Texas House Bill would allow hunting of feral pigs from helicopters

by Vince Leibowitz of of Capitol Annex

If you thought the legislative uproar surrounding online hunting in Texas a few years ago was something to behold, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

State Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stephenville) has filed a bill that would make it legal to hunt feral hogs–from a helicopter.

Yes, you read that right. House Bill 836 would allow Texas hunters to lock, load, and take off from the local airport or helipad to shoot feral hogs from the sky.

Setting aside logistical concerns (such as hitting power lines while chasing down a wild boar; making sure you’re shooting at a feral hog and not, say, a large labrador from a high altitude while flying at 175 miles per hour; or accidentally shooting up someone’s house, a propane tank or barn), there will be support for the bill because something is badly needed to help control the state’s feral hog population.

While the NRA and other pro-gun and hunting groups will probably applaud the bill (”Hey! We can shoot shit from a helicopter, Bubba!”) and animal rights groups will likely oppose the legislation, one has to wonder whether or not, in spite of all the pros of reducing the state’s wild hog population and cons that I’m sure animal rights groups will tell us about later, this is actually good public policy.

Setting aside the image of drunken hillbillies in a military surplus Huey shooting up the countryside that will come to mind when you think of this bill (and yes, everyone is going to think of that image no matter what their position is on any of this because, let’s face it, this is Texas) there are significant public safety concerns with something like this even with the most responsible of hunters and safest of pilots.

While the bill allows the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission to adopt rules to make sure chopper hog hunting is safe, the bill itself doesn’t restrict where hunting can occur, when hunting can occur (i.e., at night or during the day), or anything else. Leaving all of the finer points to the appointed members of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission–esteemed as they may be–leaves the door open for a lot of problems.

Just imagine that you live in a rural area that isn’t as sparsely populated as some out in West Texas only to be awoken night by a spotlight shining in your windows from overhead and bullets raining down on your large front yard only to step outside and see a 700 lb hog making its death rattle in your petunia bed. That’s not safe, but barring the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission banning night hunting, the use of spotlights, and people shooting hogs on property they do not own or have permission to hunt on from the air under the jurisdiction given to them in this bill, it could happen.

Let’s hope that, when this bill gets to committee, legislators give it the “is this good public policy” litmus test.

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