Potential change to Texas hog hunting laws

lonepunman

LSB Active Member
LoneStarBoars Supporter
SB 317 - Texas Senate (86) - Open States


86R5352 SLB-D
By: Hughes S.B. No. 317

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

relating to the taking of feral hogs without a hunting license.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 42.002(c), Parks and Wildlife Code, is
amended to read as follows:

(c) A resident landowner or the landowner's agent or lessee
may take feral hogs [causing depredation] on the resident
landowner's land without having acquired a hunting license.

SECTION 2. Section 42.005(f), Parks and Wildlife Code, is
amended to read as follows:

(f) A nonresident landowner or the landowner's agent or
lessee may take feral hogs [causing depredation] on the nonresident
landowner's land without having acquired a hunting license required
by this chapter.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
 

der Teufel

Livin' the Dream …
SUS VENATOR CLUB
Would a hunter qualify as an “agent”?
Possibly. The landowner would have to agree to 'certify' that the hunter was indeed acting as his/her agent.

However, this doesn't seem to remove the requirement that the hogs be causing depredation. Some jurisdictions have declared that the hogs must be caught in the act. This could be difficult to prove or disprove, but generally if you catch a hog rooting up a pasture, or in your barn with it's nose in a feed sack, you're good. If they're merely trotting across the property on their way to someplace else, they're not causing depredation.

I thought I'd heard something recently to the effect that the depredation requirement was being deleted, meaning that hogs could be hunted without a license regardless of circumstances (as long as one had legal access to the property), but I can't find anything definitive.

Your mileage may vary. I am not a lawyer. May the Force be with you. Void where prohibited. Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate. I didn't do it, nobody saw me, can't prove anything …
 

pruhdlr

Cantonment,Fla.
SUS VENATOR CLUB
STILL . . . no bounty?? --- pruhdlr
 

chthump

LSB Member
"Your mileage may vary. I am not a lawyer. May the Force be with you. Void where prohibited. Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate. I didn't do it, nobody saw me, can't prove anything …"

hilarious
 

wigwamitus

LSB Active Member
... Some jurisdictions have declared that the hogs must be caught in the act. This could be difficult to prove or disprove, but generally if you catch a hog rooting up a pasture, or in your barn with it's nose in a feed sack, you're good. If they're merely trotting across the property on their way to someplace else, they're not causing depredation ...

those hogs must be related to the folks we've been fighting in Afghan and Iraq, etc for a couple of decades ... the ROE sound similar ... did these declaring jurisdictions put these declarations in writing ??
 

der Teufel

Livin' the Dream …
SUS VENATOR CLUB
those hogs must be related to the folks we've been fighting in Afghan and Iraq, etc for a couple of decades ... the ROE sound similar ... did these declaring jurisdictions put these declarations in writing ??
Basically, I got that interpretation from talking to a Justice of the Peace in a county west of where I live, and a conversation with a couple of game wardens. I had inquired about the legality of hunting without a license (as a resident) and they mentioned that the hogs needed to be causing depredations. However, one of them then laughed and said "Of course, they are hogs …" implying that it might be a tough argument for a warden to prove they weren't causing depredation.
My suspicion is that, at least in my area, it would probably be tough to get in trouble for hunting hogs without a license if you weren't doing anything else wrong. It's not something I worry about though because I always buy a license. Of course, being a Texas resident over the age of 65 it only costs me $7.00/yr.
 

wigwamitus

LSB Active Member
I would think evidence of rooting would be sufficient ...
But I also think getting a hunting license makes sense. Once I turn 65 I plan on getting a lifetime KS license.
 

Chopperdrvr

Deep East Tx
SUS VENATOR CLUB
I would think evidence of rooting would be sufficient ...
But I also think getting a hunting license makes sense. Once I turn 65 I plan on getting a lifetime KS license.
Why wait until you are 65. Most states drop the annual license fee to next to nothing, but don't give a break on the lifetime license.
 

wigwamitus

LSB Active Member
... Why wait until you are 65. Most states drop the annual license fee to next to nothing, but don't give a break on the lifetime license ...

Kansas does. Current prices

Resident life time senior hunt and fish is currently $42.50
Resident senior hunt and fish for 1 year is $47.50
Resident lifetime hunt and fish is $502.50

Now I get appropriate shorter term hunting licenses in Kansas (and Texas) each year aligned with what I am doing. But the lifetime cost for a "senior" (which I will be this Nov) makes it a no-brainer for the lifetime license in Kansas.

There is also a new category for "wildlife control" license which is good for 5 years ... which enables you to perform critter control on neighbors land (with written permission) using all necessary (safe) means. And I am considering getting one of those if enough people start asking me to help with yotes. But that's sort of a different level. Those require a written exam and a log book to be maintained etc.

==

Back to hogs in Texas. I mean what are 100 hogs moving across 500 acres in Texas going to be doing !? Have the people making this new law ever seen a rooted field ?? o_O
 

Chopperdrvr

Deep East Tx
SUS VENATOR CLUB
I’m not sure how much impact that change will have anyway. If they wanted to help, allow nonresident hunting without a license for hogs. A lot of people are discouraged from hunting a few days a year because of the additional license requirements. Maybe they are just visiting a relative or friend for a couple days and would like to go pop a pig or two.

Btw. Kudos to Kansas for giving seniors a break. I was willing to pay $500 for a Louisiana lifetime license only three years before I turned 65, but was denied for lack of a LA drivers license . A few years ago, after moving to TX full time, they added a new category of “Native Military Retired” and as a senior, I only pay $5/yr. And, I don’t have to live there anymore.
 
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gshock

Banned Member!
SUS VENATOR CLUB
LoneStarBoars Supporter
There is another thread about this on another forum ... one member emailed a Game Warden and this was the GW's response:

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No license is required to hunt feral hogs on private land, regardless of any circumstances, as long as the person has consent to hunt on the land. There is legislation pending this session that, if passed, will further clarify. Hopefully this will remove some of the confusion.

Stormy King
Texas Game Warden
Asst. Commander/Wildlife Enforcement
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

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Hunters education still applies
 
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