Wyowind wrote:It's been a couple years since I looked into it but seems like everyone wanted dollars to hunt on their ranches. There's not much public land in Tx. So private land is the only way to go. I Think they could put a good dent in their problem if access to places to hunt was either free or very minimal.
I will be the devil's advocate here in that I'm a landowner & hunter.
For the landowner, the feral hog is a pest but it is also a resource that the land provides so like any "crop" the landowner decides what the benefit should be. Most of the helicopter hunting, by a huge percent, is done on a commercial basis on the large ranches. Hogs are killed for their meat and exported out of the country. It is conducted to make a profit for the ranch and has been done for decades. The recent law changes allows the hunt to take place with "paid" hunters. You won't find many resident hunters willing to pay the high fees.
There are a lot of hogs in Texas but there is a lot of land as well. I think for those coming to Texas and hunting hogs there is an expectation of being run over by them. Nothing could be further from the case. In that hogs have been hunted for decades on most farms and ranches, they are often harder to hunt for than a mature whitetail. They definitely have a better learning curve than a whitetail deer.
Hunting success for hogs is also a lot lower than you might expect whether it is public or private land. There are some public hunts for hogs on Texas Parks & Wildlife properties but the hunter success is very low, often zero. Part of this is because the properties are well managed and have been hunted for this purpose for decades. On the two public hunts I attended, a total of 10 days hunting, I never saw a hog. On one five day hunt, none of the hunters saw a hog. On the other hunt, I believe three hogs were shot but there were 24 hunters on the 15,000 acre WMA (13% success).
Here is what the TPWD says about the home range of a hog. This is from radio collared studies. "
Their home range is based mainly on food availability and cover. It is usually less than 5,000 acres, but can range up to 70,000 acres. In general, boars have a larger home range and will also travel greater distances.". This is what makes them tough to hunt. They are always on their feet, here today, and gone tomorrow. I believe more hogs are killed by the opportunity offered by "luck" than hunting skill.
I kill a bunch of hogs every year but that is because I'm here 24/7. I let family hunt but the odds of someone arriving to hunt a weekend and kill a hog during their stay is nil. Why, because hogs are very transient and nocturnal. I've actually seen hogs at a feeder in the evening, call family that can be on my place and start hunting the next morning and they never see one after several days of hunting.
Most hunters are not comfortable or have the drive to be out there in the middle of the night. Almost all the hogs I kill are shot between 10 pm and 3 am on full moon nights. As a landowner, I'm not comfortable having a guests out there as things can go south real quick. There is a lot to hunting the ambient light and it is a slowly learned and perishable skill. My grandson said it best despite being four years old. I was getting ready to go out and he threw a fit about going along so with mom & grandma's permission we suited up and started out back. I kept close to the house and after an hour I started working back. He knew the land well enough to know we were heading back so he tugged on my shirt and whispered "I'm sorry there is no hogs out here". I whispered back "there are hogs all around us, we just are not close enough to see them". His eyes got big as saucers in the moonlight and he whispered back "we better be real quiet as we don't want trouble!" That's it in a nutshell. The next night I was back on the same sendero in the same spot in great moonlight and I could hear a snake moving toward me. Soon enough and within a few feet I could see the largest coral snake I've ever seen. It looked at me from a six to seven away and then turned and went into deeper grass and brush. It was foolish to have my grandson out there.
Probably the best public hunt for hogs other than a canned hunt
1, is the Aransas NWR on the coast near me. The place is loaded with them. Unfortunately this is a deer hunt so the out of State hunter would need a nonresident big game license. Permits are easy to get, you purchase them online and they cover a three or four day weekend. It is a tough hunt in tough country, the worst the brush country can throw at you but there are a lot of hogs. I would say the same about the Laguna Atascosa NWR but it is a draw hunt and getting tougher to be drawn as there is a lot of interest in the nilgai that are included in the hunt. You cannot bait on either of these hunts but you can find daylight hogs. The hunt permit is $130 I believe but in that these are deer hunts, a nonresident license is $315.
Hogs can be hunted for as little as $48 on a five day nonresident license. If no fees for the hunt are paid and there is evidence of crop, pasture, or range damage; depredation hunts do not require a license.[hr]
1 A lot of landowners trap hogs rather than worry with hunters. These hogs are then run through local auctions and are bought by brokers that market them to hunting operations to replace what is being killed.