Annie Blanks, San Antonio Express-News
Feral hogs run through a farm in Atascosa County on June 23, 2011.
Express-News /File photoHunters in Hays and Caldwell counties are about to go hog wild.
The Central Texas counties are partnering with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s Wildlife Services to offer a bounty on feral hogs, which number in the millions in Texas and cause an estimated $500 million in property damage each year.
A $7,500 grant from Wildlife Services in Hays and a $20,000 grant in Caldwell will allow the counties to pay out $5 for each feral hog harvested in both areas. The $5 bounty will be paid by check on tails, or certified buying station receipts.
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The bounties begin in mid-February.
“Feral hogs continue to pose significant problems for both agriculture producers and residential property owners in Hays County,” said Hays County Commissioner Mark Jones in a news release issued by the county.
The Central Texas Feral Hog Task Force is also asking landowners in the area to help trap hogs and complete damage assessment surveys to get a better grip on the feral hog problem in Central Texas.
Both counties have offered feral hog bounties before. In July, for instance, hunters in Caldwell County documented 470 feral pigs captured and claimed for their bounties.
Feral hogs are more than just a nuisance. Considered an invasive species, they are notorious for destroying crops, landscaping and wildlife habitats. They don’t have sweat glands, so they tend to seek shelter along creeks and rivers, which can result in contamination of those waterways — including critically protected waterways such as the San Marcos River and the Guadalupe River.
Cade Bonn, an avid Central Texas hunter with ranches in Gillespie and Llano counties, is no friend of the feral hog. He says they tear up land, destroy crops and profits, tear up fences, and dig holes in fields that can damage farming equipment.
“They are so prolific that it makes it really hard to control populations,” he said.
Unlike deer or doves, there’s no regulated season for hog hunting in Texas, although the best time to hunt them is typically winter.
Some hunters also take to the skies to hunt hogs, with companies offering helicopter pig hunting tours to take out feral hogs from the air.
But “even with being able to hunt hogs at night, with helicopters and dogs and shooting as many as you want,” the feral hog population is still difficult to manage, Bonn said.
Annie Blanks writes for the Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. ReportforAmerica.org. annie.blanks@express-news.net.
