Hogzilla

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Prairiekid

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I just watched a program on Discovery Channel concerning the Wild Hog infestation in the Southern U.S. They made it sound as though they see no solution and that hunting is not enough.

I was wondering if you guys think hunting would be enough. If they had a open season on the animal and allowed day and night hunting. Turning it more in to a varmint then a game animal, do you think there would be enough interest to eradicate them before it gets worse?

I figured there would be lots of people out hunting them. It seems like a great way to introduce youngsters to hunting. Lots of targets but still technically a game animal.

Any thoughts? I am from Alberta and I have never heard of any problems here. But when I was growing up in Sask there was a small problem but I believe it was solved with some open hunting season.
 
They go beyond that if I recall, there is no season. Just shoot on sight.

But my experience with TX folks thus far in summary:

Rancher: Oh wooooe is me, these darn pigs are tearing up my land, destroying my crops and salting the earth so that no crops may grow. And they knocked up my daughter. Woe is me.

ME: Great, I'm in Wyoming but would be glad to come down for a few days and help out, I have 2 friends that will do the same.

Rancher: Great! Just send me $1200 per hunter, you can each take 1 pig below 200 pounds. Anything bigger I'm going to charge you a trophy fee for a non-trophy animal!

Hello? Hello?


Anyway, I drove clear out to OK a couple years ago for a pig hunt, where they also have "plague like populations". Paid $400 each for the 2 of us for land access. First time I've ever paid to hunt. 10 days and seeing only 1 pig. I don't know what it would come down to the pound for a $2000 pig, but those were some expensive pork chops.
 
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I think the accsess thing is more of they don't know you from adam , I am shore that most ranchers that are haven that kind of trouble with hog let the local boys have at them . witch i under stand. but even with the local guys trying they still will go as far as paying guys with dogs to come in and try and cut a couple out.
 
Prairiekid, in Texas (can't get much more south)Hogs are not a game animal and can be shot day, night and all year long. Yes they are a big problem, Hunting alone will not deter the problem, most ranches use trapping, hunting, catch dogs, snares and any other means possible. With hogs being able to breed at 6mnths and haveing 2-3 litters a year at 6-10 piglets and no natural enemy other than a occasional cougar and coyotes for young, the numbers multiply out of sight. Another problem is Texas is about 99% private land and most ranchers are concerned of who they let on their ranch for liability purposes.
It is a great way to introduce kids to hunting and can be exciting, but after shooting hundreds of hogs it gets old quick other than keeping you in a good meat supply.
Seeing the damage that hogs do on pasture land and knowing the numbers you have taken off the property already, is a scary thought of the economical impact that these breedmonsters have on the rancher, and farmer.
I have hunted a place in beeville 10 years ago that the farmer was loosing 5 acres a night of planted fields and could not stop it. That was 10years ago, do the math on how many have multiplied since. I have only seen one way to control it and that was with poison as controversial as that is, and those farmers are not talking about it.
 
Well thanks for the info guys.

I didn't know there was such issues getting permission on private land. It just isn't that way up here, I guess because of the lower population density.

Good Luck
 
I am east central Texas, one rancher here that has some where in the area of 50,000 acres that I know about has a 20 dollar hit on coyotes and pigs. last year ranch hands and leased deer hunter collected on 1600 pigs and 600 coyotes. you better have permission to be there. some of his land comes up close to mine and last night I seen 13 pigs in one sounder on his ranch. at this time I do not have pigs on 200 acres here. i have 60 acres in another location that you better not get out of your truck with out a load rifle, they will eat you. I was talking to and " expert on the hog population" last night and it is not how many pigs to the square mile, but and many pigs per acre. right now I know where three 200 lbs hogs are laying dead, shot illegally of the road and I do not condone it but they are gaining on us any way.
 
Ya, I don't expect favors from folks that don't know me. Just the price per animal seems a bit high if they are as big a problem as I've read. It's one heck of a drive to get down there, so that turns into another expensive pig and hunting cash is in short supply. If it was a reasonable amount for all you can shoot +1 it would be easier for me to swallow the trip. But I am a cheapskate /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Up here in Ohio we don't have a closed season either.
But we don't have quite the population of Hogs as TX.
The southwest part of the state has the largest population, but there is a hunting group down there that has Hogged the hunting grounds No pun intended /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ).
 
My dad lives in Texas and he traps hogs on some ranchers there. It is unreal how many he can catch sometimes and then they move up or down the river to somewhere else. When I went down to turkey hunt this spring, I shot five good sized hogs but they can be difficult to hunt because they are mainly nocturnal and stay in the thickest stuff you can imagine during the day. I would never have got to shoot so many except I used the Fury and got them to stop in one case and actually come to me the second time. I was working some thick brush and walked into some. I turned on the caller and walked up to the edge of a wheat field and two were heading across it. One stopped and I shot it behind the ear and the other took off running and I shot it about three times before I knocked it down. The next bunch I caught as they were leaving a field at first light. When I was climbing over a fence, the noise spooked them and they ran into some thick grass and mesquite. I turned the caller on to a sound of a little pig squealing and a sow grunting. About three of them came trotting toward me. I was able to get a clear shot at one from about 40 yards. They scattered but then as I worked my way through the brush two others came in and I was able to shoot both of them. It was pretty exciting for a little while.

I can't imagine that hunting could keep them under control in the conditions there are in that area.
 
I have hunted in Texas, and Yes I do agree some of the people who have high pig populations charge way to high fees to hunt. Louisiana is having a pig problem. The state Wildlife and Fisheries is trying to change regulations for more hunting. Last year I shot and trapped a total of 14 pigs in Louisiana. Unless prices come down, I will probable never hog hunt in Texas.
 
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Ya, I don't expect favors from folks that don't know me. Just the price per animal seems a bit high if they are as big a problem as I've read. It's one heck of a drive to get down there, so that turns into another expensive pig and hunting cash is in short supply. If it was a reasonable amount for all you can shoot +1 it would be easier for me to swallow the trip. But I am a cheapskate /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif



I've noticed some fair prices ( to me anyways )in Texas on on 1 guide 2 shooters, no limit no trophy fee. Dog's for a bit more,good reviews on the guy. Cheap motels near by.

Actually I hate to say it I was kinda wanting to be laid off for a few weeks or better a month to take advantage, figured driving (ohio) and hunting 5-7 days. Sadly it looks like that won't happen now as work picked up a bit.
 
Man I don't know who you are talking to that charges $1200 per gun, but that is outrageous. My dad is over run with them, between him, my wife and I and my father in law we killed a little over 500 hogs last year alone. We let a few locals hunt but some of the problems we have are; 1) My dad farms and just doesn't have time to take a bunch of people out, 2) people get bad about leaving dead ones in the field where we either have to drag them out ourselves or if we don't see them in time tear up equipment/tires while working in the field, and 3) you never who is going to tear up what, including crops, fences, shooting (accidentally or not) equipment. I know none of the guys here would do that but you never know who you are getting on something like that.
We shot the vast majority at night with spotlights. That is another thing, it can get pretty dangerous when you get in the middle of a big herd. You are chasing them with spotlights and have 3 guns hanging out the window, flying across a pasture shooting at pigs that are running where you could have equipment or cattle or buildings out there, you have to be with people that are paying attention to what is going on and not shoot something they aren't supposed to.
We don't charge people to hunt and invite friends out to hunt. We just don't have the time to entertain people when we are not hunting. Pig hunting is also hit or miss, we may go several weeks without seeing one then kill 10-15 per night for a week. You never know when to have people out you just go when you can.
I'll get off my soap box now.
 
We have a good many hogs here in central Georgia. However, its been my experience that they tend to travel a good bit and don't remain on a tract of land. You can see hogs on 100 acres one day and not see them again for several months.
 
Alpha that is our situation. We live close to the caprock and so all the hogs are in the rough country during the day and then come up and feed on the crops at night. When and how many come up depends on conditions in the canyons and conditions up on top.
 
Go to Florida !!!!!!!!!!!! 4 shooters 2days unlimited # hogs. 275 per person total!!!! we had great time and used redbone hounds. kalahoya curs (however you spell em ) and pits. brought plenty of meat bsck for several familys to eat on for many months. them piney wood rooters are good eatin, mostly large black russian bores, and one i killed i'd swear it was a razer back, he ate pretty good to. pm me and ill get ya the info on the place we went, 2500 acres of field ,orange grove and spotty swamp.
 
That doesn't sound too bad. The one we came up with in OK had regular pig teeth. We were told that they don't get real 'tusks' up there. That was kind of disapointing all by itself. I've got a beetle colony up and running, we were looking forward to some good scary looking skulls /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Beyond that I'm one of the safest firearm people I've ever met. Don't know how many hundred of hours spent training and training others. And being stacked up armed and entering houses at speed tends to hone the training a bit more.

Hehe, and people that hunt with me know my rules. Do something stupid once, and we talk about. Do something stupid again, we'll talk about it after you get up off the ground.
 
yes there is a pig problem in some places....like here in central texas, as well as many other parts of the southern part of the country.

there is no season, limit, or restrictions (other than having to have a hunting license) and we still can't control them.

pigs are very prolific. less than 4 month gestation period and can breed as young as 6-8 months old having 6-10 piglets per litter. they can have 3 litters in 2 years time.

they are also smart, pressure them much and they move out of the area. around here for more than half of the year there are standing crops which provide them with tremendous amounts of unhuntable cover.

another thing is here in texas 95-98% of the land is private, and here around us it is over 99% private land. some ranchers and farmers will not let hunters hunt their land, and others charge hunters.

i have personally seen (on several occasions) where pigs will cross openings to get to a "safe" haven (unhuntable land) and stop out in the wide open because they have learned that if they get to these safe places they will not get shot.
 


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