Not from Texas but since a number of our major contributors are, thought I'd post this info from today's Cedar Rapids, Iowa Gazette:



"Wild hogs devastate Texas Agriculture"

"Bring an AK-47, because that's what you'll need"...Don Metch, Texas cattle rancher

(excerpts from 4 column article)

The article estimates a $52M lose each year. "When I mowed that pasture, it was like riding a rodeo horse," said Metch, the Canton cattle rancher. "They're nasty, and they got big appetities, and they're multiplying."

They reproduce so rapidly that there's a joke among wildlife officials: When a sow has six piglets, you expect eight to survive

The Texas Department of Agriculture has asked legislators for $500,000 to start a two-year pilot program to study the hogs in hopes of controlling them. In the meantime, Texas relies on it's year-round hunting season.

I can vouch for the fact that hogs here in Texas have become a major problem. They are very destructive and they breed like rats. The good thing about them is they are good to eat and fun to hunt. The other thing is that since they are so destructive many land owners are now starting to allow responsible hunters to hunt on thier land without paying a ridiculous "lease" or "trespass" fee. You can't control the population by just normal hunting. We flew a ranch last year and shot hogs from a helicopter. Killed 80+ in one weekend. Flew over the same ranch a month later and still saw 50+ hogs in one day. I do love to hunt them.

music to my ears...

On our deer lease in the Texas hill country:

1995-2001------0 hogs
2002-----------1 hog
2003-----------7 hogs
2004----------32 hogs

At this rate, we're going to have a hog lease rather than a deer lease.

They are much like rabbits when it comes to litters. I watched a boar and 2 sows one evening, with 16 piglets (try counting that many as they scramble for their share of the eats), and only one of the sows was nursing. So, I guess either she had picked up some other sow's litter, or she had 16 or her own. I read an article in the Missouri Conservationist magazine which discussed feral hogs and their concerns in Missouri. Their biologists stated that to simply maintain herd numbers, you have to shoot 30% of the herd each year. To reduce them, you have to shoot 30%+ each year. I hunt on a 600 ac ranch, and several occasions I have had as many as 30 hogs in front of me at one time, and one evening around the fire, three of us totalled up sightings of 63 hogs in view at the same hour - from 3 separate blinds.

The hog problem in Texas is getting pretty bad we are hitting them year round and cant get ahead of the population. Traps rifles bows I even started using solids to try and hit more than one at a time . we just wait til the head of one is covering the boiler room of the one behind him and bingo two for one. We use them to test hunting loads on for big game. I also have some purpose built rifles for hunting hogs and that is at least entertaining.I have been shooting these things off of game ranches for the owners for years they want them gone because they tear holes in the fences.

I think the DRSS needs to have a hunt on your properties. We only bagged two of them this past April in Crowell, Texas.

Last trip to the ranch (last weekend), my partner and I shot 4 hogs. Really should say one hog and 3 shoats. I killed two 30 pounders with one shot from my .22-250-both in the head. Partner shot a 100-lb boar and another 30 pounder. They are the ideal size to cook whole, and a great BBQ.

Here's a pic of one of our pets (now deceased). We called him Corn-O-Matic because when the feeder went off, he was there--sometimes he would show early and lay down in the sendero and sleep until the feeder went off. The last thing he heard (maybe), was the 7 Mag safety coming off.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/dustoffer/CornoMatic1.jpg

.......a lot of Russian in the ol' boy!!

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by 577NitroExpress:
I think the DRSS needs to have a hunt on your properties. We only bagged two of them this past April in Crowell, Texas.

Not sure what type of hunt is was but hogs are so smart, a given population with a lot of hunting pressure is hard hunting. If the pressure is strong enough they just move over a couple of ranches.

Anyone who wants help cleaning their ranch out only has to ask . . . I'd be happy to come over and take some Texas hogs. I've always wanted to hunt in Texas, but never had the chance.

hornhunter,
your land had hogs prior to 95. I've been hunting hogs in the TX hill country since the late 70's. Bob Ramsey has been hunting them there since the 50's. They've been around they just havent been as thick as they are now.

I've been hunting the Hill country since the 50's. Never saw a hog til about 10 years ago. What caused the population explosion?

I would bet that the relatively wet years we've enjoyed for the immediate past has had something to do with it.