Maggie's Farm

The hog problem isn't being exaggerated, it's just an exponential growth story that is being reported before the devastation phase sets in on a grand scale. In some areas, it already has, believe me, once you see the work of wild hogs and the damage they will wreak to the topsoil overnight, you quickly become a believer. The consequences last for years.

They are exciting to hunt, dangerous to do so if on foot (I've been treed a couple of times). I know some Texas boys that do it with dogs and horses, and many of them are pretty expert with a needle & thread, stitching their dogs up in the field. On the other hand, they are excellent eating when less than about 50 lb or so.

Some of the national parks have full-time hunting crews on hire for hog eradication, I am told. The only successful model for controlling them that I have seen, comes on a trailer. The trailer holds a portable corral (panels), a telescoping mast with game cameras and solar panels, a battery box. The corral gets set up with two drop gates and a corn broadcast feeder. For a few weeks, the corn gets put out on a schedule with the gates up, and the hogs learn to come and go. Soon, more hogs join and eventually the entire sounder will be coming to feed. The game cams on the mast record all this and send it to the trapper's phone. When the trapper decides that he probably has the entire sounder, he hits a button on the phone and BAM! Down come the two gates. Now he has them all penned and ready to load - or shoot. This effectively traps brood sows, boars, and the younger generations.

Some of these guys make pretty good coin on this gig, especially as a side gig. It's a huge problem.

Regarding foreign land purchases, 338,000 acres isn't much to be concerned about - I've worked on bigger ranches in South Texas. But I will say, the US Gov should be active in screening these purchases and willing to step in. For instance, there was just a big purchase of land up north, supposedly for supporting an amino acid factory (owned by the Chi Coms) in a partnership for development with the city government, which stinks to high heaven. It's right near and Air Force Base, and so clearly also has strategic security implications. And it wasn't stopped (it should have been). A similar venture by the Chi Coms, planning a wind generator farm in South Texas, right near and Air Force Base, was effectively quashed.

A lot of things can 'possibly go wrong' - as I pointed out. That's why our national security interests should be involved, and willing to step in. It took one of the Bass brothers making a bloody racket to get them to respond and stop the South Texas wind farm, which was being proposed by a Chinese General with rather vast real estate holdings, likely ill-gotten. But given the state of our border security at present, one concludes that national security interests are not a priority - unless it's in the Ukraine.