Are hogs in Texas really that bad?

[johnwilliamson062]

I have an open invitation to hunt near infinite land for hogs in Texas from a couple people I'm barely more than acquainted with. No one has made that offer to me for deer in Ohio, so I'd have to guess there is a problem.
People don't want total strangers on their property. If you want strangers wandering your property you buy a California Vineyard, not a Texas ranch.

[Double Naught Spy]

People don't want total strangers on their property. If you want strangers wandering your property you buy a California Vineyard, not a Texas ranch.

Yeah, a lot of us buy Texas land specifically because we like the property laws here that preclude strangers from our property. There is a VERY GOOD reason Texas has so little public lands. We like our private property.

[Art Eatman]

When the Republic of Texas joined the Union, it retained ownership of its public lands. These lands were then put into a system of homesteading and into payment for development of railroads and into public school lands. The public school lands were sold to the private sector, but the mineral rights were retained as part of the School Fund. The state now retains title to very little public land.

Trespass laws are no stricter than in many other states; Georgia is one example. Modern liability laws affect how landowners view access for any sort of visitor.

In brush country grazing lands, actual monetary losses from hogs are less than in farming areas. So, some ranches charge money for access to a hunting opportunity. Other areas may be more lenient about access, as a larger problem exists.

[Double Naught Spy]

Yep, in part, but as a Republic and even after joining the Union, Texas gave, exchanged, and sold cheaply LOTS of public lands to pay off debts, soldiers, and attract settlers, not to mention raising funds in general.

http://www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/...blic-lands.pdf

[Art Eatman]

My great-grandparents homesteaded and "took up" some 4,500 acres in the Panhandle, in 1890. Their land was taken into the XIT, and "the boys" went to work for that ranch. The XIT, three million acres, was given by the state as payment for construction of the state capitol building--which established the price of land in Texas.

The limestone for the building was quarried at Oak Hill, and a railroad was built up Brazos St. to the capitol grounds. The RR was "discovered" some years back; it's six or eight feet below the present pavement level.

Enough drift.

[Wyosmith]

"So right now they get government subsidies and they get paying hunters"

I believe this is a validation of what I said earlier.
The hogs are not THAT much of a problem. At least not yet.
How the ranchers and farmers get paid is not the issue.
As long as they are doing ok financially they are not too worried.

If a land owner wants to have hunters on his land that's his right. Private means just that. HE has that right.
If he wants to charge HE has that right.
If he wants to NOT CHARGE He has that right.
We need to respect that the land owner OWNS the land and has every right to make rules as and when he want to.
I own a bit of land and I allow hunters to come here openly. My neighbor doesn't. He is not "evil”. It’s HIS land.

I like to have hunters come to my land and so I do. I only demand that they treat it with respect and that they let me know they are going to be on it. I don't get paid by the government at all; I just like hunters (I find most of them to be good folks)

If the government tit was to dry up for Texas land owners you will see a difference.

Until then they are doing ok.

As with most working men and women they will tell you how “times are hard” but the proof that they are doing OK with the hogs is just exactly what I said before.

When and if things get desperate the “hunting’ will become control shooting and the farmers and ranchers will not be inclined or able to handle the whole problem themselves. They can’t shoot and protect their land all day every day.

I am sure they will be selective about who they ask to help, and who they allow to help, but they will not charge money if the problem is serious anymore than a farmer would demand the fire department pay him to put out the fire in his barn.

[Keg]

I do love how people want to come down to Texas and help us shoot hogs. They don't want to come help mend fences or muck out stalls, but instead just assume that we don't have enough people here who can or want to shoot hogs, LOL. We do. Not only that, we have a LOT of non-landowning people here who want to come and shoot for free as well, some of whom get rather ugly about the notion about why they won't be allowed to shoot for free.

Feral hogs are a problem, no doubt. So are deer. Deer still do a tremendous amount of damage, several times more than hogs (of course there are more deer, right?). However, feral hogs are a commodity as well.

Farmers may hate hogs, but they know something that seemingly every wannabe-free hunter does not realize. Shooting a few hogs on your weekend trip isn't really going to help out the farmer that much as you can't keep the hogs from returning.

Do the math. Say we do have 2 million hogs (see below) and $52 million annual damage. That means each hog does just $26 a year in damage. How much damage does a Johnny-come-lately hunter do if he puts a bullet through your tractor, house, drives across your wheat field in his truck to retrieve a hog, leaves a gate open, etc.?

Exactly DNS....Some folks just don't get it and seem kinda bitter....?

[Art Eatman]

"How the ranchers and farmers get paid is not the issue."

Sure it is. For a rancher, repairing fences is additive overhead, along with extra costs from disking torn up hay fields. He's not subsidized by anybody. About the only government subsidy I know of in ranching is for mohair goats, and those are a tiny percentage. Seems like Boer goats are the big deal, nowadays, along with pet-food goats.

Farm subsidies are Federal, and the amounts are dependent on the amount of production. Production losses to feral hogs reduce income. I see no justification for indifference to any reduction in somebody's standard of living. The ad valorem property tax guy is indifferent to profits, of course.

As far as losses to deer, note that deer don't tear up fences or land. They don't root the ground. They certainly don't hurt cotton crops; not much consumption of young corn, and apparently are not a problem in rice or wheat country. Lots of deer in milo maize and cabbage country, with no apparent problems.

[Unlicensed Dremel]

he says that if it really was a problem that land owners would not be charging to hunt and would be welcoming people to come rid them of a problem.

Your friend at the range is *exactly* correct. Nail, meet head. Hunting would be free or dirt cheap to those known to be law-abiding and ethical, if the problem were big enough. It's not, cuz it's not.

Shooting a few hogs on your weekend trip isn't really going to help out the farmer that much

He went wrong there. Of course it will, if they're sows. Every little bit helps. At the rate they breed, taking even ONE sow out will help reduces the number of offspring. Won't eliminate the problem, but chips away at it. If they don't want to let people hunt free, fine. It's their land. But that tells me it's really not THAT big of a problem.

[Cowboy_mo]

Wyosmith makes excellent points.

Yes, landowners have the right to determine who ison their land. They can be selective in who they allow to hunt. No argument here.

From my viewpoint and YES DNS, I get it. It is your right to keep hunters off OR to charge them for helping rid your place of vermin.

But, quit crying about the "problem" since you've already determined the best solution

[Double Naught Spy]

The only folks I see crying are those who want to hunt for free, lol. They seem to think that we can't, or don't have the right to complain about our problem unless we let them help with it. Sorry, but it don't work that way.

[Panfisher]

So if a hillbilly or two who brought their own fencing pliers, post driver and leather gloves, and was willing to spend a couple days fixing fence for someone reckon they would then be in good graces enough with the landowner to be allowed to hunt for a day or two. Some of use don't have much spare cash but do have an ability to sweat and work. Just thinking to cause I know I could likely round up at least 1 probably 3 of my hunting buddies to work in exchange for a little hog hunting. We used to do it for deer hunting in North Missouri, hauled hay, worked cattle, built stuff for the farmer etc. Worked out great for us and made some long term friends out of the deal. Having grown up around hogs I have no doubt the damage they could do to a field of corn or cotton, in a very short while.

[Art Eatman]

Panfisher, I imagine that if a guy showed up at a farm or ranch with that sort of trade-out offer, and looked like a squared-away person, there are good odds of finding a place to hunt hogs.

[Double Naught Spy]

Agreed. And with a gracious offer like that, you might not even end up fixing any fences.

Lots of folks show up acting more like modern day carpetbaggers and that doesn't go over so well.

[Keg]

The only folks I see crying are those who want to hunt for free, lol. They seem to think that we can't, or don't have the right to complain about our problem unless we let them help with it. Sorry, but it don't work that way.
__________________

Exactly...Some folks wanna hunt for free..and if they can't..they wanna cry about it....

Boy am I glad I did'nt let a particular person on this thread hunt any of my places....I made the right call....

[Panfisher]

Hmm I kind of wish you had told me they would run me off with a pitchfork, now that idea is gonna roll around in my head for a while until my new grandson takes my mind off it. Usually when asking a landowner around here for permission to hunt we don't even take our firearms, we bring some tools etc, and talk with them maybe work some and exchange phone numbers so if they need help with something they can call, only very occasionally will they call us for help, but we drop whatever we are doing and go because knowing farmers if they got to that point it was either a test or they really needed help. Follow up with a christmas card and some summer sausage and even if we quit hunting there for some reason we still have a friend there. Don't know if I could drive all the way to Texas and work it quite that way or not, but its something to cogitate upon.

[Art Eatman]

I dunno, it all seems simple enough to me. In some parts of Texas, a rancher not doing sheep/goats might see hogs as cash income, like deer but cheaper. Odds are that a pay-hunter will get some guide help, and maybe a bunkhouse.

Farmers? Different story. Hogs are a problem. So, for a helpful sort of clean-appearance fella, freebies might be available. Again, odds: An arm wave and pointing "Over yonder." Stay at a motel somewhere nearby.

Different situations? Different deal.

[Dusty Rivers]

My hay meadows are constantly destroyed by hogs. Yes the grass grows back but it looks like a bomb range. You can't get a truck or a tractor through it without busting up everything. Anyone that says hogs are not a serious problem in Texas doesn't know what they are talking about, doesn't live here, and doesn't own any dirt. They tear up yards, golf courses, playgrounds, yards, gardens, in other words -any place there is dirt. You don't stop hogs, you just shoot and trap enough of them so they move to your neighbors dirt.

Tell your friend that I said he doesn't know what he is talking about, I would love to send him all of them. We can feed the world on the Texas hogs.

There is no season on hogs. We shoot them on sight, but they are crafty little buggers. My wife said she saw a "good hog" this morning. Meaning it was dead on the road. Yes they destroy your car when you hit them. They kill about anything they can get to, baby deer, rabbits, calves, other baby hogs.
About the only thing they can't eat is lead, and even that has to be in front of the shoulder, not like shooting a deer,

Get my point, they are a constant problem!

[CCCLVII]

On another forum I brought up the same argument only for Wolves in Idaho. With in about 2 days I had 4 PMs inviting me to there land to hunt wolves.

Just from my very limited experience Id say the wolves in Idaho are worse than the hogs down south at least in the view of the locals. I have seen an add in the newspapers a year or so back asking for hunters to hunt there land for wolves. The same does not seem to hold true with hogs.

All that said the OP should try hog hunting! It is very fun. My first trip was in Alabama and the very first day we found a heard (is that the right word?) of about 10 hogs. It was very exciting!

[Wyosmith]

Dusty Rivers, where in Texas are you?
My wife is working out of Graham right now. Her crew works within about a 3 hour drive of Graham in every direction, so she covers a lot of country. She said there are a lot of hogs around, but not so many she sees much damage. Working in the field both night and day she says she sees a hog about once a week.
I guess there are some places east of Dallas that they hogs are a big problem. At least that what her boss was saying to her.

[Husqvarna]

[QUOTE: Unlicensed Dremel]taking even ONE sow out will help reduces the number of offspring. Won't eliminate the problem,[/QUOTE]

I won't pretend that the hog problem over here (Sweden) is nearly as bad as texas but, a major but

In practically all of Europe shooting a sow is considered counter productive and frowned upon, especially if they have piglets (and boars always have piglets it seems)

there are more problems with boars when they don't have their sows, they become problem pigs because of lack of direction and whatnot.



same thing as with elephants in Africa, heck same thing as with humans when you think about it

in every other hunting you always shoot the interest (offspring) first

[reloader28]

Dusty, how many hunters have you let on your land? It sounds like none.

In Wyo if you are getting damage from animals then you either let on a bunch of hunters or you shut your mouth. You WILL NOT get a G&F damage check unless you are letting on hunters.

I would really like to know why ANYONE in Texas is getting gov money. Hogs are not a native animal and therefore not the responsibility of state or fed gov. That is wasted tax money.

As a property owner, I agree that I wouldnt want 50 hunters wandering around my property in a year, but if you want help, thats what it takes.
Until that time, its apparently not that bad of a problem.

[Keg]

I'm not sure if some folks will understand this but..I'll say it anyway....I have several properties here in one county in TX (ranchland)....It is mostly leased to hunters for mainly deer hunting....They shoot pigs too....(all that they see)....I am not able to let others hunt most of this property because..guess what? It's leased out....as is most private property in TX..which is most of it..besides trapping is much more efficient than hunting for hogs anyway....I receive no money from the government for damages..none.... Theres a few differences between Wyoming and Texas..Wisconsin and Louisiana..NY and Florida....

[tomrkba]

Here you go:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthrea...ight=feral+hog

[Keg]

tomrkba....Too long for me to read..but the trap set up was a good one....