Hunting from Hot Air Balloons Might Soon Be Legal in Texas
OutdoorHub Reporters 05.17.17
In an effort to reduce feral hog population levels in Texas, it may soon be legal to hunt wild hogs and coyotes while leisurely floating through the sky in hot air balloons.
For years, researchers have looked for effective ways to control this exploding population, and so far, hunting has been the best approach. In 2011, what’s been known as the “pork chopper” bill was passed making it legal to hunt hogs from helicopters. We’ve even seen hunters in Texas take out 70 hogs in a night riding in a 4×4 side-by-side.
Because hunting from a helicopter can be dangerous, there’s now another method proposed for taking hogs from the air. Texas Representative Mark Keough has introduced House Bill 3535, which would reportedly legalize hunting feral hogs and coyotes from a hot air balloon with a permit.
Does this sound like a hunt you want to go on?
The one cool thing about this is, no one has ever hunted from a hot air balloon before. You can Google it, we’ll wait here. . . “I haven’t found people anywhere doing this,” Keough admittedly said.
You’d have to go back to World War I days when German zeppelins were armed with heavy machine guns to see the last armed balloons floating through the skies. And it just so happens, we have a video that shows the type of machine guns used on those zeppelins:
Something tells me that’s not exactly what they had in mind when they legalized balloon hunting, but hey, it is Texas after all . . .
To clarify, this bill has passed the House, but is still awaiting approval from the Texas senate. We’ll update this story when we get official word on this bill in the upcoming weeks.
