SAN ANTONIO -- In Texas, the wild hog population has exploded to more than two million according to estimates from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
These feral hogs have torn up yards and destroyed entire crops costing Texans millions of dollars.
Plus, with no natural predator, the problem is only becoming worse.
All this has led to a growing number of professional hog hunters.
David Dell and Mike VanSant of Sherman, Texas have been professional hog hunters since 1995. Their company is called Wild Hog Hunters.
“'Making 'em squeal since '95' – that’s our slogan," said Dell.
Dell and VanSant say they will try just about anything to catch a hog.
"You can snare them, shoot them, trap them, hunt them down with dogs, or stab them with a knife," said Dell.
With two-million feral hogs, Dell said you can't rely on just one method.
Over the years, the Wild Hog Hunters have caught thousands of hogs, including four last weekend off the North Texas property of Bob Blackwell.
"I came out one morning and it looked like someone had been out there with a backhoe,” said Blackwell. “I mean it was just destroyed. There was probably over an acre of tore-up land."
Due to the hog’s rapid reproduction rate, VanSant said, “These four hogs could be thirty in a couple of years."
Most of the hogs caught by Wild Hog Hunters are sold for meat or to train hunting dogs.
However, VanSant and Dell admit they are hardly even putting a dent in the state’s problem.
Experts say with the rate of reproduction, more than a million wild hogs must be eliminated from Texas every year simply to keep the population flat.
It’s an impossible task for Wild Hog Hunters to do alone, but they said they’ll do what they can.
"Every time we have a pig in a trap, I've won that battle for that one night, that one time,” said Dell. “I might not have caught them all, but I won that one battle."
To watch the Wild Hog Hunters on a hunt with their dogs and to see how they trap feral hogs, click on the video above.
