The king of podcasting himself, Joe Rogan, recently discussed one of the most complex wildlife management issues in the country.
Feral hogs.
He used his platform to sit down with Texas chef and butcher Jesse Griffiths and educate the masses on the seemingly uncontrollable plague of feral hogs that continues to explode throughout Rogan’s new home state of Texas.
There’s somewhere between 2 million and 4 million wild hogs in the state of Texas (6 million estimated in the entire country). And because they have no breeding season, they reproduce at an astronomical rate. They can begin to breed around 5-6 months old, the gestation period is less than 4 months, and they can have anywhere from 2-12 piglets per litter.
Just do some quick math and you realize that it’s possible for a pig to have a few dozen piglets each year, who can begin to breed themselves before the year is over. It’s nuts.
So if you’ve ever seen videos of folks in Texas gunning down wild pigs from a helicopter, this is why.
And if you remember back to Jason Isbell’s Twitter conversation on gun control, it earned a viral reaction when Willie here said he needed one kill the 30-50 wild pigs than run through his yard.
And while I’m not going to get into the AR-15 argument, this conversation does go to show you how much these things are a massive pain in the ass.
And there is A LOT of them.
Listen to Jesse break down the feral hog problem in Texas, the history of pigs coming to America, the difference between domestic and feral hogs (there isn’t one) and more.
And by the way, Jesse is the owner/chef of Dai Due Butcher Shop & Supper Club in Austin, Texas.
They take people on guided hunts to teach them how to hunt and prepare what they harvest, building future generations of hunters.
