County Still Struggling For Answers on Wild Hog Issue

Heads or tails – that’s what Fayette County Commissioners are trying to decide when it comes to the feral hog bounty.

The bounty aims at reducing the amount of property damage hogs create in rural areas. Fayette County pays $7 a tail. Lee County also has a bounty and pays $5 for a pair of ears. Recently the Commissioners here have been concerned that some hunters might be collecting two bounties for every hog they kill. Fayette County also borders seven other counties, all with their own hog bounty programs, or lack thereof.

The issue arose when Commissioners began noticing the hefty bounty payouts – nearly $40,000 so far this year. Those bounties are funded by county tax dollars. 

“We’ve had concerns about it, too,” said Lee County Judge Paul Fischer in an interview last month. “I’ve heard the same story that people will bring their ears here and take their tails to Fayette County.”

Three weeks ago the Lee County Commissioners Court considered aligning with Fayette County by switching to tails. However, the commissioners there decided to stay with ears.

Fischer said he has heard stories about people trapping hogs and cutting the tails off the small ones to collect a bounty. They’ll turn the small ones loose to grow larger, he said, so they can trap them again and sell them to feral hog buyers.

One of those buyers, Tim Wilson of Cat Spring, said some trappers have brought him hogs with missing tails.

“They cut their tails off and bring them to me and get money both ways,” Wilson said. “I’ll be real honest, I don’t like it. They’re skipping counties – they don’t necessarily come from where they say they come from.”

Wilson’s home county, Austin County, does not have a hog bounty.

“That’s fine with me because I’d rather not get one than see people cheat,” Wilson said. 

Tail-less hogs have a much better chance for survival and continued property damage.

“When you cut the ears off, you’re going to leave a pretty darn good bare spot on the top of their head, whereas if you cut the tail off, they can keep running,” said Fischer.

Hunters who turn in tails to Fayette County must report where they killed the hog, and to receive a bounty the animal must have been killed in Fayette County. Fischer said hunters who turn in ears in Lee County must sign a sworn statement saying that they killed the hog in Lee County. 

“How do you prove it? You can’t. It’s a hard thing to do,” Fischer said ...

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