T.D.A. INITIATES FERAL HOG PROGRAM

  

The Texas Department of Agriculture has announced an initiative to help decrease the feral hog population.

The 2016 Coordinated Hog Out Management Program will run from May 1st-throught-31st.

Texas is home to the largest feral hog population in the U.S. with nearly 2.6 million in the state.

The Hog Out Program is a concentrated and coordinated effort with local county partners across the state to decrease this population and mitigate millions of dollars in damage caused by the hogs.

Participating counties will be scored on the number of feral hogs taken during the one-month challenge.

Winning counties will receive assistance to continue local abatement activities after the challenge ends. This includes educating landowners on removal methods, coordinating trapping and hunting programs, conducting aerial gunning and addressing public safety hazards related to feral hogs.

For more information go to: https://texasagriculture.gov.

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6 Comments

  1. I understand from some local wild hog hunters that the capture of the hogs is quite profitable. The feral Texas hog fetches almost $.50 per lb. for sale to the foreign markets. It is marketed as highly desirable wild and natural free range pork. So if individuals can generate revenue in this manner, why doesn’t the budget cutting state house do the same? A natural type resource can generate funds, or is taxing easier?

    1. There’s more than one side to the issue. While I imagine hog hunters are delighted by all the free grain-fed pork running around, I know for a fact that there are thousands of farmers and ranchers that are ‘fed up’ with coping with hog damage to their pastures, hay meadows, and fields.

  2. Here’s an idea: criminalize the statewide practice of not hog-proofing automatic deer corn feeders. The sheer number of inadequately fenced deer corn feeders per square mile, across the state, is unbelievable. I walk past a few hundred poorly fenced or entirely unfenced feeders every year, and the multitude of hog-runs leading directly to them should more properly be termed hog-expressways. In a state known both for agriculture and hunting, this practice constitutes an incredible common-sense fail.

    1. Hard to enforce, but I agree , if you are a ethical hunter , common sense practice should sink in. Hunters hog proof your feeders!.

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