The manufacturer of Kaput Feral Hog Bait announced Monday that it has withdrawn the product’s registration in Texas, citing the threat of many lawsuits for the family-owned company.
Scimetrics Ltd. Corp. said in an April 24 news release that it has received tremendous support from farmers and ranchers in Texas and that it has empathy for the environmental devastation, endangered species predation and crop damage being inflicted in the state by a non-native animal.
“However, under the threat of many lawsuits, our family-owned company cannot at this time risk the disruption of our business and continue to compete with special interests in Texas that have larger resources to sustain a lengthy legal battle,” said the company.
The Kaput Feral Hog Bait label has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which Scimetrics Ltd. Corp. said requires meeting stringent testing and documentation requirements.
“To meet these high standards, many years of work have gone into developing and proving the safety and effectiveness of Kaput Feral Hog Bait. We had hoped to provide this valuable new resource to the farmers of Texas, whose crops and land have been devastated by the estimated 2.5 million feral hogs in the state,” said the company. “We had also hoped to alleviate the risk posed by the many diseases these hogs carry being transmitted to both the livestock and the food supply of Texas, by offering an alternative solution to current programs that cannot keep up with the quickly growing feral hog population.”
Scimetrics Ltd. Corp. said it has discontinued its attempts to provide the resource in Texas at this time. It said it is grateful for the support it has received from the agricultural community of Texas.
Texas Farm Bureau feral hog policy supports funding for any research or program to control and/or eliminate feral hogs.
I am glad they are pulling out. This can be handled without introducing poison into the wildlife.
Easy for you to say. Every week I see carnage and have the tractor and implement damage to prove it.
Jeff – totally agree with you. We have the same problem. Every morning many new holes 2-3 ft deep and wide in the fields and roads. Maybe if some of the PETA people had to drive and deal with them everyday, they might have a different opinion. They are fracking worthless animals and destroy anything in their path.
Sorry to here this we have tried unsuccessfully to Eradicate these disease infested overgrown rats that cause millions of dollars in damages to vehicles and crops every year. This would have been a valuable tool to help in our fight. I feel like there should have been better Education of the general public on the years of testing and safety of this valuable product.
This is a loss for all agriculture enterprises in Texas. This problem is exacerbating and bowing to the special interests of a few will do irreparable harm to farmers all across this state.
Hunting and trapping has not put a dent into the feral hog population. There are many pitfalls in being forced to reply on that method. To start with there are not enough hunters/trappers to effectively address the problem. Secondly, being forced to rely on amateurs who merely wish to weekend hunt opens the door to liability on the part of farmers and landowners.
I had my concerns about this product but was hopeful it could be used properly to help rid us of the hogs….or at least slow them down. I’m a ground applicator and some places have just been devastated to the point they cant even be sprayed without an airplane…which of course is more expensive.
Hooray! A win for all wildlife in Texas. I’d rather have field damage than endanger any other wildlife. There are very efficient methods for controlling wild pig invasions on your field. I for one am baiting the pigs in my area with the goal of trapping a troop and carting them off to a pig collection point. Uncontrolled baiting with poisons is not the answer to the wild pig problem in Texas.
Do you grow crops?
Rat poison (warfarin) has been used in massive amounts for generations now without any demonstrated negative environmental effects whatsoever. Adapting it to feral hog control will hardly “introduce poison” into the wildlife.
Rodney, you seem to know that “This can be handled without” warfarin. Want to come out on the farm and help us with feral hog control, your way? If it works, we’d be grateful.
When are you going to wakeup, you got pigs walking down the streets,spreading serious disease to wildlife, domestic pets and livestock, killing indigenous plants,animals destroying farm land,3 million pigs will soon be 5 million, and you really think you have a handle on the problem! ARE YOU SERIOUS!
We are drowning in hogs. We can’t mow pastures without breaking the tractors and hay equipment. We have spent thousands on guns, scopes,and amo, with little to no success. If you are agents the bate, what is your solution? Maybe you don’t have to live with the hogs destroying your home.
There are plenty hunters willing to come and kill your pigs, but Farmers won’t open their land up for hunting, and all of you complainers know it. I am a pig hunter and in the last 10 years not one farmer had taken me up on the offer to come kill their pigs. They all want to CHARGE outrageous fees for me to hunt their pest. That is the reality, so stop complaining about the lack of hunters. If any of you need someone to take care of your pig problem, just give me a call. I know dozens of guys that will gladly come and kill them for you. Problem SOLVED!
Sport hunters have proven that they will not and never will be able to take care of this problem, and i dont blame them. I hate to work all day and then have to hunt pigs all night long to keep them off our crops. And when I say all night I mean from dark till daylight the next day, not till whenever you get tired and its not fun anymore. I mean everyday, for about a month after corns planted, and by everyday I mean Saturday and Sunday night as well 7 days a week no matter what else is going on in your life. There is so much false info, and uneducated ideas out there about all this it makes me sick. Furthermore I think I can safely speak for thousands of acres of land in the area and say that a hunter is not turned down unless theres some outside concern. We finally gave up on sport hunters when we realized they will not do what it takes to keep the hogs of of our fields in the critical times. As i said before I dont blame them. We now take care of the hunting ourselves. Have tried many many ways to help control them from hunting, trapping, dogs etc. Even with us staying out all night for weeks straight we still sustain damage because you cant be at all the fields all the time even if you have multiple guys out. It takes thousands of dollars of equipment to effectively hunt them, as well as labor costs and sustained damage costs. Unless a person is effected by the problem and knows the real deal, they should refrain from spreading untruths and uneducated ideas. As far as the Kaput bait is concerned I doubt many people have done their research either, and I assume this by the things they say. I am absolutely not interested in something that would hurt other animals and I had my doubts on this product at first. But after going to a class on the research performed and considering the stringent epa guidelines for any product released into the marketplace, it was clear that the areas of concern that I had previously had were not an issue. I could keep going for hours on this topic but ill stop for now.
I would like to help full time for farmers with hunting with my ultralight , aierial hunting permit , let me know
I’m with Jeff. It’s been tested and safe. Warfarin has been used for years and kills only targeted animals.
I’m sorry for us farmers and ranchers who have to endure the hog battle day after day. They destroy crops, fields, fences and hay patches. They eat acorns and pecans leaving less food for other wildlife.
I guarantee that if the hunters and PETA folks had to repair the damage and incurr financial losses like we do they’d change their minds. Another case of the few putting it to the many. I’m sorry Kaput had to leave Texas and I hope we can get them back cause we’re losing the battle with feral hogs.
hi chris, I see the damage all the time, and agree something must be done. the problem is the time it takes for death and we all eat the critters along with every scavenger. do you offer free hunting on your place? threecurl.com offers hunts, but cost is more than most can afford.. have you considered trapping and selling? many people will do it for free. wildboar.com in hubbard, tx will buy live and field dressed hogs. hill county tx offered a bounty and the results were impressive, maybe your county can do something for you all.. has anyone considered birth control, other than lead poisoning? check out marxfoods.com and the prices for that meat. I really hope we can find some natural balance to these destructive tasty creatures.
This is insane, “Hooray! A win for all wildlife in Texas. I’d rather have field damage than endanger any other wildlife.”
Do people not realize that everything that nests or lives on the ground is being eaten by these feral hogs? Wildlife is being devastated every day and there is no end in sight. The chances of secondary kill or sickness is so remote compared to the real wildlife slaughter that is happening every minute. Even fish and fresh water supplies are threatened when they wallow in streams and reservoirs. And be careful about minimizing “field damage”, that is where our food comes from. And before I show you my statistics, tell me what the alternative population controls are and the data to prove it. Hint: there are no viable alternatives
CAN’T FIX STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!! SOME PEOPLE have no idea the problem these hogs cause. Like to see them idiots come down here and deal with the mess they make!!!! Might have to make a run to Oklahoma !!!!!!!!
There are thousands of hunters willing to hunt hogs. I am tired of hearing landowners complain about hog problems, but they won’t grant access to hunters to come fix the problem. Well, they will, but only for a huge fee.
If you have hog problems, take out an ad and you will have more hunters then you can shake a stick at. But I bet money you won’t do it.
Why would I invite people whom I don’t know on to my land? For free? And with guns? Lots of liability issues there, especially if I’m leasing the land from someone else.
The problem with hunting and trapping hogs is these pigs are smart. They don’t show everyday and use cover to their advantage. They get wise to hunters and traps and change areas and times. I’m using both and so are my rancher friends. We kill and trap and are good at it. We can’t get enough to make a difference. A sow is sexually mature in six months can have 2 1/2 litters a year with a minimum of six piglets per litter.They have no predators. You get the picture. I’m a chairman of a large old cemetery. Never could keep them out using any method so finally had to fence with heavy 4″x4″ fence with gaucho barbed wire at the bottom to keep them from rooting graves. Believe me if hunting and trapping could control, I wouldn’t be writing this. I set traps and shoot pigs and am successful, it’s just not putting a dent in the population. Their range and population is expanding.It needs a passive solution birth control or poison.
You can tell by the remarks those who have to put up with the destruction and those that don’t. Let some of them deal with this issue all the time and then see what they have to say. Trap, shoot them, really seems like every time you kill one 5 more show up.
I own a ranch in Paige Texas. I’ve got hogs and yes they have done damage to my land. My equipment must be better built than the stuff mentioned here because I haven’t suffered any damage to my equipment. When I find ruts I take my tractor and work the soil back into shape. I also put up net fence when building new instead of wire, that appears to keep them out of my fields. Also, since I started baiting the hogs they don’t go rutting up the rest of my fields. Folks have been poisoning rats for years and that hasn’t accomplished anything.
Lots of good points made on all sides, BUT…do you pro poison guys really think the poison will make a significant impact? How many millions of acres of land is state and federally owned and who is going to pay to poison that if its even allowed? One farmer uses poison and the next doesnt, theres thousand acre holes in that plan too. its true that hog hunts for the most part are not free. Its also true that theres liability issues, jerko××s shooting your cows etc. And a few guys with rifles on a saturday night looking over a hundred acres isnt gonna get it done either. I lived in japan for 5 years, they had a bounty on them of about $50, didnt help one bit, they increased their numbers. Id say they need a lethal std to actually help, but thatll never be allowed. I think we’re just screwed
Good points all around. Didnt they try poisoning coyotes out of existance way back when? I got as many yotes as hogs so howd that work out? How manyof acres does the state and feds own and whose going to pay to poison that? So farmer A poisons, farmer B doesn’t, thete’s a couple more thousand acre hole in the plan. I lived in japan for 5 years, they had a bounty of about $50/tail on hogs, there was a trap every 100yds, i personally killed 82 in 4 months and split the money with the local mafia boys since i was doing it without government sanction and there were more of them when i left than when i arrived. Without coordination we are screwed. This is a war that cant be won by poison or weekend hunters, its gonna take man power, coordinated slaughtering, helicopters, flir, an all of the above strategy, landowner cooperation, liability protection. These things are dug in like an alabama tick, you aint gonna just root them out and theyre smarter than most of the guys trying to kill them. There is no magic answer short of pig ebola or a genetically introduced countdown clock on their lifespan. Ten years ago “they” said there were 2 million in the state, now they say 2 1/2 million. Laughable, probably more like 4 million; i stopped running cameras cause all i get is one group of 20 after the next, all night, accept the nights you wait up for them. Without some sort of plan, government coordination, the relaxing of lisence cost, landowner cooperation, we are just screwed.
Very good points Scott. Another problem is that hog hunting is big business and there are guys making tons of money off hogs. These people do not want them to go away. They actually trap and harbor hogs on their land. So there is a conflict between those that hate pigs and want them to be eradicated and those that love them and want more of them. The first step to solving this conflict is to make a law prohibiting profiting from hogs in any way. Once there is no money to be made off them, then there will be no reason for them to be around and people will stop harboring them.
I am about sick of all the animal rights activist groups. They are RUINING the lives and livelihoods of farmers and ranchers across America. Most of them have absolutely NO clue what is involved financially and physically to run and maintain a ranch and farm. They do not realize that without farmers and ranchers there is no food! Idiots, most of them. I will feed a starving family out of pocket and go without eating to do so if I must. What are THEY doing except costing the lives of farmers and ranchers? We need to put a stop to special interest groups and idiots like this. Who is going to replace my truck if I hit another pig? I cannot afford payments again. Certainly not them. They do NOT care. Kill the damn hogs now!
Another problem made worse by people that can’t or won’t mind their own business.