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Texas Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stephenville) has filed a bill, HB 836, that would legalize hunting feral hogs from a helicopter.

The proposition seems impractical to me, as feral hogs are nocturnal and furtive; but the entertainment value of watching anti-hunters' heads explode will be priceless.

- Jim

I have shot feral hogs from a chopper. I don't think it was illegal.

Quite fun actually.

The chopper pilot would skim along just over treetop and flush the pigs from the brush out into the open. We than shot them with a load of 12 ga buckshot. We would land, tie them to the skid, fly back to the ranch house, drop them in the yard for the hands to clean and fly out for some more.

Anygunanywhere

Oh man! Now that I finally got my pig rifle just like I want it, I've gotta buy a helicopter?

How am I going to talk the wife into this one?

anygunanywhere wrote:I have shot feral hogs from a chopper. I don't think it was illegal.

Anygunanywhere

It’s already legal with certain permits and licenses. (Licensed pilot and Land Owner Authorization permit).

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If I understand the bill correctly, it will allow “sportsmen?” the opportunity to engage in aerial gunning for hogs….which are classified as exotics in Texas. In years past…Feral Hogs were classified as Non-Game-Animals.

The “gunner” must hold a valid Texas hunting license unless the property is being “managed” for purposes of depredation.

Apache anyone? Hunting with a cobra gunship would bring a smile to my face.

sbb wrote:Apache anyone? Hunting with a cobra gunship would bring a smile to my face.

Talk about ammo cost sticker shock!!!

sbb wrote:Apache anyone? Hunting with a cobra gunship would bring a smile to my face.

Too close for missiles, switching to guns

At the risk of upsetting a bunch of folk, I am totally againt passing this bill. My problem lies with the shooters that make great lumberjacks. I can see a ton of hogs getting wounded and left to die. Not my idea of good hunting practices.

pistoleer44 wrote:At the risk of upsetting a bunch of folk, I am totally againt passing this bill. My problem lies with the shooters that make great lumberjacks. I can see a ton of hogs getting wounded and left to die. Not my idea of good hunting practices.

There is already a ton of wounded game left to die without this legislation. If you want to lessen the number of wounded game that is left to die there are ways to do so but not allowing this to pass is not it.

Anygunanywhere

Your right, there is quite a bit of injured animals left to die in the field. Ok, so let's pass legislation to so there can be more left to die.

My second tour in Nam, I was a gunner on a gunship. It is unreal how hard it is to place a killing shot from a vibrating chopper. I can see groups of people in choppers riding around shooting up the landscape and shooting at anything that moves.

When I hunt, I will only take shot that is a reasonabley clear shot with the 99% chance of a clean kill, and to pass a form of legislation to give a bunch of John Waynes a chance to shoot eveything that move, to me is not very sportsmanlike.

Like I said, I knew I would upset some folk, and I'm sorry.

I felt it had to be said.

pistoleer44 wrote:Your right, there is quite a bit of injured animals left to die in the field. Ok, so let's pass legislation to so there can be more left to die.

My second tour in Nam, I was a gunner on a gunship. It is unreal how hard it is to place a killing shot from a vibrating chopper. I can see groups of people in choppers riding around shooting up the landscape and shooting at anything that moves.

When I hunt, I will only take shot that is a reasonabley clear shot with the 99% chance of a clean kill, and to pass a form of legislation to give a bunch of John Waynes a chance to shoot eveything that move, to me is not very sportsmanlike.

Like I said, I knew I would upset some folk, and I'm sorry.

I felt it had to be said.

Opinions are like.....opinions.

The day we shot pigs from a chopper we lost no animals. All head shots, all meat recovered. The pilot was a Viet Nam combat pilot who was a private pilot for the man who owned the ranch, my late father's boss. The pilot later went to work for Bell in Dallas as an instructor and test pilot.

He would fly along sideways chasing the pigs while we were perched on the skid in an extended harness taking the shot. I glanced over at him and he had the stick that is between the legs (I do not know the proper terminology) clamped between his knees as he pointed out something. I climbed back in and demanded that he fly with both hands and that I could see what the piggies were doing thank you very much.

I do not like to hear of wounded game being abandoned either and despise the waste. I have expressed my disgust with other hunters for the practice of abandoning game.

My brother and I had all of the meat in his pickup and drove it back to Baytown. We stopped for gas just this side of San Antonio. The bed of the pickup was solid ice chests of venison and piggie. The individual next to us walked over and said "All of them full"?

"Yup" we say. "How did you do?" we add.

"Not worth a hoot. The jerks on the lease next to ours in Freer were shooting deer from a helicopter. We called the wardens but they didn't do nothing."

"That stinks" we said, looking at each other.

True story.

Anygunanywhere

I know this post will probably offend the majority of "Texas" hunters. I'm not trying to offend anyone, I just find a bit of humor in what "Texans" call hunting. I am not a hunter and grew up with a vegetarian father so I obviously have a different perspective. No, I am not a vegetarian and I am not a PETA representative! I grew up in Colorado and the most common hunting was for mule deer and the term "deer lease" was foreign to me.

Prior to moving to Texas, I took a hunting trip in the texas hill country with my father in law. (We were not off to a great start after this trip) I was shocked to see his elaborate deer lease with corn feeders and blinds. I couldn't believe it was legal to bait deer with corn and sit in a blind waiting for the perfect moment to shoot Bambie. Where is the sport in that? That felt like hunting exotic animals locked in cages at a zoo. After I watched my father in law take a deer I asked why he didn't wait for a larger deer. The size of Texas white tails in comparison to the Colorado mule deers was a shock too! I wasn't sure if we were hunting Peter Cotton Tail or Bambie?

I guess it all boils down to perspective. Colorado hunting was rough back country hiking, ATVs or horseback, and serious thought about if you could get this 300+ pound animal off the mountain after you shot it. Not pick-up trucks on trails, deer blinds, and corn feeders. I always thought hunting was about more than just a good shot, I thought it was about the experience. There was more than just shooting skills involved, you had to be a bit of an outdoorsman to survive the cold snow covered mountain terrain.

So now people want to hang out of a chopper and gun down animals in the name of "hunting" or call themselves "sportsman". What part of this is hunting or sportsman like? Please explain. I am not interested in arguing if shooting from a chopper should or should not be legal. If it can be done safely, the meat is recovered, and you have fun doing it then I say "Do it". I'm just not sure I would call it hunting. Just an opinion.

magicglock wrote: I am not a hunter and grew up with a vegetarian father so I obviously have a different perspective.

Obviously.

I did not say shooting feral pigs from a chopper was hunting.

Feral pigs are not a game animal. They destroy game habitat. They eat quail eggs and deer fawns. They are not a natural part of the fauna of Texas. If a landowner desires to rid his property of destructive non-game species it is no one else's business.

Most land in Texas is private as opposed to Colorado that is owned by the federal gubmint. Private landowner rights trump your opinion of what is proper.

Since you are an admitted non-hunter you have never hunted national forest in Texas. I have been shot at while hunting national forest. I will take lease hunting in Texas anyday over what you claim to be true hunting by true sportsmen.

Just bcause a 24,000 acre ranch (small ranch) is game fenced that does not mean that bagging a trophy is a given and is not a sport. It just does not meet your definition.

Anygunanywhere

magicglock wrote:I know this post will probably offend the majority of "Texas" hunters. I'm not trying to offend anyone, I just find a bit of humor in what "Texans" call hunting. I am not a hunter and grew up with a vegetarian father so I obviously have a different perspective. No, I am not a vegetarian and I am not a PETA representative! I grew up in Colorado and the most common hunting was for mule deer and the term "deer lease" was foreign to me.

Prior to moving to Texas, I took a hunting trip in the texas hill country with my father in law. (We were not off to a great start after this trip) I was shocked to see his elaborate deer lease with corn feeders and blinds. I couldn't believe it was legal to bait deer with corn and sit in a blind waiting for the perfect moment to shoot Bambie. Where is the sport in that? That felt like hunting exotic animals locked in cages at a zoo. After I watched my father in law take a deer I asked why he didn't wait for a larger deer. The size of Texas white tails in comparison to the Colorado mule deers was a shock too! I wasn't sure if we were hunting Peter Cotton Tail or Bambie?

I guess it all boils down to perspective. Colorado hunting was rough back country hiking, ATVs or horseback, and serious thought about if you could get this 300+ pound animal off the mountain after you shot it. Not pick-up trucks on trails, deer blinds, and corn feeders. I always thought hunting was about more than just a good shot, I thought it was about the experience. There was more than just shooting skills involved, you had to be a bit of an outdoorsman to survive the cold snow covered mountain terrain.

So now people want to hang out of a chopper and gun down animals in the name of "hunting" or call themselves "sportsman". What part of this is hunting or sportsman like? Please explain. I am not interested in arguing if shooting from a chopper should or should not be legal. If it can be done safely, the meat is recovered, and you have fun doing it then I say "Do it". I'm just not sure I would call it hunting. Just an opinion.

I understand your point of view. and do agree in part. i grew up hunting in the high country in Colo. Nev and Ca. and yes, when I got here in the mid '70s, hunting practices was a culture shock but I do believe it makes more sense here than in some states. Ca. tells you where to hunt, when to hunt. Here if you are fortunate enuf to get a lease or permission to hunt on someones land, you are lucky.

Me, I love to hunt and I kinda like that way it is here. Heck at almost 66 years young and disabled, walking and stomping thru the woods and over the mountain is a pipe dream.

You do post with authority.

Anygunanywhere

I can see no good coming from this. If it's legal for a landowner to protect HIS/HER property by shooting hogs over HIS/HER property from a helicopter, so be it. Commercializing the killing of hogs, or any other wild creature, from a helicopter can only provide unnecessary and bad publicity for the hunters and gun owners in our state. The anti-gunners don't know a feral hog from a buick and we don't need to be giving them fuel for their flames of hatred and
self-rightousness.

Agreed, hogs are a growing and dangerous nuisance (particularly in east Texas) and should be controlled somehow. IMO, the commercialized shooting of them from the sky ain't the way to go about it.