Can't think of a joke referencing Carrie...(because of all the pig's blood, you see). I also can't imagine how messy a big hog full of rat-poison must be *yuk
When it comes to eliminating pests --which, let's all remember, is what this is all about, and not sport hunting/recreation-- poisons are always more effective than hunting/trapping because they work 24/7 and there's always more available for the job. The only complaints I'm hearing are from sportsmen concerned that the move isn't taking hunting sensibilities into account with this decision.
While it won't be popular to say it on a hunting forum; who cares about their worries. The hogs are doing tons of damage on private property, it behooves those liable to take the most efficient manner available to deal with the threat. Warfarin supposedly kills the pigs with minimal impact to other species in the ecosystem, it will be used almost exclusively on private land (since it's basically the only kind here), the liberal hunting policies in place currently for hogs are explicitly due to their status as an extremely destructive pest deserving elimination by as aggressive of methods as possible.
Heck, recreational hog hunting has been repeatedly shown to spread boar infestation (because people import them or sustain/grow populations through feeding) through the profit motive. Same thing we see keeping otherwise-endangered populations healthy or growing in Africa & elsewhere every day.
If Texas makes it illegal to pay people for exclusive hog-hunting access (meaning every hogger has to bother to get a deer/etc permit), and legalizes poisoning like this, it stands a far better shot of actually accomplishing something. In the end, the only real solution is the destruction of their habitat, as we've seen that very effectively destroys even large populations of animals over time. But pigs are more adaptable than most, so even that isn't a given.
TCB
