“feral”

Sid Miller, Texas Department of Agriculture (DOA) commissioner, proposed a change to the Texas Administrative Code in an attempt to control the 5 million feral hogs in the state. The destructive hogs are estimated to cause upwards of $52 million in damages a year in Texas alone, and Miller suggested using poison, specifically Kaput Feral Hog Lure, a bait mixed with the blood thinner warfarin that is normally reserved for humans but happens to be lethal to pigs.

Feral cats cause widespread problems in rural, urban and suburban areas. They not only kill billions of birds and mammals each year in the United States, but also spread diseases like toxoplasmosis that affect humans and whitetails.

A growing nuisance in 45 states, feral pigs have established an increasing presence in the wine country of California’s northern Sonoma County. And just like nearly everywhere else, they are a problem there, too.

Shooting at—and hitting—running game is a lost art in many American hunting circles, but not in Europe, where hunters across the continent swing on feral swine during game drives. Here’s how they do it.

Even if feral pigs aren’t something you often find in your crosshairs, Savage’s little utilitarian bolt-action should draw your attention. The Hog Hunter is built to be tough, affordable and deliver results, too—and it succeeds on all three counts.

Undoubtedly, North America’s most popular game animal is the whitetail deer, but globally (and running a close second here at home) is the feral hog. Not unlike the whitetail, they are hunted with a wide array of calibers and bullets, and what works for one hunter might not be the choice of the other.

When Winchester first released its popular Varmint X line of ammunition, the engineers were going for something fast and flat with minimal recoil. What wasn't offered in the original Varmint X line, though, was ammunition for those who prefer to deploy their favorite scattergun against feral hogs, coyotes and other predators. That's changing in 2016, as Winchester has officially announced a new 12-gauge shotshell addition to the Varmint X line.

As feral hog hunting has surged in popularity across the country, ammunition manufacturers have responded with a number of “hog-specific” loads designed to penetrate better and bring down stout, wild swine. Most ammo makers have concentrated on rifle loads, but among the newest offerings are the Hog Wild shotshells by Hevi-Shot, a company best known for non-lead waterfowl loads.

Other than the feral hog, the whitetail deer covers more diverse types of terrain than any other game animal, leading hunters to have a wide variety of favorite cartridges. Additionally, whitetail hunters are perhaps the most fervent defenders and proponents of their chosen cartridges, which can range from the .22 Hornet to the .45-70 Government—not to mention the shotgun crowd. How do you even begin a "Top 5?"