Feral hogs and deer
overpopulating area

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Hunters want Travis County to let them hunt on county land. The feral hog and deer overpopulation problem has been an issue in Travis County for years. The Travis County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to pay a private company more that $13,000 to hunt white tail deer and feral hogs on county park and preserves land. Yet, some hunters said they would happily do the work for free.

Travis County has had a problem with too many feral hogs and deer for years. Instead of having county employees doing the hunting, they are having a private company to do it. "Today we simply took a step we think will give us an opportunity to be more efficient in achieving the goals for the county," said Kevin Connally with Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources. Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources manages over 12,000 acres of park and preserves land that hunters are not allowed on.

"This gets a little sensitive a little touchy I would rather not even go there, it opens up a whole can of worms," said Connally. The controversy is local hunters want to do the job the county is paying a private company for. "We are really missing an opportunity to allow the hunting public to go in and take advantage of this," said Mike Gardner, San Miguel Outdoors.

Census results show the high numbers of feral hogs and deer pose a threat to land, plants, native animals and even humans. The meat from the white tail deer goes to feed the hungry. "Last year we had about 78,000 pounds that was donated which is the equivalent of 700,000 servings," Anitra Hendricks of Hunters for the Hungry.

While hunter, Mike Gardner, agrees the Hunters for the Hungry program the county is supporting does a great thing, he still thinks Travis County would be best served by letting the public hunt the county land. "Over 95 percent of our state is privately owned and we have a need for more available land for the general public to take advantage of," said Gardner. Meanwhile, Connally said by hiring an outside company to do the hunting the county is actually saving money.