Yee-Haw, God Bless Texas

[genlock]

HOUSTON — Texas has been messed with, and now it’s sending in the helicopters.

Starting today, Texans are taking their ceaseless fight against feral pigs to the skies, thanks to the Texas “Pork Chopper” bill, signed by Gov. Rick Perry. Once limited to killing invasive swine on the ground, licensed hunters can now shoot them from helicopters — for a price.

“I’m ready to book a hunt today!” said David Fason, 48, who drove nine hours and paid $350 on a recent weekend to attend a class in Houston — the first of its kind — on how to safely shoot assault rifles at pigs from the air.

Of the 5 million or so feral hogs currently running wild and wreaking havoc in America, about half them are at large in the Lone Star State. Invasive pigs crowd out native species, feast on crops, tear up fields and raise all manner of horticultural hell. Statewide, hog damage to agriculture alone totals $52 million per year.

Texans have tried just about everything to stop the swine — trapping, snaring, and a free-fire hunting season that allows feral hog extermination day or night, 365 days per year, with any weapon a person can legally buy. None of it has worked.

Until now, aerial pig-eradication has been legal only for specially permitted companies that charge landowners hundreds of dollars per hour for the service and leave the dead animals where they lie. Under the new rules, hunters can now pay to fly. It’s unlikely many more of the pigs will be eaten, but helicopter hog-control could become virtually free for some landowners. And hunters say they’re eager to pick up the check.

“There’s no other place in the world I know of that you can do this without being in the military,” Fason said. “It’s an adrenaline rush I haven’t felt before.”

[genlock]

Die Walküre playing on the Blackhawk's cd player at full volume.

[cgarison]

Honestly, I would not mind having some good wild boar to put on the grill or served up with some eggs as breakfast.

I think the chopper part is a bit obscene. Maybe Jeremy Clarkson would like to hunt pigs the way he hunts Corvettes.