Was born & raised in TX, and even though I don't live there any more I go back every year to visit friends and family (and do a little hunting--mostly waterfowl, but ALWAYS a pig or two in the mix somewhere)...My experience is that it is pretty easy to gain access for hog hunting if you stay away from the famed "deer lease" country or big-bucks hunting operation areas (double meaning fully intended)...Hunters with local ties obviously fare much better at gaining access, because rightfully-so owners mostly just want to be assured that it's someone who is safe and can be trusted on their property & who knows what they're doing - successful hog hunting (apart from an easy sit at the corn feeder) is an art unto itself!
Farmers & ranchers HATE these demons!!! It is hard to imagine their ability for massive property destruction and the immense scope of the problem until you have witnessed it with your own eyes!!! The area where I lived in east TX a few years back - it ceased to be fun any more & became all-out war!!!...It was very common for neighbors & ranchers to kill 100-200 hogs a year off each of their individual places & that didn't even make a dent in the population - like fire ants, all you can do is try to keep them whittled down & hold them at bay! I know one guy with a large farm where I grew up that grows corn, peas, ect. for a living - he killed over 500 hogs on his place in one year (once even poisoning over 75 in one night, all of them laying dead the next morning at the end of his corn rows) - do you think he would be all-that-opposed to a little help???
Farmers/ranchers serious about anything even remotely approaching eradication - trap them, hunt them with dogs, & let responsible hunters have at em' all they want! One of the newest tactics is a "Judas Pig" wearing an orange radio collar - guys turn em' loose to go hang with the herd & then follow "Judas" right to the slaughter - everyone going out of their way not to shoot the orange-collared Judas pig so he can go herd back up with the pack & then the boys can hit em hard again in a few days!!!
Introducing these things into the wild was one of the WORST, most IRRESPONSIBLE/IRREVERSIBLE things ever done in the wildlife arena!!! City townships in the Dallas & Houston outlying suburbs even have problems with them now! My son was taking out the trash to the apartment dumpster in the middle of Tyler one night & a hog came flying out of the dumpster and nearly knocked him over!
As to hunting--we have hunted them a lot at night with night vision and/or spotlights with great success - what a BLAST!!! My personal daytime favorite is stalking up on a herd point-blank (5-10 yds away) & seeing how many I can cut down with a plugless shotgun full of buckshot before they get away - my personal best was 4 before the gun jammed!...Heck, I even had for-real hard-core "redneck" neighbors that hunted them on horseback with dogs & instead of using a knife or spear while the dogs had em' pinned - actually grabbed em' by the hind legs, tied em up & then trailered and sold em at market or to commercial hunting operations - definitely not for the faint of heart!
ONE FOOLPROOF HOG TACTIC FOR THE AVERAGE JOE HUNTER: Find an area where pigs frequent, dig a couple holes 3 ft deep with post hole diggers & fill them with a mixture of corn, molasses, BEER, and/or 'Hog Wild' (can be found at any Cabela's/Bass Pro/GM or Wal-Mart hunting section in the south)...Let the hogs start workin it real good for a couple days & then sit downwind in your pre-planned "blind"! It works really good because the pigs have to work at it & can't wipe it out in one day (or a few minutes) like a bait pile laying on top of the ground. They will spend hours digging unbelievable holes in the ground - we even killed 4 hogs one nite like this as they kept coming back 3 times before they got wise to it!
Don't let anybody fool you though - hogs are some of the SMARTEST animals on earth once they are onto the game - they will not enter a trap for a long time after several have been captured (the older, wiser ones maybe never) & they will disappear for weeks at a time when shot up real good (though eventually they will ALWAYS come back)!
Good luck to all & have at em boys!!! PLEASE do mother nature a favor and KILL EVERY ONE YOU POSSIBLY CAN!!!
