Posted on 02/19/2009 6:11:41 PM PST by llevrok
Millions of wild pigs weighing up to 300 pounds have been tearing up crops, trampling fences and eating just about anything in their path in Texas. But now they had better watch their hairy backs.
A state lawmaker is proposing to allow ordinary Texans with rifles and shotguns to shoot the voracious, tusked animals from helicopters.
For years, ranchers in the Lone Star State have hired professional hunters in choppers to thin the hogs' fast-multiplying ranks. Now state Rep. Sid Miller of the Fort Worth area wants to bring more firepower to the task by issuing permits to sportsmen.
"I've had numerous calls and complaints that someone needs to do something," Miller said. "We're losing ground on this problem."
If approved, it could be the first program of its kind in the nation. Some other states, like Gov. Sarah Palin's Alaska, allow aerial hunting, but only to control predators, such as bears and wolves.
Some Texans worry about collateral damage.
"If they're going to open up to where you can do this and anybody who's got a helicopter can go off to an old boy's place and hunt, that's going to be bad," said Jay Smith, owner of Smith Helicopters in Cotulla. Some people "may get confused and shoot the rancher's dog or a calf."
Miller gave assurances the hunting would be closely regulated, though details on such things as how many hunters would be allowed to take part, and how many hogs they would be permitted to kill, have yet to be worked out.
"You're not going to have some bubba up there going, `Pass me a beer and ammo' and hunting some hogs," the legislator said. "We certainly want to do it right."
Many hunters and landowners will probably leave the carcasses in the field, just as they do now. Wild hogs that are gunned down cannot be sold for meat under U.S. agriculture regulations. (Moreover, wild boar is said by some to be tough and gamey.)
An estimated 2 million wild hogs are causing $52 million a year in crop damage in Texas, according to agricultural experts. Pigs that they are, they eat just about anything, including the carcasses of their own brethren. They trample crops, dig up plants with their snouts and steal animal feed. Entire peanut farms have been stripped.
And the pasture-wrecking porkers are causing trouble well beyond farms. Authorities in Texas are reporting an increase in collisions between hogs and cars, while golf courses and suburbs are increasingly finding turf uprooted by hogs.
The animals are descended from hogs introduced into Texas by Spanish explorers more than 300 years ago. But their numbers began booming in the 1980s.
The big ones have no natural predators. Not even a coyote will tangle with a pig bigger than 20 pounds.
During a recent pass in his helicopter over Mertzon in West Texas, Kyle Lange, a professional hunter who is paid to pick off wild hogs from the air in what some are calling a "pork chopper," offered a glimpse of the magnitude of the problem.
As his helicopter flew over, several packs of hogs that had been rooting around in the brush or napping in the sun suddenly scattered in all directions, with piglets scampering to keep close to their mothers, the little hairs on their backs blown back by the breeze from the chopper.
"You can kill 300 in a day from up here in the Panhandle and you've just slowed them down is all," Lange said over the whump-whump of his two-seat chopper.
Wildlife experts have tried less brutal methods to control their numbers. But the hogs are smart and have learned to avoid traps, and a birth control pill for female hogs is still in development. Many experts agree aerial hunting works.
Nearly 1,100 permits to kill hogs from the air were issued in Texas last year, up from 201 in 2000. Under Miller's bill, weekend hunters would be able to get permits too, though they would also have to pay landowners for the right to hunt on their property.
I don’t know about TX, but in my state, wild hogs are property - owned by the landowner.
Shoot them from any orientation you wish I’d say.
The Bubba Air Cav arguement is silly.
Where to we sign up for the charter flights? I’ve always wanted to “strafe” something.
What they gonna do when another Hogzilla appears? Gunship?
Good Piggy,,, 
Gunna Need Mo'Beer!...;0)
Bubba isn’t going to be able to afford the $200/hr that a helicopter would charge.
Too bad Ashely Judd isn’t a more practical woman like her mother, Naomi Judd.
“TX Lawmaker Wants To Allow Aerial Wild Pig Hunting”
Funny this should come about the same time as the “Porkulus” bill...this one however makes sense. These feral pigs know no bounds when it comes to mating, mounting anything that is not moving....and the squealing is deafening at times.
Here on the Big Island of Hawaii in the south east (Puna) we have a big problem with these wild ones.
The solution to the problem as I see it is to put our minds together to come up with some outstanding recipes. The guy who
mentioned ribs started it all off. Anyone else game?
Sorry for the bad pun.....just couldn’t resist.
Mahalo
"According to the 2008 Texas Wildlife Services report, $119,300 worth of damage was reported in Coryell County last year by wildlife, the vast majority of which was by feral hogs.
"We strongly believe that the actual crop damage was many times that," Firth said. "That number only includes what damage was actually reported to the county by ranchers."
Firth added that unless the county can find a more effective way to control the feral hog numbers, additional crops and livestock could be affected. The explosion in the wild hog population is a statewide issue. According to the Texas Department of Agriculture, Texas has the largest feral hog population in the United States with nearly 2 million wild hogs.
"Their numbers are continuing to increase because of high reproductive potential and the lack of natural predators," states the TDA Web site. The Texas AgriLife Extension Service estimates $51.7 million in statewide damage every year.
Currently, government trappers legally hunt wild hogs in Coryell county, hoping to reduce the numbers over time. The trappers killed 674 hogs and 220 coyotes in 2008, according to the TWS report."
If PETA has an issue with this, then I want PETA to trap these creatures (sure) and move them to their neighborhoods. They can deal with it.
Anybody wanting to aerial hunt around here is welcome.
“The solution to the problem as I see it is to put our minds together to come up with some outstanding recipes. The guy who
mentioned ribs started it all off. Anyone else game?”
Actually, the young ones are very tasty split down the middle and roasted. They would probably make good Kalua Pig.
I have eaten feral hog and thrown the bones to my dinner’s siblings, who ate everything but the squeal.
(they really do eat virtually anything, which is why they are so destructive)
This is outrageous, and totally unacceptable!
Only extraordinary Texans should be allowed to hunt from helicopters!
Gotta use slugs. Slugs have been known to bring down brown bear.
Obviously there IS a reason to own over 100 rifle launchable grenades.
The doctor that was arrested recently was just gearing up for some hunting.
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