The problem with poisoning them is that there is no real practical method of doing so that will not put other more important game animals or livestock at equal risk.
Our deer feeding stations are “hog proofed”......lots of goat wire and metal wire panels can keep the pigs and cattle out. The opposite doesn’t exist. You can’t deer or cow “proof” a feeder so that it will then only allow pigs entry. If you protect something so much that even deer can’t access it, then nothing can. If leave something open enough that pigs can access it, then everything else can too. So, yeah, you might be able to poison pigs but you’ll have to pull every bit of the livestock from that piece of property and expect to lose a sizable percentage of your deer population in the process of doing the same to the pigs.
It is illegal to poison hogs and other animals in Texas. There was a big problem in Eastland County last year (2009).
“http://texaspredatorposse.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=17146";
“http://hankgilbert.com/eastland_docs/TPWD_REPORT.pdf";
You certainly are correct on all points. However, the only way to control the hogs is by methods of mass death. The onesy-twosy hunting is a farce. Recent documentaries on Russian boar hunting also show that over time, the hogs get so wary that the only good way of shooting a single boar is sniping by night using starlight scopes from a great distance down wind. Once the first shot is made, they all scatter. The hunt is over. These local hogs are no different. They catch-on real quick. So as you indicate, it’s a challenge, but one that has to be addressed sooner than later. Perhaps a bait that targets and sterilizes only the hogs combined with hunts.