Most Texas Thing Ever: Man Goes Hog Hunting with 40mm Cannon
If you like hunting and you don’t like pesky regulations, the feral hog might be the game you want to bag.
Particularly if you’re in Texas.
The species is considered invasive and a blight upon the South, particularly in the Lone Star State, where Smithsonian Magazine reports the porcine menaces cause $400 million in damage per year.
“They tear up recreational areas, occasionally even terrorizing tourists in state and national parks, and squeeze out other wildlife,” they reported back in January 2011.
“Texas allows hunters to kill wild hogs year-round without limits or capture them alive to take to slaughterhouses to be processed and sold to restaurants as exotic meat. Thousands more are shot from helicopters.
“The goal is not eradication, which few believe possible, but control.”
The Houston Chronicle reports there are 4 million of the creatures statewide. At least one hunter has a Texan way of taking them out: with a 40mm cannon using grape shot.
The video of the hunt was posted last Sunday by YouTube channel I-outdoors. It’s about 20 minutes long and roughly the coolest thing you’ll see today, unless you’re hunting feral hogs with a 40mm cannon — in which case, big ups.
We’re not going to post the video here because it shows hogs getting shot with a 40mm cannon, and that kind of thing can make people squeamish.
If you want to watch it, however, it can be found here. And let’s face it, it’s pretty awesome.
Our intrepid hunter eventually set up about 25 yards away from a feeder under which feral hogs gathered.
Unfortunately, none of them wanted to come closer to the cannon, which meant he had to make a shot from 25 yards. It still worked out pretty well, as you can see in the video.
As far as I’m concerned, this is pretty much the most awesome kind of community service that any individual can do.
There’s a reason why Texas doesn’t have a whole lot of regulations on feral hog hunting: According to the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension, these are creatures that can weigh up to 200 pounds, have no natural predators once they reach 10 to 15 pounds, can give birth to five to six pigs per litter, have 1.5 litters a year and can eat 3 percent of their body weight in vegetation per day.
One of the only real checks on their growth, in short, are hunters.
And if they want to use 40mm cannons, well, good for them. It certainly makes for some entertaining watching.
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