Atta boy.
These hogs a real problem… like a massive problem.
In Texas alone, they are a $400,000,000 problem. That is insane.
These animals breed insanely fast and rip up everything in their path. We’re talking crops, water sources, fences, equipment, native vegetation, fish populations… to say the very least, they are a massive nuisance to any location where they reside.
The only good thing about these hogs is that there’s only one really effective way to deal with them… hunting.
To minimize the damage, you need to reduce the population. This draws many states to create bounty programs to help create incentive to target them. Usually something like $5 a head, but it certainly adds to the fun of hunting. Especially when an animal usually runs it groups, it means a fella can a least pay for the ammo he’s shooting and get a feed out of it if he wants.
And there’s virtually no bag limits anywhere in the country. Night hunting is allowed… it’s open season.
This farmer decided to pull out all the cards for this hunt. He is out using thermal vision to target the beasts at night. It allows for better vision of the animals than during the day, meaning you can take far more out.
The video shows the farmer just firing away at group after group of hogs running wild on his farm.
It’s oddly satisfying and makes me want to try out a little thermal hunting.
I’m sure this farmer hates these hogs, but I’m sure that he has worse chores to do than hunting hogs at night.
Hopefully he was able to put a good dent in the population so he could keep on farming away in peace.
Joe Rogan On Texas’ Massive Feral Hog Problem
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.
