Texplainer: How Real Is the Feral Hog Menace?
Hey, Texplainer: How much damage do feral hogs do, and do we really need to be shooting them from helicopters?
A lot, and every little bit helps, wildlife specialists suggest.
Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, is carrying HB 716, which removes restrictions on the recreational hunting of feral hogs and coyotes from helicopters and was passed Monday afternoon by a vote of 137-9. Last session, a similar bill garnered a good deal of attention, probably due to Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's proclivity for similar practices. This time around, it has been flying (pun intended) more under the radar ...
Comments (15)
Hippie liberal momma via Texas Tribune on Facebook
In my back yard very real
Stephen Lloyd via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Sarah Palin style
Sonora Hartley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Ferals scare the hell out of me when I'm out on my place in Uvalde Co but I don't like the idea of it raining bullets any better. On the ground I've got a chance of killing the pig but may not be as lucky shooting at a chopper - my aim and reactions aren't what they used to be and those darned choppers go fast!
Judy Burns via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Darn, I thought we were going to be able shoot them from helicopters on college campuses. I'm confused....
Lu Christie via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We need to get the word out that every inch of Texas has been defiled by pigs. Will keep the number of mosques down, doncha think? :)
Rhonda Huggins Vann via Texas Tribune on Facebook
No feral hogs menacing the nursing home where my mother lives--let the pro-gun NRA members take care of this problem and have a great day doing so. In the meantime, give those tax dollars to the nursiing homes so the old beggars are not put out to menace the public sidewalks and doorways! just saying.....
Teresa Saldivar via Texas Tribune on Facebook
No shooting from Helicopters. That is just cowardly and only the wealthy Texans (yahoos) are game and can afford helicopters. If you want to hunt, hunt like a man, not a coward.
Teresa Saldivar via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Hunting like a man....means putting yourself at the same level as the animal...chumming, helicopters, blinds, just woosie hunting tactics, if you ask me.
Aldo Merino via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Lu: Save your bigoted jokes for chain e-mails to your closest relatives please. It has no place here.
Mike Murphy
We converted our family ranch from agricultural use to wildlife conservation in 2000, and one of the the practices we began was to attempt to control feral animals, especially feral hogs. Thus far, we have removed 288 hogs from our 400-acre property located 25 miles west of Austin. Feral hogs are prolific, have no natural predators, and are omnivores, meaning they'll eat just about anything they can get their jaws around. I remain convinced that the hogs are a primary reason we're seeing fewer of almost everything on our place. It's been over a year since I've seen an armadillo or a jackrabbit, two species that were very prevalent here in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s.
Virtually all the hogs we've gotten have gone to new, cooler homes; or in some cases, straight to the hotter home, i.e, bbq pit!
Dave Crooke via Texas Tribune on Facebook
At first glance, I thought the title was referring to the legislature ;-)
Kenneth D. Franks via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Feral hogs have returned to our property after many years of not having them. They have damaged one hay meadow and acres of pasture land and they protect themselves hiding in the wooded areas during most of the daytime hours. Trapping them is the best solution for us but we have to close the pasture to place a trap there to keep calves from getting into one. They won't enter the trap if a person is around every day so it does have to be a closed pasture which we can observe from afar. No helicopters would be acceptable above our property because of the variety of other livestock and game that the hunters might shoot by mistake. Many people hunt hogs for sport which is fine with me but the landowner should have the final say on anyone hunting anything on a private property.
Leo Tynan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The whole thing would be funny if it wasn't just such a colossal cluster-f...Ignorant early Texans , homoingoramus Texanus, brought the dang pigs/ boars over in their never- ending quest to make rural Texas either like a giant farm, a European hunt club, or an African safari park. Then they bring in a million other exotics, kill out the native predators, prevent natural fires( which might actually sear a few porkers) and feed billions of tons of corn a year trying to grow antlers for big city big deer hunters. Except the hogs are bigger and hungrier and more prolific than Bambi. Now we're calling in the choppers.Leave it to this legislature to come up with some really sharp solutions-- they being of the ilk that caused it to begin with. I'm deserting- I think we're losing this war .. and I aint surrendering to no hogs.
Paul Hull via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Well, they vote, don't they?
C Baker
Many people eat them but they must be full of worms... yuk Pigs are one of the few species that can transmit diseases to humans..it's something genetic..That's why they can use pig heart valves which can be transplanted into humans and the human body accepts it...maybe that's a good use for them...They do multiply though...8-10 per litter and they can have 2 or 3 litters per year I think.. They also can get very agressive and grow these pointy tusks when they're mature. I don't think that this is about hunting, it's about controlling an out of control non-native species of animal that is multiplying faster than rabbits....but they better not be able to shoot on people's private land from the air...I might be out in those woods..