Bad bacon: killer hogs threaten to take over Texas!

Chambers County, Texas - In what can only be described as an invasion, Texas has had to pay professional hunters to help rid the state of feral hogs. Now locals are hosting safaris for tourists who pay to pick off the dangerous animals.

Experienced Texas hunter John T. Sherman shared this photo of a captured feral hog.
Experienced Texas hunter John T. Sherman shared this photo of a captured feral hog.  © John T. Sherman

At about six in the morning on a foggy rural road, a school bus shuddered to a stop. The driver realized she had hit something BIG.

When she got out to see if she had accidentally killed a farmer's cow, she was both relieved and shocked to see a massive wild pig laying on the road.

With the bus undamaged, she backed up and went on down the road for her last pickup. By the time she drove by the same spot five minutes later, the nearly 400 pound hog was in the back of a neighbor's pick-up truck, having been picked up by a group of locals who won't let good meat go to waste. This is a great bounty in east Texas.

Blind dog down on his luck finds well-deserved happy ending
Dogs Blind dog down on his luck finds well-deserved happy ending

"That's a biggin'," is the Southern expression for an outsized feral hog, and unfortunately, the majority of the hogs that have been tearing up crucial marshland and pastureland, and even killing livestock, are all "biggin's."

Locals, however, are cashing in on the general situation, with new businesses popping up advertising hog hunting by boat, ATV, and even helicopter for out-of-state tourists who want an American safari experience.

There is little regulation on these ventures, and for the inexperienced, engaging with the animals can prove dangerous.

Is the danger worth the risk?

"Rooting," or digging up the ground, damages massive swaths of the ecosystem, resulting in erosion, drained swampland, and habitat destruction (stock image).
"Rooting," or digging up the ground, damages massive swaths of the ecosystem, resulting in erosion, drained swampland, and habitat destruction (stock image).  © 123RF / Zoran Orcik

According to one anonymous hunter, who was paid by the state of Texas to help control the hog population, hog hunting is a lot riskier without having equally powerful dogs to protect you. It makes sense, as increasing numbers of the animals are growing larger than 300 pounds.

Though controlling the wild pig population is crucial for the environment, John T. Sherman, another long-time hunter in Texas, shared a photo of a captured hog that shows they're not all killed for sport. Many females are also captured and used to breed heartier livestock.

"A few years ago I saw one that was probably over 500 pounds. I didn't shoot him because I knew he was too big for me to handle by myself. I was hunting alone and didn't want it to go to waste," Sherman shared about his experience in the field.

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True Texans would never let the animals go to waste, with restaurants even listing wild hog on the menu.

Sherman said the hogs "make great sausage and pulled pork sandwiches. My cousin comes down from Pennsylvania every year to hunt them with me. This year he went home with over 350 pounds. It makes really good hamburger meat!"

Saving the environment and having a delicious dinner: that's one way to kill two birds, or rather hogs, with one stone!

Cover photo: John T. Sherman

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