Hog control & Texas rules

Start here: the system that works

If hogs are rooting your pasture, emptying your feeder or flattening a food plot, this is the section to start with. There is no single product that fixes a hog problem. What works is a system aimed at the whole group, the sounder, and Texas A&M AgriLife recommends exactly that: an integrated approach where "a variety of tools are used together," with corral traps removing large numbers and selective shooting following up.

Read the full plan first: how to get rid of feral hogs. It lays out the four steps:

1. Pattern them. Find where and when the sounder feeds, and count it, with cellular trail cameras.
2. Trap the whole sounder. A large corral or net trap, pre-baited until the entire group feeds inside, with a gate you drop when the last hog is in. Our trapping guide covers each step.
3. Shoot the ones that got away. Often at night, with thermal or a light. See the best thermal scopes for hog hunting.
4. Fence what you must protect. A two-strand electric fence around a plot or garden; our best electric fence for hogs ranks chargers on output joules.

Each step has a section of the site behind it. Cameras, feeders and bait sites live in feeders and trail cameras. Traps, gates, triggers and bait are in hog traps and trapping. For the night work, start with thermal and night vision or, on a tighter budget, hog hunting and feeder lights. Blinds, shooting rests and field gear are in blinds, rests and field gear. This hub ties them together: the plan, what the problem costs, the Texas rules and when to call for help.

The cost of doing nothing

An August 2023 AgriLife Today article said Texas hogs cause "more than $500 million in damage to agriculture and private property" each year (AgriLife Today). Nationally, USDA APHIS puts the minimum annual cost of feral swine damage at $3.4 billion (APHIS). Our feral hog damage guide lists every figure with its source and year, and explains why they differ.

The damage grows because hogs do. Texas A&M NRI reports that a sow averages 1.5 litters a year of five to six piglets, and estimates that Texas would need to remove 66% of its wild pigs every year just to stop the population from growing (NRI, 2019). Our explainer on how fast feral hogs reproduce works through the math. If the ground is already torn up, start on repairing hog damage in pastures once removal is under way.

What's legal in Texas

Texas gives landowners a lot of room. No hunting license is required to hunt feral hogs on private property with landowner authorization, though Hunter Education still applies, and there are no closed seasons or bag limits there (TPWD Outdoor Annual 2026-27). Spotlighting hogs is legal, with a recommended courtesy call to your game warden (TPWD). The hard lines: never light or shoot protected game, never hunt from a public road, and never move live hogs except under TAHC rules (4 TAC §55.9).

Our Texas hog hunting laws guide covers every rule with its source. The night question has its own page, can you hunt hogs at night in Texas?, and what to do with trapped hogs covers the options once the gate drops.

What doesn't work

• Shooting a hog here and there. AgriLife Today says "recreational hunting alone cannot control the wild pig problem" (2019), and Missouri's Department of Conservation warns that shooting one or two hogs scatters the sounder and makes trapping the whole group harder (MDC).
• Repellents and scare devices. The Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management says no repellents are registered for wild pigs and no frightening devices are effective (ICWDM).
• Poison as a DIY fix. Warfarin (Kaput) is a state-limited-use pesticide in Texas: only licensed applicators, or people under their direct supervision, may buy it (TDA). We don't recommend it.
• Drones to find hogs. Unlawful without a TPWD activity-specific permit (TPWD).

Fences, calibers and the shot

For the places you can't afford to lose, the electric fence rankings cover chargers, wire, strand heights and grounding. For the cleanup shooting, our editorial guide to the best caliber for hogs compares cartridges by use, and two head-to-heads go deeper: 300 Blackout vs 5.56 for hogs and 6.5 Grendel vs 300 Blackout for hogs. We don't sell firearms or ammunition; those pages carry optics picks only.

When to call a professional

Big acreage, hogs that keep coming after you've trapped, or no time to run a trap: that's when to get help. AgriLife Extension points landowners to their county office (find yours in the county directory), and the Texas Wildlife Services Program offers technical assistance and direct control services (Texas Wildlife Services). The full plan explains what each offers.