Shorty I am not sure the Nebraska plan would really have much effect on the much more massive feral hog population in Texas, but heck what do I know? I read that an estimated 750,000-plus feral hogs have been killed each of the past few years in Texas. There are an estimated 2.6 million of them spread across at least 240 of Texas'254 counties.
The Nebraska plan was implemented here when just a few small pockets of feral hogs were known to be in the state, the plan squashed financial incentives for people releasing them into other areas of Nebraska for profit. Professional hunters were then hired to go after the existing small pockets of feral hogs we had. It might help if Texas simply outlawed landowners charging to hunt feral hogs and outlawed guided feral hog hunts. Something to think about.
Loaded shotguns in vehicles are against the law here, loaded rifles in vehicles on the other hand are quite legal. The exemption for loaded rifles in vehicles was written to allow ranchers go after coyotes and protect their cattle. Does Texas have similar law?
I guess it is different in Texas with regard to the $ issue. Most all land is private(98+%) and when hunting rights are leased it normally includes all game animals and varmints(yotes, pigs, etc). While there are a few hog hunts operations, most of those are hogs released in high fence areas. So there is VERY little financial benefit to most hogs hunts. Some try to recover some of there hunting lease money by offering hog hunts after deer season, but without a financial incentive they wouldn't be offered at all.
I have killed 100s of pigs and I don't see a solution to this problem, other than a disease once they get over populated. Most hunters take so few #s it really doesn't help, trapping works to a point, but it is VERY labor intensive and needs to be done year round to be effective. Most people don't live close enough to the land to do this. Helicopter hunts work well, but at $1000/hr they are not cost effective and have to be used on large tracks of land, several thousand acres.
