Pretty cool. Hopefully this will create it’s own little industry that thrives. Anything that can reduce the population of these feral pigs and is self sustaining is a great way to go. It looks like Vertex is advertising itself as a helicopter hunting outfit if you are interested in doing something like this. –Matt
Serious shooters are lining up for a chance to hunt feral hogs from helicopters
August 27, 2011
By Steve Campbell
“Pork choppers,” Texas’ newest weapon in the war on feral hogs, will take to the skies Thursday when it becomes legal for hunters to buy seats on hog-hunting helicopters and gun down as many pigs as they can put in their sights.
With more than 2 million feral hogs rooting around the Lone Star State, there will be plenty of targets for aerial gunners willing to pay $475 for an hour of heli-hunting.
Vertex Helicopters is already bringing home the bacon as a result of the measure passed by the Texas Legislature this year.
The Houston-based firm requires shooters to take a $350 hunting safety course before they can book a hunt, said President Mike Morgan, a former Army helicopter pilot.
Sixty hunters have taken the course, and two more 15-person classes are already filled, he said.
“These are people who are really, really serious about shooting things,” Morgan said, noting that hunters from New York City, Missouri and Kansas have taken the course, which includes a four-hour class and 30 minutes of learning airborne target practice.
Vertex has secured landowners’ permission to hunt on more than 150,000 acres across the state and is negotiating to add another 550,000 acres, he said.
The company has booked more than 30 hunts with a three-hour minimum of flight time. Most shooters are scheduling five hours to six hours, he said.
“In the big picture it’s not that expensive,” Morgan said. “You have people paying $10,000 for one deer. At $475 an hour, it’s barely a drop in the bucket for serious hunters.”