Texas considering program for poisoning hogs

[NavyVet1959]

It's called skin in the game. Keeps out the riff raff and helps fray the cost of property ownership. Only way around it is to buy your own land. Then you'll be able to let every Tom, Dick and Harry hunt hogs for free.

Apparently, you misunderstood the subject of my complaint. I see nothing wrong with a landowner charging for the use of their land. What I have a problem with is when they complain about the hogs being a problem and want the government to take action, but then when someone offers to help them, they have the nerve to want to charge the person that wants to help them. Either enjoy the hogs and what income they produce for your property or complain about them and let people that want to help you hunt for free. Just quit being two-faced about it.

[w5pv]

I chuckle ever time I see something about the state wanting to get rid of the feral hogs,around 1967,68 or 69 they said that the hogs were state property and the land owners that had been taking care of the wood hogs would no longer be able to by taking care of the owners usually had a mark registered at the county court house and they would feed them enough to keep them in a close range of their homes,they would catch the sow and castrate the little boars and mark the little guilds with their registered mark for later iding and things went to hell in a hand basket after that.There is a community east of Buna,TX and north of Orange,TX called Devils Pocket that was among if not the last that allowed wood hogs until the state of Texas said the hogs belonged to them and not the people.LOL

[starmac]

I never knew the state told them the hogs belonged to the state, I just thought they outlawed open range, which kind of made sense.

[Blackwater]

Well, a long time abo now, feral hogs were a persistent and serious problem. What was done back then, was a widespread trapping effort, plus some real woodsmen who knew hogs, shot them as well. It was simply an all-out assault on them, and we took back our farm lands that they were SO prone to ruin. Have a whole crop ruined - your income for the year for yourself and all your family - and you get VERY determined to address the problem. I think it's the determination part that is lacking today.

Farming has always been a challenging and somewhat risky proposition. It's full of challenges most urbanites will never know or understand. But again, those people from days gone by now, had GRIT, and they had it in spades, and most today look for someone ELSE to pay to cure their problems. It's just "the modern way." And much of the reason farmers have taken the steps they have, is because our litigious society has pretty well forced them back into that position. And nobody seems to want to change the litigiousness, so ..... the problems will continue, until we come to our senses and quit trying to make this world "perfect" and a "heaven on earth" where no "problems" exist, or CAN exist. Folly is folly, whatever other names we choose to call it by.

We've crippled ourselves, and then have the nerve to complain that we're crippled! As the Wicked Witch of the West said as she melted, "What a world! What a world!"

[Love Life]

I was just down on the property in Aonia, GA this weekend, and there was plenty of sign of hogs. Ground torn up, and they dug a rut in one of my roads to wallow in mud. I didn't have time to hunt any of them while there.

I don't want them on the property and have local trappers taking care of the problem for me. They can trap, shoot in the head, but no "Hunting" shots on the property. If anybody is near Aonia and wants to trap hogs, give me a holler. You can hunt with a firearm, but you must pass my accuracy requirements 1st.

[popper]

I could be wrong but IIRC, all wildlife belongs to the state, any state. Else they couldn't charge for hunting license. Same for fishing. Only exception is imported game and they are still controlled. Pretty sure the processors will not buy potentially poisoned hogs - agree. Lots of 'experiments' like the silver jumping carp that was to eliminate the weed growth in ponds. Salt Ceder to prevent erosion around streams. No real environmental studies to find results before legislation rules.
Hardworking family farming is just about gone now, most is corporate and they make the rules.

[starmac]

Popper they were not considerred wildlife back then, just open range hogs. they were worked, marked and gathered for market, and owned by individuals.
The law outlawing open range for them made sense to me anyway, and those not gathered and sold eventually went to the state as they didn't stay on the owners property.

I am curious as to what type poisin they have plans to use. Many poisins do not work on hogs.

[popper]

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/ne...s-10950587.php
There, it is official.

[dragon813gt]

I could be wrong but IIRC, all wildlife belongs to the state, any state. Else they couldn't charge for hunting license. Same for fishing. Only exception is imported game and they are still controlled.

The animals belong to the people of the state. The licenses are to control the population sizes. We all know what would happen if there wasn't season and bag limits. This is a case of "we did it to ourselves."

[w5pv]

They are thinking of a type of warfarin(rat poison)the ones that eat it they say the fat will turn purple

[NavyVet1959]

The animals belong to the people of the state. The licenses are to control the population sizes. We all know what would happen if there wasn't season and bag limits. This is a case of "we did it to ourselves."

I don't know how long it has been this way, but for quite awhile at least, hogs have been considered a non-game animal here in Texas and there is no season or bag limit on them. You can hunt them day or night and kill as many as you want. They are a pest, nothing more.

[lonewelder]

Another great idea from the people who know whats best for us

[lonewelder]

hey navy vet.where you at in the 409 area?

[starmac]

I don't know how long it has been this way, but for quite awhile at least, hogs have been considered a non-game animal here in Texas and there is no season or bag limit on them. You can hunt them day or night and kill as many as you want. They are a pest, nothing more.

Hogs have never been considered a game animal in Texas as far as I know. Iirc state residents didn't evenhave to have a hunting license, but I checked a few years ago and out of state hunters had to buy a non resident small game license.

[w5pv]

They did tell us that the hogs belonged to the state. I cannot think of the other wardens name right now.All the old timers were very upset my dad was living in the pocket at the time and I had a few head of wood hogs that free ranged,Murphy Free was one of the wardens that was enforcing it.BTW dad lived in the pocket until his death in 1984 and mother lived there until she sold the old place.all the old timers were upset to say the least.They gave us a few days to get a few of the hogs and other stock.But the Smiths,Poe,s,Williams, Pierces,Viviers and all lost some of the free ranging stock that they had.I don't think anyone lost any cows or horses.I think that one of the other wardens name was Tisdale and this was before Larry Williford took over the eastern district he may have just started being a game warden along with Forest Laughing.

[starmac]

I never knew how much time they gave folks to gather their hogs, but I knew they were theirs until the deadline.
I never knew anybody in East Texas that ran cattle open range style, might have known some, but didn't know they ran their cattle loose.

I do know even after the deadline people still trapped and sold hogs.

[NavyVet1959]

Hogs have never been considered a game animal in Texas as far as I know. Iirc state residents didn't evenhave to have a hunting license, but I checked a few years ago and out of state hunters had to buy a non resident small game license.

I think it depends upon whether you are hunting them on your own property and you are killing them to control damage to the property.

http://feralhogs.tamu.edu/frequently...questions/faq/

Q. Do I need a hunting license to hunt feral hogs?
A. The answer is “it depends”. The Texas Legislature has granted landowners some relief by stating that “landowners and their designated agents” can control feral hogs causing property damage by any legal means without benefit of a hunting license. However, for those individuals that are hunting feral hogs solely for recreational purposes, a Texas hunting license is required. If in doubt, consult with the game warden assigned to the county where the control/hunting activity will take place.

Interestingly, I guess we can blame it on Hernando de Soto in the mid 1500s.

Q. Why do we have so many feral hogs now?
A. Feral hogs were first introduced into Texas by the explorer Hernando de Soto in the mid-1500’s. However, it was not until the 1980’s that populations of feral swine literally exploded across the state. The huge increase occurred as result of a “perfect storm”: Many hogs were moved and re-released during this time to provide a supplemental species for hunting as their popularity increased as a game animal. Also, in Texas it is legal to supplementally feed wildlife and to that end, Texans feed approximately 300 million pounds of corn alone to wildlife annually. Non-target species such as feral hogs and raccoons benefit greatly from the increase in nutrition this supplement provides and respond by producing more young with higher survival rates. Feral hogs are also smart-inefficient attempts to control their numbers make them wary and less susceptible to control measures and often result in the hogs becoming nocturnal. Lastly, feral hogs have a tremendous intrinsic rate of increase. Mature sows can have two litters per year and their female offspring can become sexually mature at 6 to 8 months of age and therefore are capable of producing a litter of their own before their first birthday!

I always just get the basic hunting license which costs $25 per year.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/ou...es-and-permits

[Hogtamer]

LL, like to lost my life on a big oak tree in the front yard of a man's house, just to the Thomson side of Aonia church in 1974. And don't worry bout them piggies, I heard they wuz in Lincoln Co this week and a couple of 'em won't be back. They ate some poisoned 270s, exactly 1 of those little 130 gr Noslers each.

[10x]

Poison has some very nasty unintended consequences.
Poison a feral hog and every scavenger that eats the hog will get sick or die. Poison can really knock a hole in wildlife populations.
As for comments about property damage from folks who are allowed on private land to hunt - I suspect that is a rare and unusuall event.
In over 40 years of allowing folks to hunt on my property I have never had damage from hunters. I have had looters go through and collect everything that looked old that they could lift. But they were not hunters.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Seems to me that there are so many hogs and they're such a destructive problem that someone would get the idea to shoot them, gut them, freeze them in a mobile refer trailer, and ship them to China for food. Win-win for everyone. Farmers get hogs under control, hunters sell meat and make money. I'm pretty sure the Chinese would be receptive to purchasing them, since they like pork and eat most everything including deep fried scorpions, etc.