Hog wild: County commits to task force

Hays County will be working with Caldwell and Guadalupe counties on a feral hog abatement pr ogram that includes $7,850 in grant funding to help with the program. The ays County Commissioners Court unanimously approved an agreement between the county and the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service for par - ticipation in the program.

Resident Dan Lyon said that there are plenty of people willing to hunt feral hogs, but accessing the land can be a problem.

“I know all the landowners see this as an opportunity to make money b y charging hunters to come out to the land and get rid of the problem for them,” Lyon said. “It really doesn’t work that way.”

Lyon, who said he sometimes sees huge herds of feral hogs on his deer lease, sug - gested that the county wor k with land - owners to make eliminating the animals easier.

“I think Mr. Lyon is right,” said Clint Garza, development services director. “This program’s not going to take car e of the problem. ... Like most things of this scale, it’s going to take a multifaceted ap - proach.”

However, he said, anything to help de crease the number of feral hogs is beneficial.

The feral hog abatement pr ogram grant funds can be used for expenses deemed “necessary and r easonable” to the pr ogram’s administration, such as personnel costs, vendor contracts and bounty effo ts. However, if the county wants to use grant money for bounty pr ograms, the county must have a written policy preventing the intentional breeding and raising of feral hogs for the purpose of meeting bounty requirements. Grant fund reimbursement for bounties is limited to 50 percent of the bounty paid and a maximum of $5 per hog.