Hunting Feral Hogs in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas Gulf Coast

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) offers a variety of draw hunts. I usually put my name in the hat for a couple of them every year, but I never had any luck getting drawn. That all changed this past December when I received an email from TPWD informing me that I had been drawn for a hunt in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. The quarry was whitetail deer and feral pigs.

Aransas NWR is on the Gulf Coast, just north of Corpus Christi. It happens to be the winter home of one of the rarest birds in North America, the whooping crane. While I have made several trips to Aransas in the past to observe the cranes, this time my trip would be a little bit different.

I was allowed to hunt for a week, but I only hunted for two days. I was mainly interested in harvesting a pig, simply because the freezer at home was already stocked with venison.

The men and women who hunt don't just observe the environment, but instead, we actively participate in it. However brief it was, I enjoyed being an integral part of the ecosystem of Aransas. I got the "behind the scenes" look if you will. Hopefully, this short video can show you what it was like hunting in the coastal swamps of Aransas NWR.