Texas hog hunting?

[chuck-ia]

Have a friend who is going to winter in Texas, I believe around Mission Texas. Him and his friend are talking about going hog hunting. I am curious as to what kind of hogs there are in that part of the state, the one guy calls them wild boar. What does one need to hunt hogs in Texas, liscense wise? Not sure if they will be using muzzleloaders or hi-power. thanks, flinch

 

[Mountainman56]

No license, no limit. You can stack em up like cordwood if you want and you can shoot em with anything that will kill em but they don't always die easily. Depending on where you are and depending on who you get to know the cost of the hunt will vary. Some farmers and ranchers are just glad to have somebody help get rid of them.

 

[FishDFly]

Mountainman56,

You are partially wrong.

If you "pay" to hunt, you must possess and carry a valid Texas hunting license while hunting. With out it, you will be written a ticket and pay a fine.

If you are paying to hunt hogs, the landowner must possess and pay for a permit to the State for his lease permit. Without it, the landowner will be fined.

I attend numerous semiars on hogs and the Game Wardens are very clear. You can hunt hogs for free and you do not have to have a Texas Hunting License, if you pay for the right to hunt, it requires a license.

If you born after a certain date, you must have attended a Hunter Safety course as well.

RDE
Leon County, TX

 

[John Wasmuth]

Thats true, lota people dont understand how it works in Texas. Yes you can kill hogs for free in Texas as long as you own the land, or the land owner, or his agent, has you killing hogs for him and they are killed for being a pain in the neck.
Texas is 97% private property and road hunting and tresspassing on private property are both crimes. You must have writen permission to tresspass upon private property, No one can just pull off the side of the road and go hunting on some one elses property, its a crime. 3% of Texas is public property and there are places were the public can hunt, however many of them require a special permit for a fee and all of them require a hunting license.
If you pay to hunt you have to have a license, the land owner or his agent must have a lease license, with out those, it is a crime. Many ranches charge fees for hunting hogs, or anything else for that matter. Hunting is a huge industry in the state of Texas and people pay from small amounts to extreme amounts to hunt in Texas. There are some affordable places to hunt. There is, for nonresidents, a special 5 day nongame license that runs about $45.00 or so that is good for exotics, hogs, and some varmits and it is good for five consecutive days of hunting. There are no limits on wild hogs in Texas and you can kill as many as you can afford to. You can hunt hogs 24/7/365 on private property. You can spot light them, use bait, use dogs, and traps on private property. Public hunting areas have different rules and each area has its own unique rules set up by Texas Parks and Wildlife. If you are hunting on public land, hunter orange is mndatory. Any person under the age of 17 is not required to have a hunters safety certificate if they are hunting with a licensed adult. Any person between 12 and 17 must have a hunters safety certificate in their possession if they are hunting by themselves, and a person born after september of 1971 must have a hunters safety certificate in their possession to hunt, unless it falls under the 12 to 17 situation. I hope that helps. Have your friend check with
these people prior to heading out. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/
The fines for game law violations are stiff here.

 

[Mountainman56]

Sorry flinch. Obviously old mountainman don't know what the hell he's talkin about. I know in Pecos county it would be awful hard to get fined shooting hogs. Mostly they shoot them from helicopters just to get rid of them.

 

[John Wasmuth]

Mounatinman, no one wrote that you didnt know what you were talking about. It was simply pointed out that a person can wind up in a very costly situation if they just go wandering around in Texas shooting hogs with out permission or a license. Bad things can happen in a hurry if a land owner is not in agreement with some one tresspassing and hunting on thier land. Texas prosecutes game violations with an iron fist.

 

[Mountainman56]

:haha: No honest. I didn't mean for you to think I was taking offense. I really didn't know what the hell I was talking about (this is unfortunately not the first time this has happened either). I never stopped to think there was a difference when you charge for a hunt. I just don't know anybody around her that does..... :hmm: .......maybe I should look into this further.

 

[John Wasmuth]

Didnt take it as offensive sir, it's just that Texas law requires certain things that other states don't. I used to do a lot of hog hunting out at Ft. Stockton, great hunting, tons of hogs. And most of the land owners would give permission to tresspass for the purpose of killing everyone of them you could find. Over here in the hill country is a whole different ball of wax. It's all pay to hunt, usually hogs are killed while hunting some other type of exotic or during deer season. Several years ago Texas figured out that ranchers were making a fair amount of money leasing their property to hunters, so in true Texas tradition they figured they had to make a fair amount of money as well, so the introduced the lease license, which is charged by the amount of land you are leasing to hunters. Even the exotic only operations have to have it, I have to buy one every year, which forces me to add the cost onto the lease to the hunters. Texas is one of those places where property does not have to be fenced or posted for a person to be arrested and charged with Criminal Tresspass, and the fine and jail time go up for the possession of a firearm while tresspassing. The no license for hogs came about around 2004 due to the hog population being a magor pain in the neck, but the stipulations are that if you lease out the property for the purposes of hunting, a lease license is needed. If your killing them as an agent of the land owner, or acting as an agent, then you wouldnt need to have a license, but as in destructive fur bearers, they stay where they lay, unless a person holds a trappers license. Several years ago I had to have two hunters taken into custody that were driving down the road, saw a nice 8 point standing in my pasture and shot him from the truck, then hopped over the fence to collect him. Both of them were charged with killing a whitetail deer on private property with out the written permission of the land owner, a state jail felony, they were charged with criminal tresspass w/firearm, a class A misdomeanor, and discharging a firearm from a public road way. Several thousands of dollars later, and 18 months in a state jail, plus civil restitution to the people of the state of Texas, plus civil restitution to me, and they were no longer allowed to hunt in the state of Texas for 5 years. Had it been exotic or a hog, the civil restitution to me would have gone from a $75.00 hog to a $1,000.00 trophy boar in about 30 seconds. As old Gizz said to young Jerimiha Johnson, "This is crow land and they dont take kindly to tresspassin". So as was said, you were partially right, but to be sure and avoid some costly problems, always check with TXPW, cuz them game wardens can be some pesky individuals! Are we still friends?

 

[Mountainman56]

Are we still friends?


Come see me, we'll go hog huntin. Then we'll find out for sure. :rotf:

I appreciate the information. I guess I'll just have to keep taking my friends hunting for free to save on the hassle. :cursing:

 

[John Wasmuth]

:rotf: Sounds like a plan!

 

[44-henry]

Sounds like the poachers got what they deserved, but it does make me wonder how many people in your state can't hunt because they can't afford to. North Dakota has started to get more commercialized with hunting land, but fortunately there are still plenty of places to hunt. Hopefully it doesn't get the the point where hunting is just a rich mans sport as it became in many places historically.

 

[chuck-ia]

Thanks for the info. I am sure he will do some checking into the law when he gets there this fall. flinch

 

[FishDFly]

The law on feral hog trapping in Texas is about to change with some drastic changes, which can get a person in trouble if they do not know the new changes.

Previously a lot of people trapped hogs and would move them about to where they liked (seeding a new hunting area/stocking for deer leasers) or to a place where they would fatten them up prior to butchering.

In the future, live female hogs can only be moved to or sold to a "certifed" receiving station which must be double fenced and licensed by the State.

Hunting preserves can only receive male hogs which are to be turned loose on the land. The land must be fenced with hog wire to contain the hogs. It will be illegal to turn female hogs loose in the State.

These changes are an attempt to bring the hog population in control. There are an estimated 3 million feral hogs in Texas and the number is growing.

With the above changes, you can count on the cost of hog hunting in Texas will increase.

RDE

 

[rabbit03]

Dang Richard, I think you just solved the Immigration problem! :thumbsup:

With the exception of course being that you can't hunt them.

rabbit03

 

[Mountainman56]

Sounds like the poachers got what they deserved, but it does make me wonder how many people in your state can't hunt because they can't afford to. North Dakota has started to get more commercialized with hunting land, but fortunately there are still plenty of places to hunt. Hopefully it doesn't get the the point where hunting is just a rich mans sport as it became in many places historically.

This is a real problem in Texas as like was said earlier, most of the land is privately owned. This was a real eye opener for me coming from Western Canada where I had literally thousand of square miles of open range to hunt in. I've lucked into a real deal here though where I have over 6400 acres of free unlimited access to some very good hunting for whitetail, mule deer, hogs, turkey, dove and quail. Because of this every year I try to invite a few people with limited or no hunting access to come and join me on a no cost hunt. In fact I met someone last year through this forum and we have since become good friends due to our shared interest in blackpowder and hunting. He will be joining me again this year during deer season whether he knows it or not. :wink:

 

[Homesteader]

I've got a small amount of land, but it seems to be prime hunting ground. Rabbit, turkey, deer galore...

A fellah asked me to hunt it last year. I told him that's fine, as long as he was careful about my tractor, my partially built cabin, and my canvas tent. He said he would be.

And the next time I went up there I found a bullet hole straight through my tent that shattered a rather expensive water crock and the globe of a pressure lantern. That was it. It didn't matter to me if it was him or a buddy of his, he abused the courtesy I extended him to hunt on my land, and that ended it.

I posted that weekend, contacted the DNR to tell them it's off limits, and thus far have no reason to change my mind. It's another case of a bad apple or two spoiling things for everyone else. Now only friends and I hunt my land. Got nothing to do with being rich-man's preserve ('cause I sure ain't rich!), it's got everything to do with abuse. I think that's more common than you might think.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If the fellow who you gave permission to for hunting the land was responsible for the vandalism, he should pay for the damages. Have you asked him how the hole got through your tent and expensive crock? He and his friend may have hunted the ground and never fired a shot. If that is the case, then you have accused, tried and convicted an innocent man, on no evidence at all! It is very sad to say, but there are slob hunters, and vandals roaming the woods all the time, and its rare for some kind of damage not to visit property that is unattended. A friend's LLama was shot through the neck one day, and no one was around to see who fired the shot. From where he was or could get close to the road it was a 200 yard shot at least. She reported the shooting the sheriff, who didn't even send out a deputy to make a report.

However, some kids got to bragging in the local high school about shooting this llama, and were overheard by a young lady who reported them to the principal. The three boys not only confessed to shooting the LLama, but to knocking down her mail box at least 5 times over the past 6 years. They shot the Llama because the most recent attempt to break her mailbox resulted in the kid swinging the metal bar out the car window suffering a compound fracture of his arm. Seems my friend had hired some men to sink a large steel pipe into the ground, fill it with cement, then build a wood box around the pipe, and fill the gap between wood and pipe with cement. Then the built a 3 inch surround over her standard mailbox, and filled it with steel reinforcing rod, and more concrete. seems that when the steel bar hit the mailbox this time, the box said, " NO you don'T! right back at them.

The kids went to juvenile court, and the judge put them in juvenile jail for 6 months. My friend had absolutely no way to know who had been knocking over her mailbox, over the years, and those crimes would have gone unsolved until these three kids confessed. They missed their High School Graduation, BTW, sitting in jail. And, the parents thought the judge was picking on their poor baby boys, and showed absolutely no shame for what their kids had done to my friend. And, there has been no offer to repay her for the expenses she has incurred, much less the vet bill for the LLama. He survived, with a lucky flesh wound to the neck. The bullet managed to pass through the skin leaving both and entrance and exit hole, but not penetrating the throat or blood vessels at all. He helps to guard a flock of sheep she owns.

 

[Mountainman56]

Aren't people wonderful. It never ceases to amaze me just how far so many parents have allowed their children to regress in the last 20 years.

Like the famous quote: "I love humanity, it's the people I can't stand."

 

[paulvallandigham]

The incident surely explains why we have kids doing crime, doesn't it. It doesn't matter what ethnic background, or color, or religious preference, or whether the family lives in a city or in the country, if parents don't instill values in their children, and teach them that there are consequences from the FAMILY if they do something wrong that harms someone else, IN ADDITION to whatever society metes out, and even if the kids are never " Caught " and brought to justice, kids grow like weeds.

One of the reasons that American kids of Asian descent have such low crime-involvment rates is because the families are very tight knit, and children are taught from the very earliest of ages that any wrong they do not only brings shame on them, but on the family. UNfortunately, as these immigrants become more Americanized, family also becomes less important and involvement in gangs, and crime rise. That is not always the case, of course, So that Asian criminals are still far below their percentage of the total population, as are the proportion of European Americans to their percentage of the population as a whole.

The good news is that there is finally a rising percentage of middle and upper class Black Americans who are quietly showing everyone that black kids can be raised to be good, go to school, look to education as the way UP, and succeed. They are not well-represented within the black leadership of the politics of this country, yet, but that will change. Hispanics are a diverse group, and while there are certain groups that have too much involvement in gangs, there can be no generalization that applies to all people of hispanic origin in this country. IN the 1950s, it was " puerto rican " gangs in the cities. Lately, its been the " mexican Mafia". We had the "Marialitas from Cuba" " 25 years ago, but the Cuban American community in Miami and greater Florida quickly turned on these criminals. Now, the west coast, and the border states are dealing with gangs with origins in Honduras, and Guatamala, as well as Mexican drug gangs. YOu don't see a lot of black American crime in the rural South. Mostly, that kind of crime is urban, and mostly located in Northern cities.

But, regardless of ethnicity, the one common factor in determining crime rates is what is the status of the family, and how does the family instill values in the children. :hmm:

When my first wife and I were assistant public Defenders, we analyzed our files for a couple of years, to determine how many " repeat " clients we had, how often, and how many of them came from the same families. While the numbers of families that were constantly involved in crime was relatively low in number, they were responsible for a lot of crime.

We also found, after an exhaustive analysis that there were two common characteristics about our poor criminals that affected them becoming criminals. They had NO interest in any creative hobbies, or exposure to them, and they had NO PETS. In Middle class America, hobbies are everywhere, and kids are taught to respect themselves and others by being complimented by what they make, or build. Taking care of a pet teaches responsibility to kids to the pet, to their families, and to others.

I note that only because the most successful rehab programs now going on in any of our nation's prison systems are the few involving teaching inmates to take care of and train pets. :hmm:

I fear that the only "lesson " these 3 kids learned was to keep their mouth's shut the next time they commit a crime! As much as it feels good to know a Judge was " tough " with them, I would rather the judge have been tough on the parents. I think it would do more good.

 

[Homesteader]

...you have accused, tried and convicted an innocent man...

Fortunately, the rules for evidence & "conviction" are rather more lenient in regards to favors I mete out on land I own than they are in a court of law. There were no such incidents before I gave him permission to hunt there, and have been none since I rescinded that permission.

Circumstantial? Sure. So what? To paraphrase my Dad: "My land, my rules."

BTW, his silence spoke volumes.