I don't think the amount of damage is as great as the landowners claim. I live in TX and I hear farmers/ranchers complain about hogs all the time. When I offer to come shoot them they say sure for a $150 a day fee. I tell them to keep the pigs. If they truly had that much damage they would welcome hunters and not worry about a trespass fee.

Many landowners cry about the hogs but treat them as a source of income from hunters. Due to that they don't really want them shot out. Note this doesn't describe every landowner, but it does describe an awful lot of them. Since there is no closed season on hogs they sell hunts all year long.

Not every hunter has $150 to spend on a 1-day hog hunt. This kind of does call into question the true extent of landowners' claims about property damage.

DING, DING, DING. We have us a winner.

A few weeks ago I was going by a big pasture that belonged to a guy that always complains about the pigs. In that pasture as a group of pigs, maybe 10, laying in the shade under a tree. I went to the house and asked if he wanted me to take a few out and he said he had a paying party coming in a few days and didn't want them chased off. Kind of funny from a guy always crying about the pigs eating him our of house and home. I left the pigs where they were. Don't know if the paying clients got any but where they were laying I know I could have got 3 or 4 before they got into cover.

Like I said, the damage isn't quite as bad as many claim and they use the hogs as a cash income. Don't blame them for that but it still flies in the face of reason.

I agree with Flags. I lived in Texas the last few years before I retired from the army and no one would let you hunt the so called problem hogs for a reasonable rate one could afford. I even saw one county had a bounty of 15 a hog but land owners wanted 150 a hog to hunt. I'm sure there's a better way to get rid of them but I'd rather hunt a hog over a deer so I hope they keep the numbers up.

i agree with flags.


i have permission to hunt three large farms in OK and a couple in TX. Have not hunted the ones in TX for awhile but i simply have not seen that much damage to crops and pastures in OK or TX.


Yep, and those big time farmers get subsidized crop insurance. 75 percent of the crop insurance premium is paid by US taxpayers.

Prior to paying for my hog hunt in Florida I made Craigslist adds throughout the state asking for permission. Several people contacted me with "Sure, come on down and hunt, $100 all the way up to $300. So I just went with a place that would take care of everything I needed and would definitely put me onto hogs. I can't really speak to how much damage there is or isn't, but I know I had no luck finding anybody that wanted them shot.
-Jake

Edit: And I'm not blaming them. If I could make $100/day to let someone hunt my land I would too.

I hunt hogs and they difinitely cause alot of damage but I feed them and wish I had more , have really good public land success also but I know alot of other farmers who all welcome the pigs and the income from hunters . The state should be ashamed of itself , poisoning hogs is just stupid and wrong , leave it to government to kill off our hunting animals and our food source , and they will have unintentional consequences also

And if hogs were such a problem you'd be able to go online and find someone saying please come hunt them for free - never happens . Try to find someone who will let you bow hunt hogs that are a problem, I've been looking for years , still haven't found any

Well if Texas landowners
 

...have found a way to rid themselves of ferel hogs, they'll use it. Never saw a more industrious people in using home owned land.

I think the state shouldn't be poisoning them if landowners aren't willing to allow hunters to eradicate them by hunting. If landowners willingly choose to charge hunters higher prices for hog hunting, then hogs are their "business" and they shouldn't whine about hog damage as that would be a cost of doing that business. JMHO and individual landowners may think different but several members above seem to indicate no landowners are willing to let hunters eradicate hogs on their property for free or minimal cost.