Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

After water sampling turned up high levels of E. coli bacteria in streams south of Austin, the Plum Creek Watershed Partnership was created to restore water quality.

Soon after, they developed a Web site to track feral hogs, which are one of the main sources of the E. coli.

Depending on environmental conditions, times of the year, and where you are, what we have preliminarily in some of the feedback is that they might be to upper third or half of the bacteria problem in some areas.

Matt Berg is the Plum Creek Watershed coordinator. He says drought makes the situation even worse.

Especially in these dry times, those hogs are going to be hanging right next to the stream and having a lot easier time of depositing their fecal matter right into that stream and increasing the bacteria count.

The newly developed Web site allows landowners or the general public to report the date and type of damage from the feral hogs. It even has an interactive map where residents can identify the location of the hogs. This way, officials know where to direct hog management efforts.

Berg says the Web site is one of many tools that will be necessary to successfully manage feral hogs.

This is just one piece of that puzzle and I think as we go through time, as more of those pieces will fall into place, we might be able to make a dent in those populations.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan. The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

In January and February and March there were nightly reports of homes that were being affected by the hogs with severe damage.

Willy Conrad, manager for Austin Water’s Wildland Conservation division, says in dry months, feral hogs come into neighborhoods to search for food. This is a growing trend around the state, and feral hogs now cause about fifty-two million dollars in damage annually.

In response, Austin has implemented a feral hog management system. By dialing 311, residents can contact city officials. Texas Wildlife Services will then investigate the damages and locate and trap the hogs in nearby wildlands. Conrad says when it comes to removing wild animals, that’s best left to the professionals.

If you’ve got a hog in a trap, you’ve got a caged wild animal. And we’re afraid that even if that animal is just there for a couple of hours in that cage that it poses a threat to curious people that want to come see the hog and see what happens.

Conrad says cities that don’t have hog problems still need to prepare.

Biologists with Texas Parks and Wildlife and A&M will tell you there’s only two kinds of places in Texas right now: those that have hogs and those that are going to have hogs. I think that other cities need to understand the scope of the problem they’re dealing with and come up with a solution because it’s only going to get worse.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan. The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and is funded by your purchase of fishing & hunting equipment and motorboat fuel. For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Hog Calling: Reporting Feral Hogs Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish adn Wildlife Restoration Program

Babe: Pig in the City is a cute movie, but when real feral pigs move into town, it is anything but charming.

Richard Heilbrun, a TPWD urban wildlife biologist, says San Antonio is one of many cities facing this problem.

San Antonio has two series of loops. And they’ll go inside Loop 1604 probably up to about Loop 410. So you could say about half way in. They’re not going to go into the heavily urban areas, but they will follow those creeks and rivers as far as they can go while finding food.

Feral hogs cost the state about fifty-three million dollars each year in damage. But a San Antonio city ordinance prohibits the trapping or killing of feral hogs on public property.

Now the hogs can be trapped on private property. But, once trapped, they cannot be killed within city limits because of the law prohibiting the discharge of firearms. And there’s currently no city wildlife service that can take care of the hogs.

But Mike Bodenchuk, state director of USDA Wildlife Services, says his department has been working with San Antonio officials to develop a plan.

I suspect that there will be an institutionalized program with Wildlife Services within a year or so. The demand for that program is growing. I think the city leaders have heard it and it’s just a matter of getting it done at the right levels.

That’s our show…with research and writing help from Gretchen Mahan. The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program…supports our program, and is funded by your purchase of fishing & hunting equipment and motorboat fuel…For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Pigs in the City: Feral Hogs in Urban Settings Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas Outdoor Stories from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Leslie McGaha wanted to try out her new bass kayak on Sam Rayburn Lake. Shortly after she got on the water, she had the company of an otter.

So it was about 9:30 in the morning and I paddled across a branch of the lake, and I was hot. And so I saw a shady spot and figured I would go ahead and park there and see what I could see. And it was amazing: I saw a giant black crawdad crawling out of the bank; I was listening to the fish noises and the birds; the gar. Then, all of a sudden there was this bright flash of silver off to my right and I thought it was a gar or a carp.

And then he stopped for a second and looks straight at me and he and he starts hissing, kind of like he’s yelling at me. So I hissed back. So we have a pretty good conversation for a few minutes, and he pops down again, pops back up, and we start the whole thing over again two or three times before he goes on his merry way a little bit farther up the creek channel. It was just the funniest thing that had ever happened to me; it was amazing.

Share your outdoor story with us like Leslie did, and if we use it, you’ll receive a coveted Passport to Texas t-shirt.

That’s our show…the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

[TPW TV Theme Music]

If you recognize that music, you’re probably a regular viewer of the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV Series. The new season kicks off this month, and series Producer Don Cash is here to tell us about it.

Like every season, we are going all over the state all season long.

There are about 75 state park segments on there. And, if you want to find out about the great Texas outdoors—watch Texas Parks and Wildlife television.

Thanks, Don.

That’s our show…the Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

TPW TV New Season Begins Play Now | Play in Popup | Download