Feral Pigs!

[Hillbilly Zen]

They may hate pigs, but they love trophy hunters and the money they bring.
…

... TX will never not have a pig "problem."  Way too much money in it.

^^ This^^

Let's see... ranchers hate pigs and want to eradicate them.  So they limit the number of hunters and charge them a hefty fee to shoot pigs one at a time.

In a quick random google of three Texas hog hunting sites, they each bemoaned the damage hogs are doing and begged hunters to come help eradicate them – so hurry to reserve a limited booking.  Costs ranged from a discount $250 for one evening in a hog stand to a starting price of $2000 for two days, and I did not check the cost of a helicopter hunt.  Hunting ranches add on fees for almost everything though the discount place lets the hunter shoot two hogs before adding fees for each pig killed after two. 

Yep, those ranchers are longing for the day when there is not a single pig left to charge hunters to hunt.

Texans don’t pay those prices unless they are wealthy and live in the city.  In my experience, anyone living on, owning, connected to, related to, or who has a third cousin twice removed can get an invitation to hunt feral hogs and will probably be cooked a delicious fried chicken lunch to take to a stand with them.  A dozen hogs can take out a half acre of quality feed in a night.  They breed worse than rabbits and wipe out about anything planted.  If I was losing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in feed or crops on a ranch/farm and found out people would pay me to shoot the hogs wiping out my livelihood, heck yeah i’d take their money and unlock the gate.  Are some unscrupulous people going to take advantage of that?  Of course.  But do most Texas landowners want hogs for some kind of parallel landowner hunting economy?  Theres a reason ranchers drive around with 30 round mags locked and loaded.  It aint for encouraging hunting tourists...

[Stein]

I hunt some BMA land in MT where the farmer has big trouble with deer eating his hay bales all winter and crops in the summer.  He posted his land with the state so anybody with a hunting license can access the land to shoot anything they can legally harvest, for free.  No limit on the animals you can hunt and it's open during the entire season with no limit on the number of people or anything.  You don't need to reserve it, pay anything, just sign in and have at it.

I talked with him this year, he thanked us for taking our deer, gave us additional info about their habits and location and asked us to spread the word and get as many shot as possible.  They put in a nice flat gravel pad to park multiple vehicles, a second pull out so you can access a different area without having to walk very far, new gates for access, etc.  He also tries not to be running equipment during heavy hunting times and generally does whatever he can to encourage hunters.

To me, that seems like a more productive way to maximize the number of animals taken off a given chunk of dirt.

[Hillbilly Zen]

I hunt some BMA land in MT where the farmer has big trouble with deer eating his hay bales all winter and crops in the summer.  He posted his land with the state so anybody with a hunting license can access the land to shoot anything they can legally harvest, for free.  No limit on the animals you can hunt and it's open during the entire season with no limit on the number of people or anything.  You don't need to reserve it, pay anything, just sign in and have at it.

I talked with him this year, he thanked us for taking our deer, gave us additional info about their habits and location and asked us to spread the word and get as many shot as possible.  They put in a nice flat gravel pad to park multiple vehicles, a second pull out so you can access a different area without having to walk very far, new gates for access, etc.  He also tries not to be running equipment during heavy hunting times and generally does whatever he can to encourage hunters.

To me, that seems like a more productive way to maximize the number of animals taken off a given chunk of dirt.

I believe some ranchers are doing exactly that, but i doubt it is an effective strategy for hogs really.  Not as effective as arming your employees and having them unload on any hog they see.  You have to consider that they are so prolific in some areas that they are not seen as game but as vermin.  To the point where people are attempting to find a way to effectively kill them with poisons.  They are generally shot on the fly and left to rot.  I had deer wipe out about 15 acres of newly planted apple trees In Burnet county Texas.  I shot my legal six pack, put up fences, funneled them to neighbors feeders and stands, and reduced pressure significantly because the breeding rate is low enough that deer can be controlled.  I was able to do that because of high bag limits and predictable gestation.  The hogs just went wherever they pleased and were mostly uncontrollable.   I had very little they wanted and they mostly stuck to wiping out neighboring cattle feed, deer plots, and sheep pastures.  It is difficult to find hunters, who view hogs as a game animal, to come out and shoot a dozen scrawny pigs.  And if there is a monster among them they will more likely target that one, and the rest will scatter; putting a dent of exactly one hog in your hog problem. Now If I put up a sign on the road that said “free deer hunting” there would be a line of trucks ten miles deep looking for deer.  People going to Texas to hunt hogs are looking for large game or trophy animals.  The greater Texas hog problem is more about controlling the swarms of scrawny pigs running like rats through creek bottoms and cedar stands.  I know a couple of hunters near Jarrel who regularly pop 30+ hogs in a night using thermal and night vision optics.  They shoot them from ambush positions and moving vehicles and don’t even make a dent in the farmlands they clear.  The hogs are sometimes sold and sometimes just left in the field.    They do it for access to deer hunting, and rarely take any meat.  Texas deer and ranches both could benefit immensely from an earn a buck program, and a bounty on smaller hogs.  Those pictures on the internet of people standing over huge piles of hogs are not exaggerated or photo shop altered!  The same can be said for much of Oklahoma, and the South.  If I wanted to DEER hunt in Texas or Oklahoma on a big piece of land and not pay for it,  I would offer to kill hogs over crops the rest of the year.  It’s like hunting anywhere I guess: you can pay and just go and do your thing and go home or you can start knocking on doors and figure out what your role in the relationship between hunter, farmer/rancher, wildlife could be for that area.

[ne kid]

  Well said I am going down again in April. The scrawny ones are really good eating.😁

[Alchase]

Wild hogs here in Oklahoma are classified as vermin. They do millions of dollars in agricultural damage every year. They are so prevalent, I have not been out deer hunting or hiking once were I have not seen multiple sounders each day. I probably see between 1 and 5 shot and left dead as well. That does not even blunt the sheer volume of pigs. The sows can give birth at six months and have three litters with as many as 20 or more three times a year. And unless taken out they can live a long life up over 14 years.
I originally thought it would be cool to hunt a couple for meat. Since then I have realized they are the foulest animal on the planet. They stink horrendously!
You can smell them from a long way off, and up close they can make you rech.
I honestly do not know how those hog hunters can stomach the smell.
A bear can get pretty ripe. A hog is ten times worse than any bear I have smelled.
I usually do not like to shoot what I do not eat. I make the exception with hogs.
This year I had a huge sow step out of the reprod about 15 ft in front of me and turn down the trail straight towards me. I don’t think she even knew I was there but I was not taking any chances. I hit her in the head with 180 gr 300 win mag and she dropped straight down. More reactionary than thought through. Pretty much ruined that spur for my deer hunt for the day.

[idaho guy]

I went down there and shot a few pigs. It was fun and I thought the meat was good but they do stink! They charged me a couple hundred bucks to help with their problem