Guadalupe County will pay people to hunt feral hogs

Guadalupe County officials voted to put a bounty on feral hogs in an effort to eliminate 2,000 hogs in the county. Guadalupe County officials voted to put a bounty on feral hogs in an effort to eliminate 2,000 hogs in the county. Photo: Shannon Tompkins /Houston Chronicle Photo: Shannon Tompkins /Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close Guadalupe County will pay people to hunt feral hogs 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

Feral hog tails will soon be valued at $5 a pop in Guadalupe County.

The county commissioners court voted Tuesday morning to put a bounty on feral hogs in an effort to eliminate 2,000 hogs in the county.

"I know at the extension office, we get a lot of calls on feral hog control and the problems and the damages and things that they do cause," County Extension Agent Travis Franke said at a March commissioners meeting.

The county applied for and received a $15,000 grant from the Texas A&M Agrilife Service for feral hog control. The grant will fund a number of feral hog management activities, including $5,000 toward the bounty expenses. The county will fund the other $5,000.

For hunters, the $5 fee is essentially expected to reimburse expenses for bounty hunters, not to foster a competition.

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Hunters cannot intentionally breed feral hogs just for the program. They cannot bring in hogs from outside county borders. They have to dispose of the animal carcasses. They can only harvest during the eligible period. They must provide the hog's tail to the county as evidence.

"Just because we give a bounty doesn't mean people can come from out of town and go hunting wherever they want. It doesn't mean that they can dump hogs on the side of the road. That's illegal whether we have a bounty or not," County Judge Kyle Kutscher said in the meeting Tuesday.

From Hogzilla to Monster Pig, see photos of some of the biggest hogs ever caught on camera. From Hogzilla to Monster Pig, see photos of some of the biggest hogs ever caught on camera. Photo: Photo Illustration Photo: Photo Illustration Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Huge hogs caught in Texas 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

A start date has not yet been established, but Franke said he anticipates the paperwork will be in place by the middle of July.

It's not an ideal time of year for hog hunting, so any leftover funds can be put toward trapping or other containment efforts.

If the program is successful, county commissioners expressed interest in growing the program in the future.

S. M. Chavey is a staff writer for mySA.com. Read more of her stories here. | sarah.chavey@express-news.net | 210-250-3122 | Twitter: @smchavey