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There aren’t enough to hunt.
Back when the DNR thought pigs were going to destroy WI, they published a list of farmers who had reported pigs and pig damage. The list was so you could contact them and ask permission to hunt.
I contacted three of the 5 and they all wanted $150 to hunt the evil pig.
I laughed, told them I hoped the pigs destroyed their entire property, and stopped trying to hunt pigs in WI.
Pigs are a scam, in every state that you can hunt them.
They are there, but if they were such a problem, access would be easier and there would be a bounty.
If pigs were so terrible, and cost so much, put a $200 bounty on them.
People would make pig eradication their job and it would work.
Now it is just a way for landowners and states to make money.
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As someone who was a property owner in SW Ga up until a few years ago, I will respectfully disagree with you. Most of the places where it is really bad, the farmers will just let you do it. We would just drive around at night and shoot any we saw. Most of the farmers were very grateful we were doing it. That being said, these were folks that had known our group for years/decades. They trusted us. I wouldn't be shocked if they didn't let some random yahoos go shooting up their property at night. That being said, driving around the counties, You'd see one group of hogs completely destroy acres of corn/other food in less than a week's time. For those who actually farm, if your area has a real hog problem then you are proper fucked. As for a bounty working, well maybe.
There are counties that have bounty programs set up, but due to the breeding frequency(One female can become 200 pigs in about two years) and how quickly hogs are able to have their first heat, it's basically impossible to control the population once they get a foothold. Not to mention the cost for a lot of these poor rural counties would not be able to support paying $200 per hog as that would cost them hundreds of thousands without even making a dent in the population. Texas has an estimated 2 million wild hogs right now. They could have hunters out 24/7 and they still would never be able to control the population. I remember reading a study that found that you would need to kill 75% of mature hogs every year just to keep the numbers stable. Not shrinking mind you, but stable.
Farmers up here view hogs as similar to deer or other wildlife. They think it's something they can charge non-locals for to make some extra money and it won't affect their farming. As of now, we don't have the numbers here to really see a lot of damage, so that mentality doesn't surprise me. I pray to god they don't take hold up here, cuz they will straight ruin a lot of small farms.
Edit: I should add that there are a lot of property owners out there who have turned hog hunting into a business and make good money on it, but to say that it's scam everywhere that it's legal is just not correct.