster i had my sights on for two weeks.....i missed the shot then, been looking for it since....I call it 'pig laden'(pun intended)....I like the pokey dotted ones, easy too see...easy to identify as a pig........I have shot several others since but...I want Pig Laden...:mad::mad:
 
Insurance reasons. What if someone gets hurt

In the few cases here in Iowa the person got hurt isnt able to sue the landowner. Maybe your state law is similiar? Had a few last season too.

I think the guys that shoot everything in sight like tractors old machinery etc make it very hard for the responsible hunter to get access. I came off a deer hunt to find my radiator was shot.
 
robhof

Pigs are smarter than dogs and after being trapped a few times others will avoid the traps. Florida trappers I know repaint or change camo on their traps after a few catches, as well as relocating them. After a few are taken with rifles in certain fields, they'll (the pigs)send out guard pigs to sniff the perimiter of a field before feeding and they'll take turns with others watching and sniffing the surroundings. I used to hunt them with a crossbow in Central Fl. in new; being built subdivisions, at the request of the developers, as the pigs would destrou several thousands of dollars of landscaping in a night. I miss it; we don't have a pig problem in Ky yet.
 
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