Anyone know about the feral hog market in Texas?

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MCgunner

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We're moving to near the little town of Sheridan, Texas which is east of Hallettsville. The house we're due to close on is in the woods, several wooded acres surrounded by big ranches. The woods are thick with hog sign. Now, I already have a place about 100 miles from that house with lots of hogs on it, but I haven't messed with trying to sell any pigs I've trapped, just shoot and butcher for myself. It can go a month or better between catches, though seems like there's more and more hogs down there in the last few years.

Anywho, I've been thinkin' (yeah, dangerous) about selling pigs since I've been google researching it and found a buyer in near by Hallettsville. I ain't drivin' from Seadrift to Goliad to sell a few pigs, couldn't pay for the gas, but depending on the price, I might drive 15 miles in to Hallettsville. I've still got to find out the rules on transporting them. I'd planned to just pick the trap up with an engine lift, trap on a piece of plyboard, and set it on a trailer to haul 'em, but not sure that's legal. There seem to be rules, might have to buy a livestock trailer and rig something up.

I'll call that buyer and inquire about that as well as price when the time comes. In my search, I've found that the price seems to jump around and that some times they shut down buying due to the market. Seems like there's far more supply than demand. A 2011 post on a hog BBS was sayin' the price was back up to $.30 on 100+ lbers at one buyer, varies by the buyer. Seems there are 4 authorized hog stations in Texas and all buyers work for one of those 4 companies. I'm learning a lot here. :D

Anyway, I was just wondering if ANYone here to add to my learning curve, perhaps clue me in on the rules for transporting hogs, what's the current average price pigs are bringing around the state, whatever info you can throw at me. I'm not real sure it's worth messing with, but hell, why not if I can make a few retirement bucks here and there. At $.50, I think I could justify messing with it, but much less and, well, I'm not sure it's worth the bother. I'll know more about the numbers of pigs I have when I get up there. I just know there's lots of pigs around there, wallows everywhere, even in the back yard. I'm thinkin' there might be money in them woods.:D It will be seasonal, though, only in the cooler months.

Any info in discussion would be helpful.
 
I have a friend on a ranch outside Sabinal that traps and sell hogs as a sideline. Some would buy them and release for the hunters and a couple would butcher.

He told me last week that business has fallen off. No reason, just has.

I shoot one in my back yard on occasion for the meat but don't bother to try and trap. Like you said, too much time in between.

Good luck
 
Doing more research, seems the method of transport is not regulated, just the destination of the haul, must be to a TAHC approved buyer (like the guy in Hallettsville), a holding/slaughter facility, or a a TAHC approved "game preserve", they call that "put and take hunting operations" and require game fiencing and such.

Anyway, I think I'm okay on transporting in the trap. Another bonus with the little trailer, I can pull it with my 40 MPG Toyota, thus get more actual money out of 'em. :D If I hauled 'em in a big livestock trailer, I'd have to use my V8 gas guzzler.

Hmm, farm plates on a toyota echo? :D
 
I don't know anyone here in Florida who would pay $0.50/lb for a wild hog. That would be $50 for 100 lb hog. If you're talking dressed weight, that might be different. Most hogs around here sell for about $15 - $20 each IF you can find a buyer.
 
Seems like similar to the cattle situation at the end of that fracas between the States 147 years ago. Too many wild bovines, not enough local market. Their cure then was for the Texicans to drive the cattle north, where a market soon developed. The big difference here is, the porcines ain't too welcome outside of Texas. Not so welcome there, either, as I understand it.

The only markets I see at this point are in Canada or Mexico or something like that. But with international trade hoops to jump through, that's not real profitable, either.

A whole bunch of Northerners are also gung-ho about helping all-y'alls shoot out your pest-pork problem. The fly in that ointment is the expense of helping ya get rid of the hogs. It's distasteful to most of us to pay several hundreds of dollars for the privelege of helping clear out an invasive species that's causing thousands of dollars in damage per pig to your property, even if we do get some wild pork in the deal. We can't make sense of that. I know landowners need to make money on their land, but vermin is vermin, and cleaning them out a bit just might make the land more profitable.
 
i know folks who sell wild hogs to OK hunting "ranches". One ranch pays $150-300 for boars with big tusks.


The fly in that ointment is the expense of helping ya get rid of the hogs. It's distasteful to most of us to pay several hundreds of dollars for the privelege of helping clear out an invasive species that's causing thousands of dollars in damage per pig to your property, even if we do get some wild pork in the deal. We can't make sense of that.
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Farmers and ranchers in OK act the same way. They complain about hog damage while regarding hogs as a precious commodity to be exploited.

One of our hunting properties is surrounded by a big time rancher. The OK City hunters who lease several sections of his ranch complained about the lack of hogs after i trapped and killed about 70. Hogs need water and mud every day: The ponds on that property have been dry for months. Mine has good ponds, a swamp and an irrigation well. One of my traps is still there catching his hogs.
 
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I don't know anyone here in Florida who would pay $0.50/lb for a wild hog. That would be $50 for 100 lb hog. If you're talking dressed weight, that might be different. Most hogs around here sell for about $15 - $20 each IF you can find a buyer.
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Yeah, been reading more. Seems the market is quite variable. Lows 15 cents a pound ain't worth messing with. The highs are around 50 cents and the price doesn't last long before the buying stops seems like.

As for markets, there are world wide markets. Europe buys a lot of feral pigs, I under stand. Don't need to "drive" pigs to Kansas when you have world wide refrigerated shipping. :D But, it seems the market is still in flux and the system is still developing. Not like I HAVE to sell pigs, I'll sell 'em if the price goes up. I will call that buyer when I'm ready to mess with it. Haven't even closed on the place up there, yet. I've never considered selling pigs from my place in Calhoun county, buyer is too far away. However, the pigs ARE of European phenotype. Probably don't matter to a put and take "hunting" operation. They're just after big tuskers so's their clients can feel manly. :D

There's one outfit that has gone under in Divine, or at least I read that on a post dated Dec. 2010, place was called "Southern Wild Game" and was a major buyer. That post said they were being bought out, but I haven't found a recent info on that outfit. Supposedly, they controlled a large number of the buyers in Texas and kept the prices low. I've learned more and more every time I google. LOL
 
The fly in that ointment is the expense of helping ya get rid of the hogs. It's distasteful to most of us to pay several hundreds of dollars for the privelege of helping clear out an invasive species that's causing thousands of dollars in damage per pig to your property, even if we do get some wild pork in the deal. We can't make sense of that.
Farmers and ranchers in OK act the same way. They complain about hog damage while regarding hogs as a precious commodity to be exploited.
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Tell ya what . Why don't you guys buy your own place and then you can let whoever you want hunt on it for whatever price seems fair to you. Then if you think free is fair, thats fine because you own the ground .
 
Between high prices for feed and because of the drouth wiping out grazing, meat will be cheap and stay that way until probably next spring. It's then expected to jump, with food prices overall rising about 15%.

Hogs might not bring much, now, but like the Aggies say, "Wait 'til next year."
 
I had ventured into Sheridan in 2006 looking for some land but didnt really buy one. There s several high fence ranches there . THe place is teeming with wild hogs and deer. IN fact , the web owner of texasboars.com is from Hallettsville. But he might have sold it years ago.

Im planning to try hog hunting at boarsnesthunt near Columbus.
 
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redneckrepairs said:
Tell ya what . Why don't you guys buy your own place and then you can let whoever you want hunt on it for whatever price seems fair to you. Then if you think free is fair, thats fine because you own the ground .
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Meanwhile, the pig population keeps growing, the damage $$$$ keep growing and Mr. Jones wants trophy fees for the old boar that just tore up his high fence, letting out 1/2 dozen of his prize bucks. If no one wants to pay for the pigs, he pays a trapper to help him out. That must be new math, because it's not simple arithmetic. Begging your pardon, sir, but I don't expect you to open your gates to everyone with a pickup and a gun. A reasonable access fee isn't a problem. Expecting us to pay huge $ to help you step on your cockroaches is. Tell ya what, I'll give ya a couple hundred bucks tresspass fee, plus say, .10 cents per lb, if you let me shoot all the pigs I care to in 3 or 4 days.

I submit that treating your pests as if they are trophy big game is part of the problem, not a solution.
 
I have a farm/ranch on the eastern plains of Colorado and fortunately my area has NO feral pig problem . I do personally allow hunting access free of any charge to many people , and it costs me . I have had cattle , horses , and equipment shot as well as gates left open , stock ran with vehicles fences cut ect. I have to carry a million in liability insurance just in case some bonehead hurts himself and feels litigious.
My place is paid for so that gives me some lee way to be as difficult and crotchety about access as i want . Point of fact is that on my place you cannot waive a large enough " trespass " fee to get access because if i like you i don't want your money , and if i don't like you your money is no good .
I can however see where other landowners are coming from , and in this day and age hunting access is another business resource that can and increasingly is exploited to help the bottom line meet the cost of operation and service the notes at the bank . Like i said , pay the piper ( buy a place ) and run it any way you want .. I do .

Edited to add ..

Possibly I am getting the wrong tone from this thread because to me it is coming off somewhat that the evil landowners are trying to get rich off my desire to hunt , and i don't want to pay the rate they can get out of someone else shooting the game . If i am reading too much into the tone here i apologize to anyone who didn't intend to basically say that .
 
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Here's an idea. Could you donate the meat to a homeless shelter and take a tax write off on the estimated value (which might have some legit leeway on the value) of the meat? I've never done it. Just tossing out an idea.
 
Here's an idea. Could you donate the meat to a homeless shelter and take a tax write off on the estimated value (which might have some legit leeway on the value) of the meat? I've never done it. Just tossing out an idea.
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I think you would have to have the pig commercially processed to donate it legally, and it likely wouldn't be a bad idea anyway . However if you could use the pricing here http://www.marxfoods.com/products/wild-boar it wouldn't take long to have quite a deduction going LOL
 
i own hunting property: No cows, horses, goats, wheat, cotton or llamas. At one place i do cut and bale hay for sale. My farmer neighbors want to rent pasture, or cut hay or plant wheat. One farmer opened a gate and turned his cows on my place. Told him to keep his cows off my property. Next time i chased the cows out and put a chain and padlock on the gate. Also informed him future trespass by his cattle would result in one or more becoming Angus burgers: No more problem. It cost $700 in trackhoe rental and 12 hours of my time to repair a pond his cattle damaged.
 
Well, I didn't mean to start yet another argument with yankees about leasing. :rolleyes: I just am moving, will have a few hog infested acres with it (that's a good thing as I don't raise livestock or farm) and thought I might make a few bucks off the pigs as I trap anyway and there IS a buyer in Hallettsville. Ain't gonna make much even if the price gets back up there, just spending money to be had. Ain't gonna "get rich". :rolleyes: But, I mean, it might be fun and somewhat profitable. Always lookin' for a way to make a little extra. After all, I do pay the taxes on my land. :D

Anyway, I'm trying to learn what I can about the commercial feral hog market in Texas, not discuss letting strangers shoot up my place. :rolleyes: There have been some useful posts to the query and I appreciate that! :D

As to tax write offs, I don't go long form. I might consider it if I had enough deductions to go long form.
 
Anyway, I'm trying to learn what I can about the commercial feral hog market in Texas,
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The local OK hog catchers used to sell their hogs to a place in or near Ft. Worth: i sent some hogs down there in a trailer with a hog dogger several years ago. That butcher exported the meat to Korea. The place may be Frontier Meats. Both of these places are federally licensed for meat export.

Frontier Meats
(817) 624-1136 (This is a good number, i got a recording)
3801 N Grove St, Fort Worth, TX 76106
Near Diamond Hill - Jarvis

Another one in Divine, TX:

Southern Wild Game
3001 Fm 3176
Devine , TX 78016
(830)663-2891 (The number is good, i got a recording)

Click on list of feral swine holding facilities.

http://www.tahc.state.tx.us/animal_health/feral_swine.html

Texas approved hog buying facilities:

http://www.wildhoghunters.com/hog-hunting/601-texas-tahc-approved-hog-buying-stations.html
 
Thanks. "Hog dogger"...maybe "Hawg Dawger"? I like that. :D

That place in Ft Worth is, I'm guessing, one of four facilities approved for purchase and export of feral pigs. Their buyers are all over the state, "holding facilities". I'm learning all this via google.

I've yet to figure a web page that would list current prices. I tried that "southern wild game" in google, but I think they died. Found a disccussion of 'em folding in 2010. They were in Divine which is south of San Antonio. But, I didn't know about "Frontier Meats". I need to go google that one, might find a web page, maybe. The learning curve continues. Thanks!
 
Well, frontiermeats.com has gone down, apparently, but I think they're still around because I found a facebook page.... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frontier-Meats/212830632134506?rf=163853620306958

Nothing on prices, just hawking wild hog recipes and such, selling "organic wild hog" meat to the granola crunchers. There's a twist I hadn't thought about. ROFL!

So, if the southern wild game number is good, maybe they have come back under new management. That sounds promising. I think this must be a fledgling industry that's rapidly changing.
 
redneckrepairs said:
Possibly I am getting the wrong tone from this thread because to me it is coming off somewhat that the evil landowners are trying to get rich off my desire to hunt , and i don't want to pay the rate they can get out of someone else shooting the game . If i am reading too much into the tone here i apologize to anyone who didn't intend to basically say that .
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It's not my intent pick an argument with anyone, especially not a landowner whom I might wish to ask permission from some day. I have no heartburn with a landowner making money on his feral hogs. In fact, I was trying to put out a possible money idea, and explaining a common confusion about the way many people will complain about the problem on one hand, and insist on treating 'em like prize stock and feeding them corn from the other. Catch my drift? It's my impression those hogs are just like big, fat rats. A lot of commonalities with rats, actually, in the way they breed, what they eat, carry diseases, destroy property, etc.

I'm sure if rat hunting was legalized in New York City, Mr. Bigbucks would be ready to pay thousands for the chance to kill the big king rat. Apartment dwellers would feed their rats so the 'trophy' hunters would pay big, and at the same time complain to the city that their kids were getting bitten, and they would be paying exterminators to cull the runts, instead of letting some other hunter come in for a smaller price. That's what it looks like from my seat.

I'm truly sorry that your generous hospitality has been answered with disrespect and your property abused. I hope that my habit of keeping gates closed and picking up after myself when I'm on another man's land will in some small way help make up for it.
 
splattergun It is not my intent to pick an argument either and if i mis understood/read too much into your posts i again apologize.
My point is that hog hunting has become a business resource for some landowners , and i wont second guess them for charging what the market will bear if they are using the hunts as a resource . One thing to think of is that if you and a buddy both book hunts at different times , the landowner charges you 500 , and the buddy 100 . You never again will pay him 500 because he has cheapened the market the instant you find out someone else got a " deal " . So if he has the $500 market he is committed to charge that amount across the board or risk getting into the $100 market .
At the point the land owner starts setting up feed stations and blinds the animal becomes a resource to exploit the same as deer , pheasants , or whatever else is there to hunt , and it sounds like they are managing them as a renewable resource .
As far as the same landowner bitching and groaning about the damage while they feed hogs ( if in fact they are feeding hogs and not just having hogs poaching on their deer feeders ) all i can say is that i once named a hound farmer because all he would do is set on the porch and whine . Farmers are gonna bitch if the wind blows from the north , or south , if the sun shines , or if it don't .
 
It's a burgeoning industry. :D As I understand it by reading/googling, laws were passed to control destination of the pigs a couple of years ago. One can only move live feral pigs to an approved market buyer, to an approved game ranch, or to the buyer's slaughter facility direct. If one moves pigs off his place, one can store them in an "escape proof" (no definition) pen or trailer for 7 days and then one must drop them in the approved spot or slaughter. Now, something I don't QUITE understand, if you bring them BACK to YOUR place after transport, you MUST kill the pigs. I guess that's just to insure the pigs don't go back to the wild or maybe they figure the pigs might have picked up disease in transit to another facility, which is possible. Anyhow, it's being regulated.

I think the state is supporting the idea of marketing wild pigs. I mean, nothing has ever decimated a wild population like market hunting. :D They must control various swine diseases, though, the reason for the regulation. Of course, there are no limits on capture and sale and killing the pigs is encouraged. LOL

A source of info I found and bookmarked.... http://today.agrilife.org/2011/03/17/trapping-transporting-feral-hogs/

Oh, yeah, something important I forgot. sows can only be transported for slaughter, not to a game ranch. Only boars can go to a game ranch. That makes ultimate sense, too.
 
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