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Texas Lawmaker Tackle Feral Hog Legislation

A bill up in the House could allow Texans to hunt feral hogs from helecopters.
Photo by flickr.com/pierceplace532/
A bill up in the House could allow Texans to hunt feral hogs from helecopters.

O.K...Maybe "tackle" was NOT the right word to use on this bill, because the bill passed without ANY debate.Rep. Sid Miller's bill passed 137 - 9.

The proposal wasn't exactly a new idea. The bill passed the House in 2009, but never got a hearing in the Senate, according to Rep. Miller (R-Stephenville).

The bill, if passed by the Senate, would allow people to sell a seat on a helicopter to hunt the hogs.

Rep. Miller says the state needs to eradicate about 60% of the state's feral hogs each year just to keep the population from increasing.  He says right now the state is nowhere near that number, which is why the herd is growing by about 20% each year.

Ben Philpott is the Managing Editor for KUT. Got a tip? Email him at bphilpott@kut.org. Follow him on Twitter @BenPhilpottKUT.