While President Obama has thus far proven himself to be a "teleprompter environmentalist"(no guts no glory, I say for Mr. Obama),,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Govenor Rick Perry of Texas has even less appetite for the land and its denizons than even the Bush/Cheney regime........a shooter of coyotes while hiking and now authorizing aerial gunning of both coyotes and feral hogs..........We all get the hog mentality---escaped livestock gone feral ripping up the land terribly,,,,,,I agree that they should be shot and trapped and removed completely and by any means...........But the Coyotes that might even occasionally dine on the dozen piglets that are spit out by Sows all too regularly?????? Insanity at play Mr Perry......The Coyotes are a trophic and integral component in the Texas landscape and do your farmers and ranchers a huge service through rodent and rabbit "chew-down"................Obama is not my man...........and you certainly are not either!!!!!!!!............If the Republicans grew some canjones and tapped back into the Teddy Roosevelt creed of understanding that the health of the land was directly tied into homeland security and defense, they might win every election..........Balance the budget, protect the land and our people, let us decide if we want an abortion or not............and you take home the bacon every time............And you democrats, stop playing the class warfare game, reduce permanently corporate taxes and tighten up the social entitlement programs,,,,,,,,,stick to your guns on the environment,,,,,,,,,,and you too would emerge a consistant winner...........Where is Thomas Paine when you need some "COMMON SENSE"?????????????

Texas Approves Aerial Hunting of Pigs and Coyotes

Texas Governor Rick Perry just signed a new law, referred to as the "pork chopper bill," that now makes aerial hunting of feral pigs and coyotes legal as of September 1.

While Texas laws have previously allowed for aerial hunting, last year, hunters holding land owner's authorization (LOA) permits killed 14,811 pigs from the air, the new change will allow any hunter with a license to lease hunting rights from landowners and rent seats on helicopters and act as gunner. The law was passed in an effort to deal with the state's estimated two million feral hogs that are causing millions of dollars of damage to property, agriculture and wildlife, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Vertex Helicopters, based in Houston, will offer its services and require hunters to take a safety class costing $350, in addition to charging $450 an hour with a minimum of three hours in the air where hunters can blast away with semiautomatic rifles and kill as many pigs as they want and/or can.

Opponents of the new law argue that aerial hunting is an inhumane means of trying to control populations of wild pigs, as pigs are more likely to be simply wounded. Other problems with managing numbers also arise when considering their population growth and spread, as hunters themselves have been contributing to their reach by trapping, transporting and releasing them to create new hunting populations.

"Most important, we must deal with the hunters who are helping pigs spread. Laws on the transportation and release of hogs should be toughened so that the penalties reflect the damage done. A new North Carolina law, to go into effect Oct. 1, moves in the right direction by setting the penalty for unapproved transport at up to $5,000 per hog," wrote Mark Essig in an opinion piece in the New York Times. Similarly, New York is currently considering a ban on canned hunts in an effort to prevent wild pig populations from exploding.

Meanwhile, Texans are gearing up for the three-month "Get the Hogs Outta Texas" competition, where the top five hog-killing counties win a total of $60,000 in grant money.