If you’re looking for high end Texas hunting, quality and personal service, you’ve come to the right place. At Texas Specialty Hunts we’ll give you the attention and personal service you’ll come to expect and enjoy.
We offer the best in Texas exotic hunting, helicopter pig hunting, Texas whitetail hunting , African game and Texas exotics. Our rates are competitive, with no hidden fees. Our employees are friendly and will be there to help you every step of the way.
Texas Specialty Hunts has been located in San Angelo since 1991. Let us put our experience to work for you.
We offer the best in Texas exotic hunting, helicopter pig hunting, Texas whitetail hunting , African game and Texas exotics. Our rates are competitive, with no hidden fees. Our employees are friendly and will be there to help you every step of the way.
Texas Specialty Hunts has been located in San Angelo since 1991. Let us put our experience to work for you.
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We offer the best in
"Dallas we have a problem"
Some cities have taken up abatement efforts. Earlier this year, Dallas leaders approved a three-year $347,000 contract with a trapping company that corrals pigs on city-owned land and sells them to a meat-processing plant in Fort Worth. The newspaper cautioned the city-slickers who wouldn't know a pig from a peacock. "Even if you're not a farmer, here's why you should be concerned: Feral hogs tear up lawns, parks and golf courses; they skulk around highways and train tracks; and they poop in our water supply. Estimates peg the number of wild pigs in the U.S. at 4 million or more — and somewhere between 2 million to 3 million are in our state." https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/01/09/texas-must-get-grip-wild-hog-problem Lodge #1
Lodge #2
Sports Bar & Dining Area
What you should know about Feral Hogs in Texas... And what we plan to do about it...
Wild hogs are among the most destructive invasive species in the United States today. Two million to six million of the animals are wreaking havoc in at least 39 states and four Canadian provinces; half are in Texas, where they do some $400 million in damages annually. There are now around 2.6 million hogs in Texas, more than anywhere else in the United States. Their foraging causes about $52 million in annual agricultural damage. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/a-plague-of-pigs-in-texas-737690 Helicopter Pig Hunting
Join our forces to combat these invasive species & book your hunt today! We offer the best in Helicopter pig hunting in Texas. Feral pigs are out of control we help private land owners with these invasive species. Our rates are competitive, with no hidden fees. Our employees are full-time professionals and will be there to help you every step of the way. Texas Helicopter Pig Hunting has over 2.5 million acres of private Texas land with ranches throughout the state to better serve our customer base. Let us put our experience to work for you. On our guided helicopter hog hunts in Texas, we offer 11 Helicopters to choose from, over two million acres of private land to hunt, and we always have Hogs to Hunt! We offer a Charter Service to help our Hunters with Logistics so that you don't have to worry about getting to and from your guided helicopter hog hunt in Texas. 27 years in the hunting business! A full-time staff and we hunt 7 days a week 365! We are the only full-time business that offers helicopter pig hunting in Texas and the whole United States. So book your Helicopter Hog Hunt today with confidence that every detail and effort will be made to make your hog hunt a success. If you’re looking for high quality and personal service, you’ve come to the right place. At Texas Helicopter Pig Hunting we’ll give you the attention and personal service you’ll come to expect and enjoy. Thank you for your business! Travis Wier President / CEO Texas Specialty Hunts / Helicopter Pig Hunting 214-707-5833 when you call i will be the person you are taking to FACT#1 : Reproduction of Feral Hogs
Feral hogs are capable of breeding at six months of age but eight to ten months is normal, provided there is good nutrition. Under poor habitat conditions, sows have been known to eat their young. Gestation is around 115 days with an average litter size of four to six, but under good conditions may have ten to twelve young. While capable of producing two litters per year, research has shown the majority of sows have only one per year. Young may be born throughout the year with peak production in the early spring. The young are born with a 1:1 male to female sex ratio. Feral hogs generally travel in family groups called sounders, comprised normally of two sows and their young. Mature boars are usually solitary, only joining a herd to breed. https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/nuisance/feral_hogs/ FACT#2 : Will they harm livestock or wildlife?
Feral hogs compete directly with livestock as well as game and nongame wildlife species for food. However, the main damage caused to livestock and wildlife is indirect destruction of habitat and agriculture commodities. Rooting and trampling activity for food can damage agricultural crops, fields, and livestock feeding and watering facilities. Often wildlife feeders are damaged or destroyed. They also destabilize wetland areas, springs, creeks and tanks by excessive rooting and wallowing. In addition to habitat destruction and alteration, hogs can destroy forestry plantings and damage trees. While not active predators, wild hogs may prey on fawns, young lambs, and kid goats. If the opportunity arises, they may also destroy and consume eggs of ground nesting birds, such as turkeys and quail. https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/nuisance/feral_hogs/ See why Fortune 500 clients keep coming back!
Call us today! 214-707-5833 Special Report: Heli-Hog Hunting
TYLER, Texas (KETK) - They eat your crops, dig up your fields, knock over fences, damage you're water facilities and they can even eat your livestock. This animal has cost the state of Texas almost $1 million in damage, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife says they're increasing in numbers. "It's a Feral Hog. Which is a domestic hog that's adapted and gone wild," said Silver Star Helicopters Owner, Kurt Ilse. He is a helicopter pilot who started guiding feral hog hunts in South Texas 15 years ago. Over time, he noticed an increase in business from farmers. "He went to harvest his crop, and he'd look down and notice he's missing 20 acres out of a field. Or 40 or 50. And some of these guys I know probably lost $30-50,000 worth of crops," said Ilse. Once he opened helicopter hunting up to the public, Ilse said his business skyrocketed. It was an economical way for farmers to fight their hog problem. A grain and rice farmer in El Campo, Kyle Heard said, "For about the last 10 to 12 years they've gotten really bad each year gets worse and worse. So we started helicopter huntin' over the last 3 to 4 years and it seems to work pretty good, but you can never stop all of them." Heard says this hunting method helps him protect his crops, but, it won't make up for the damage done. "We have between $15-30,000 a year depending on the crop and price of the grain every year. They really just devastate our crop," said Heard. Farmers from all over Texas started to report the same issue, which resulted in increased demands for hunting guides. Honest Tom Guiding Service Owner, Tom Stephenson said, "Hogs became a premier source of income for a while, for everybody's who's an outfitter. And people come from up North especially to hunt our wild hogs." Stephenson has 25 years of experience hunting hogs and is the president of three sport hunting companies. He says the feral hogs in Texas do nothing besides cost the state money. "Almost between $50 million and $100 million worth in damage to the state of Texas. By that I mean to crops, to fences, to wetlands, to pretty much everything," said Stephenson. The Texas Parks and Wildlife says the feral hogs were introduced to Texas by early Spanish explorers, over 300 years ago. Then, by the 1930's "Russian Boars" were imported for sport hunting purposes, and their population began to increase. "Hogs maybe in the last 5 years, have gone up almost 30 percent in population," said Stephenson. Stephenson said out of 254 counties, 200 of them have wild hogs. "You've got a mounting population. Even though in the state of Texas, we kill 600,000 a year. They're increasing every year," said Stephenson. The Texas Parks and Wildlife says feral hogs are capable of breeding at 6 months of age and can have up to 10 to 12 young. They say the problem is finding out how to control them. Texas Parks and Wildlife Hunter Education Coordinator, Steve Hall said, "Much like the coyote, they've really adapted well to the habitat, and essentially again they're a prolific species, meaning they have lots of young and it's hard to control." Hall has been teaching Hunter Education in Texas for 26 years, and he says he understands the trouble they stir up on Texas soil. So as far as killing them goes, the Texas Parks and Guiding services are giving hunters 'the green light.' "Someone got the bright idea, not me, to do hunting out of helicopter. And when they first started doing it, it really really worked," said Stephenson. They say it's a popular way to hunt right now in South Texas, but the hogs are getting smarter and smarter. In the past, he had one trip where they wound up with 400 hogs down. Now they are getting at five, at most. "They've gotten very smart and they've adapted. They come out at night and head into the woods early in the morning," said Ilse. He says helicopter hog hunting in their area is easier due to the open crop land and fields. But, in East Texas it's much more difficult. "The problem they've got is that it's so wooded and the trees are so high the pigs can get away from them so easy," said Ilse. Isle says he doesn't know how they will find a way to control their feral hog population. "East Texas, I really feel for those people because they are going to have a problem in trying to catch the pigs because it's so wooded. You can't get in with a helicopter. And the helicopter really seems to be like the most effective way to control them," said Ilse. In the state of Texas, there's no limit on hog hunting and they're a Non-game species. "You can hunt them in day, you can hunt them at night, you can trap them, you can bait them, you can do all these things but you're still not going to eliminate the problem," said Stephenson. "There's a joke that goes around that says there's two types of counties in Texas, there's those that have hogs and those that will have hogs," said Hall. So what can we do to solve the feral hog problem in Texas? They say poison is not an option because the hogs live with other wildlife. At the rate their population is multiplying, it's going to be hard for the state to regulate. In the end, hunter officials say it's up to the people take action. "You're not going to eliminate the hog problem, but what you can do is through this kind of hunting, through sport hunting, helicopter hunting. The Texas Parks and Wildlife has a program they will try and help you eradicate your hog problem. I'm not saying it works, but it does keep them down," said Stephenson. http://www.easttexasmatters.com/news/special-report-heli-hog-hunting/500566036 According to a recent study, about 134 million acres, or 79 percent of the state total of 170 million acres, is feral hog habitat. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service graphic courtesy of the Texas A&M University Institute for Renewable Natural Resources) Until recently, if anyone tried to tell you how many feral hogs there are in Texas, they were just blowing smoke, according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service wildlife biologist. "When it comes to feral hogs in Texas, separating fact from fiction is becoming a little easier as research reveals more about the pesky porcines," said Dr. Billy Higginbotham, AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist. "There remains much we don't know about this exotic that has inhabited our state for the past 450 years." Highest ranking among the myths are estimates of the actual number of feral hogs in Texas, Higginbotham said. A common number that has been bantered about for years is 1 to 4 million. But there was just no data to support this estimate. That is, there wasn't until Dr. Roel Lopez, associate director of the Texas A&M University Institute for Renewable Natural Resources, recently used geographic information system procedures to turn the guesstimates into reliable estimates, said Higginbotham, who collaborated with Lopez on the study. The term "geographic information systems," usually simply called GIS, refers to a procedure that involves diverse data gathering means, from on-the-ground GPS referenced data to satellite to historical records, and organizes it geographically. "A simpler way to put it is that it's just a electronic map," Lopez said. Using GIS techniques, Lopez was able to quantify first the extent of the feral hog habitat in Texas. He estimates that "approximately 134 million acres, or 79 percent of the state's 170 million acres, represents feral hog habitat," said Higginbotham. By knowing the range of feral hog habitat and the species population density in various types of Texas environments, Lopez also came up with a population estimate that has some meat to it, Higginbotham said. Lopez estimates that the actual number could range from a low of 1.9 million to a high of 3.4 million. Exaggerated claims of feral hog population-growth rates are a related myth. Many of the population guesstimates are based on a purely arbitrary number of hogs in Texas being set at 1 million in the 1970s. This number, which also had no research basis, is then often extrapolated on using another bit of misinformation: That because of feral hogs' high birth rates, their population is doubling every year. So what are the facts? A 2011 consolidation of past studies done by his graduate student, Janell Mellish, the average litter size in Texas and the Southeast is 5.6 pigs, Lopez said. It is also known, that on average, a sow is about 13 months old when she has her first litter, and that also on average, mature sows have 1.5 litters per year. This means there is a significant population growth rate, but a far cry from the doubling-yearly myth, Lopez said. "We estimated the population growth of feral hogs in Texas averages between 18 percent to 20 percent annually," Lopez said. "This means that it would take almost five years for a population to double in size if left unchecked." The study, which was conducted by Lopez and Mellish, used three methods to estimate feral pig population growth in Texas: the statewide number of aerial permits issued for shooting feral hogs; the number of pigs processed in commercial processing facilities; and feral hog control data made available from U.S. Department of Agriculture-Wildlife Services. A common myth is that it's possible to identify the breed of a given feral hog by its color and markings. "Hogwash," said a Texas AgriLife Extension Service wildlife specialist. (Texas AgriLife Extension Service photo by Dr. Billy Higginbotham) Another common myth is that recreational hunting alone can control feral hog populations, Higginbotham said. "Of the dozen studies conducted across the nation, hunting removes between 8 percent and 50 percent of a population, with an average of 24 percent across all studies," he said. "In order to hold a population stable with no growth, 60 to 70 percent of a feral hog population would have to be removed annually." Another myth is that it's possible to identify the breed of a given feral hog by its color markings. "Today's feral hogs are descended from domestic breeds, Eurasian wild boars and, of course, hybrids of the two," Higginbotham said. "But despite claims to the contrary, simply observing the color patterns, hair characteristics and size cannot let you definitively identify which of the three types and individual hog falls into." One thing about feral hogs is definitely not a myth - the huge amount of damage they do to crops, wildlife habitat and landscapes, Higginbotham said. And from all indications, the damage they do is expanding in scope and range. "Feral hogs were once largely a rural or agricultural issue in Texas, inflicting over $52 million in damage annually," he said. "But the porkers have literally moved to town and are now causing significant damage in urban and suburban communities. This damage includes the rooting of landscapes, parks, lawns, golf courses, sports fields and even cemeteries, as they search for food. It has been estimated that a single hog can cause over $200 damage annually." The $200-per-hog estimate doesn't include the damage feral hogs do as they compete with other wildlife species, such as whitetail deer, for food and habitat, he noted. And some of the species challenged by feral hog invasions are endangered species. It's important to keep in perspective that the bottom line is not an actual hog-head count, but the damage they do and how to develop ways to reduce it. "For those landowners actively engaged in deer management, their tolerance of feral hogs should be very, very low," Higginbotham said. "Can we (significantly) reduce the damage feral hogs do through control efforts? The answer is 'absolutely yes.' "Texas AgriLife Extension Service has demonstrated that through education and outreach and Wildlife Services-led control efforts, damage can be significantly reduced by control efforts," he said. "In a 2006-07 study funded by the Texas Department of Agriculture, agricultural damage was reduced by 66 percent via control efforts in just two years." Since 2007, subsequent studies done by AgriLife Extension and again funded by the state's department of agriculture confirmed that control measures such as trapping and shooting "prevented millions of dollars in damage by reducing feral hog populations," he said. "Landowners remain the first line of defense since Texas is 95 percent privately owned land," Higginbotham said. "This means arming the public with Best Management Practices and using various legal control methods to abate the damage by reducing feral hog populations." For more information on feral hogs, visit the AgriLife Extension website, "Coping with Feral Hogs," at http://feralhogs.tamu.edu . -- By https://www.realtree.com/big-game-hunting/news/myth-busting-feral-hogs-in-texas Burns |
