Hunting with two feet on the ground is so yesterday. The new way to shoot wild animals is out of a hot air balloon. At least in Texas.
Two local lawmakers are pushing a bill that would allow the shooting of feral hogs and coyotes from balloons.
State Rep. Mark Keough, R-The Woodlands, and Rep. Cecil Bell, R- Magnolia, are two of the several sponsors of House Bill 3535, a measure originally introduced by Keough in March that would have allowed the shooting of hogs from balloons. The wording of the bill was later expanded to also include the shooting of coyotes from balloons.
The measure was approved in the House with ZERO opposition on Tuesday. None. Everyone was high-on-the-hog about shotgunning pigs from flying objects.
Texas is all up on letting people commandeer flying vessels to take out wild animals. They’ve been shooting pigs from helicopters for years (just like you on Friday nights).
Because Texas, as well as wide areas of the southwest have an ongoing problem with the expanding hog population, hunting the animals from helicopters, derisively called “pork choppers” by some, has been legal in Texas for several years.
The new law by Keough and Bell would expand aerial hunting to include balloons, because, according to its backers, hunting from helicopters has its limitations.
“The hogs are smart creatures so they scatter when they hear the helicopters coming,” said Jason Millsaps, Keough’s Chief of Staff, adding that the state has a “huge hog issue.”
Hot air balloons — the choice of silent pig assassins.
[via Chron]