This Texas teen downed a monster of a feral hog.
Note: Post was originally published in February, 2020.
Everything is bigger in the state of Texas, including the feral hogs! One Texas teenager recently downed a pig that tops what most hunters will ever see in the Lone Start State, a 400-pounder taken in Columbus.
The Houston Chron reports the lucky hunter was 13-year-old Scout Neece. The teen regularly hunts with his father who runs a side job running Dirt Nap Outfitters. They provide both guide services and eradication for farmers. Despite years of experience shooting pigs, the one that Scout shot was unlike anything else Neece had ever seen.
"I told him 'You will probably not see another feral hog that size, it's one in several thousand," Neece told the publication. "The ones that are that size are really smart and hard to find. It was kind of a proud dad moment for me."
Scout took the animal down with one shot. The farmer who owned the land where the Neece family was hunting was elated to hear the beast of a hog was dead. Neece additionally told the Chron the hog problem in Texas is now so bad, some farmers are losing up to $25,000 a month in consumed cattle feed and major property damage.
We can only imagine how much damage a 400-pound hog like this could and probably did to a farmer's field in a single night. Unfortunately, larger hogs like this aren't good for human consumption. Neece does usually donate the meat from smaller wild hogs to food banks.
If there is one silver lining to the serious problem of hogs in Texas it's that there are plenty to go around for those banks. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department estimates there are nearly 1.5 million hogs and counting roaming the Texas countryside disrupting native wildlife and causing problems for farmers. Trappers and hunters are having a hard time keeping up.
Some experts have estimated that hunters need to be killing every 7 of 10 hogs just to keep populations at that level right now. It's little wonder that the TPWD has eliminated almost all rules on the taking of feral hogs. You can even hunt them without any hunting license at all on private property now.
"You have to eradicate 70 percent [of a sounder of feral hogs] just to keep up with the level that they reproduce," Neece told the publication.
Congrats to Scout on one heck of a feral hog and for making a rather huge dent in the Texas hog problem!
For shooting accessories, visit walmart.com.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his YouTube channel.
NEXT: TEXAS IS STILL LOSING THE WAR ON FERAL HOGS
WATCH
