Message #23329

[Hogboy]

Everyone is correct....you dont have to have a license to KILL any animal if you are on private property.  A landowners agent can kill animals that are destructive to crops or pastureland and let them lay.  But it may be hard to explain to a gamewarden why you are entering a HUNTING contest and how all 4 team members are the landowners agent.  Also, hogs are no longer considered ferral the are an exotic animal in the state of Texas.   

Everyone knows how the system works.  Lets say Joe Blow gets wrongfully ticketed......it is a bad reflection on TDHA and the contest and all of a sudden hog hunters are labeled as outlaws.  Thus in support of the law and TPWD, TDHA has decided it is in the best interest of the organization to require a hunting license.  I am willing to bet it will not even be an issue to 95% of the people wanting to enter. 

And again.....there is alot of money at stake.  If anyone wants a shot at it they have to play by the rules. 

As far as shot hog....there were too many "plots" and too much "hear say" of people doing/or planning to shoot un-bayed hogs.  Gunners were set up in open feilds and dogs and team members went into the brush.  The team members caught the dog-bayed hogs and the gunners were shooting the fleeing hogs.  Also, there were reports of helicopters getting involved and all other sorts of mess.  Thus, at this time we want to make the contest as fair as possible.

This is a hog hunting contest, not a dog contest.  Bay and shoot hunters cannot enter just as bird dog people and coonhunters can't enter.  This is just one contest that TDHA is soponsoring.  It does not mean we don't support other styles of hunting, it is just not what we are doing with this contest this year.  We want to incorporate this in some fassion, but at this time we dont have a viable plann to keep it fair.  Hopefully in the future we can. 


As Catchcrall said....thanks again for the response and we hope to hear more from other folks out there that have ideas or concerns.


RJB