BACON MONEY: Hog bounties double in some Texas counties

Feral hogs destroy millions of dollars in crops, pastures, and levee systems every year as the fast-breeding non-native species literally plows across the country. Some counties in Texas are now desperate enough that they’re doubling the bounty paid to hunters for every beast killed:

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Hunters, get the guns ready.

Several counties in Texas are more than doubling the bounty on feral hogs in a revamped effort to cut down the population of destructive pigs.

There’s an estimated 2.5 million feral hogs throughout Texas. Since they are not native, they have no natural predators and reproduce at a rapid pace.

Caldwell and Hays counties are both upping the bounty hunters receive for hog tails.

Hog hunter Bubba Ortiz removed 469 hogs from within the city of San Antonio last year.

“They’re in neighborhoods now,” he said. “Georgetown has a problem. Round Rock has a problem. Austin’s outer areas have a problem. San Antonio has an inner city problem now, and if nothing is done about it, it’s going to grow and get worse.”

The feral hog problem is in no way limited to Texas.

feral-hog-range

The species has become entrenched across most of the southern half of the United States and is pushing their boundaries every year.

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