the wildest way to hunt them

Landowners, farmers and ranchers across Texas have at least one enemy in common. It’s a herd of feral pigs that ravage land and cause more than $500 million in damage each year.

Descendants of escaped and released pigs brought in by early European settlers are in constant battle with farmers trying to protect their crops. State Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller says these problems are becoming increasingly acute for other Texans, too.

“Right now they’re invading urban areas, destroying golf courses, city parks, cemeteries and overturning gravestones,” Miller said.

“We have to cull 60% of the pigs every year to maintain current population levels…We will never eradicate the pigs,” he added.

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This has led to many creative ways to manage the state’s feral hogs, and a lucrative industry has sprung up to hunt them.

Texans do not need a hunting license to kill hogs with a gun, and hog hunting on foot with a guide is common. Since 2011, state law has also allowed residents to obtain an aerial wildlife management permit and hunt wildlife from an aircraft. Six years later, the law was expanded to allow pigs to be shot from hot air balloons.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has issued permits to Texans who wish to shoot wild hogs from aircraft, but has not yet issued permits to hot air balloon operators.

Both balloonists and aerial hog hunting leaders say the prospect sounds interesting, but not very realistic.

“Hot air balloons move because of the wind,” said Chris Britt, co-founder and CEO of aerial pig farming business Helibacon. “But then the pigs move around. So what happens if the wind is blowing east, but the pigs are running west?”

Other vessels, such as those used by Helibacon and its competitors, can chase pigs at low altitude while paying passengers to shoot the fleeing animals.

According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, there are currently more than 200 aerial wildlife management permits, including 103 for drones, 145 for helicopters and five for small aircraft.

Department spokeswoman Lelynn Johnson said some people may not shoot the pigs because “permit holders can also use this permit for aerial wildlife surveys and aerial wildlife photography.” I warned you.

Operators offering helicopter hog hunting in Texas are thriving, with many customers coming from out of state and abroad for the experience.

“There are more than a dozen companies doing this as a commercial activity, sometimes combining it with other helicopter-related activities such as flight training and fertilizer spreading,” Britt said. Many others do it privately.

Michael Ayala, director of operations for Last Shadow, another commercial helicopter hunting company, said helicopter hog management is an attractive option for farmers struggling to protect their crops.

He said hunting pigs is still not easy, although helicopters can help.

“It’s very difficult because of the terrain. They use the river as a highway,” Ayala said.

“So when you come to hunt them, it’s very difficult because of the foliage. There are a lot of trees and bushes around the river. Once they get to those areas, they hide,” he said. I did.

Any Texas resident who can legally possess a firearm and meets Texas’ hunter education requirements may hunt wild hogs on foot on private land. Texans must have a valid hunting license to venture onto public lands.

Due to low regulations and abundant populations, they are popular as hunting pigs. Pigs are very fast and smart, making them difficult prey, but chasing them on foot is still common.

Long-standing guiding operations such as the Lone Star Hunt offer multi-day and night-long tours tracking everything from “exhibition razor-toothed trophy boars to small butcher pigs.”

Some hunters prefer to ambush hogs in their vehicles on private land. Feed the pigs to get them within range. Or set a trap.

Two types of feed are available to Texas farmers and ranchers who want to reduce their hog populations without shooting them.

HogStop, which will be on shelves in Texas starting in 2021, is a contraceptive that prevents male pigs from breeding without killing them.

This all-natural feed is free of hormones and endocrine disruptors, which significantly reduce a pig’s reproductive ability. However, the effect is temporary and fertility returns once the pigs stop eating.

Kaput, which was reintroduced this year after a failed launch in 2017, contains low doses of a blood thinner that can be lethal to pigs. While it’s still gaining momentum, pest control experts like Tyler Rich of Pro Chem Sales, Kaput’s distributor, say it could impact pig populations. I’m thinking.

“I don’t think farmers will ever see the numbers go to zero, but it’s an effective tool to have in their toolbox,” Rich said.

However, the process of training pigs to later feed them laced food is long and expensive, so impatient landowners will have little success.

Less invasive solutions, such as durable hog fences, are also being used across the state to prevent hogs from ravaging valuable land.