Trappers catch 411-pound feral hog at San Antonio golf course

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) – It took three men and just as many dogs to catch a 411-pound feral hog last Thursday at a West San Antonio golf course.

Wyatt Walton , co-owner of Lone Star Trapping near Abilene, told KTSA News this huge feral hog was “trap-educated,” which means it had previous encounters with similar contraptions and was too smart to get caught in Walton’s traps, so they called in canine assistance.  The dogs rounded him up and two guys helped subdue the huge hog.

“They got him by the ears and I ran in and the wrestle was on,” Walton said.  “He was a big fella.”

It took about an hour to get the feral hog off Gateway Hills Golf Course.

“He tossed me off once, but we were able to get him on his side, get him tied up and get him humanely removed,” said Walton. The hog was taken to a processing plant.

In many areas of Texas, there are city ordinances prohibiting the shooting of feral hogs, so Walton’s company has special equipment, trailers, insurance, technology and traps to humanely remove them from areas where they’re unwanted. . He says they’ve caught thousands of feral hogs and  the one in San Antonio is the biggest one he’s seen.  Walton says this is their business and they’re on call 365 days a year as developers continue building homes in areas inhabited by wildlife.

“I think the run-ins that we’re having in these big towns is that there’s so much fast development encroaching on wildlife habitats and that’s where they start butting heads,” said Walton.

As  homes and businesses keep pushing further into wildlife habitats, animals eventually have encounters with humans.

“They’re just trying to survive,” Walton told KTSA News.