From Jefferson County, Tex. to Culpeper, Va., farmers, ranchers and landowners are counting on a new breed of hunter to face the challenge of winnowing down the feral hog population plaguing giant swathes of the Southwest, Southeast with recently reported sightings as far north as Wisconsin and as far west as California.

Those hunters are now heading to Texas after the state declared October "Get the Hogs Outta Texas" month.

After last year’s Hog Outta Texas Challenge, where the local government offered grants and other incentives to informal local militias of hunters to track down the pigs through traditional on-the-ground methods, Lone Star State politicians decided to step it up and lift a ban from shooting animals from helicopters.

This year they've given the green light for helicopters or “pork-choppers,” to enhance the effort –– adding a definite élan to this year's challenge running officially from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. And hunters are ponying up big bucks –– about $500 an hour –– for the privilege of participating.

The pigs are prolific –– reproducing every 115 days with up to 12 in a litter. Experts say shooting even 60 percent of them will only maintain the current population in Texas where they range from 2.6 to 3.9 million.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2011/09/29/pork-choppers-set-sights-on-hogs-wild/?test=faces#ixzz1ZRsFNThO

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2011/09/29/pork-choppers-set-sights-on-hogs-wild/?test=faces

That dude can afford two helicopters but not one scale.....weird.

Unfortunately only MrT is more afraid of helicopters than I am