Thread: Texas wild pig hunting

Im watching a doco on sky about the plague of feral pigs in Texas, I've just tried doing some research as to why there are so many, what the hunting rules etc are, it seems hunters can kill as many as they want when they want, and hunting licenses don't cost much, So why the hell are the pigs over there exploding in numbers? the only thing I can think is perhaps its illegal to dump the guts etc where you kill a pig because of Brucellosis disease over there, so perhaps it costs money to take a pig to a registered site to gut and skin, but I think they can sell their wild pigs to processors...Anyone know just out of curiosity?
There is no way pigs here in NZ would get to the numbers they have in Texas because we hunt the shit out of them.

I watched the ass end of the same doco and I reckon its due to the hunting lease/private ranch their land is all cut up into and how Yanks seem to deal with trespassers and the fact they cant drive a quad to a treestand and shoot them to actually put a dent in their numbers.

Read on a texas game dept site the math of the population explosion done by the some university types. The climate is favourable, predators are low, and food sources are unlimited. They calculated that one breeding pair could multiply to 900 pigs in 1 and a half years with an average litter size of 8 and a 50% mortality rate. Thought it out, two litters a year, by the time the 1st sow is having her 2nd litter the sows from litter 1 could get in pig easy to see how the numbers get up quickly.

Maybe they should reintroduce Jaguars, they do ok on Tapir and pecarry now days.

I read a report from a texas hunter in National Geographic running a Jaguar down with his dogs to a cliff and he was absolutely positive it was a Jaguar. Obviously the farmers might not be keen on the predator coming back.