Texas... East of Houston.
Other states do allow hunting non game animals with thermal and night vision. I know Oklahoma does. Georgia does. Among others. Pretty sure Florida and Louisiana do. But every state has different specifics so don't take my word for it in your state.. make sure to look it up accurately so no one gets in trouble for taking legal advice from a random out of state hunter!
Yes the suppressor does confuse them about which way to run. You can usually shoot the farthest pig from you and the rest of the bunch will run away from the sound of the bullet smacking the pig. That's why I shot the one on the left at first... bc he was close to the fence/property line and I wanted to push the other "2" (or so I thought only 2 others) into the open field for follow up shots. Also, as u can see in the video if you wait for a couple seconds after each shot, a lot of the time the hogs will start running and then stop and look around/try to group back up/figure out which way the others are running/figure out what the heck is going on for a couple seconds allowing an easier follow up shot. There is also a "lead sow" in a group of pigs. Usually one of the larger/mature females in the sounder. Wherever she goes the rest of the group goes. If u take her out first the rest of the sounder gets confused about where to run bc they're used to following her around all the time. Then, once you've taken out all the adults/mature hogs, the piglets usually don't know where to go at all and just bunch up. Often times if u wait quietly after the piglets run off (probably not after that much shooting but if u only get a few shots off and all the adults are dead), the piglets will come back to the scene after a few minutes. For example a lead sow, a boar and 6 piglets.. kill the lead sow and boar, the piglets run off. Wait quietly.. 5 -10 minutes later the piglets come back to dead momma bc they don't have a leader and don't know where else to go. Killing all the adults first also makes the remaining smaller hogs in the group easy pickens for the next hunt.
The problem with the "hunt nuisance creatures for free" argument in Texas is that 99% of the land is privately owned and it's a big legal liability to trust strangers on your property with guns at night. Plus a lot of them have livestock and their livestock is how they keep their electricity on $$ and keep food on the table. If one hunter mistakes a calf for a deer, coyote or hog then that land owner will probably never let another stranger on his property again. The hunters also rut up dirt roads and property, leave gates open and let animals out of pastures, break gates/fences, leave trash behind for their livestock to choke on, damage crops walking through them, mistake their pet lab or kitty cat for a coyote or bobcat, shoot across property lines onto other properties they aren't allowed to be on potentially shooting a neighbors house, car, livestock etc. and the list goes on. It is and has been difficult to get landowners to give me a chance to earn their trust and respect. I've gotten way more nos than yeses. But having the equipment definitely does help give me an advantage/argument as to why I can be more effective than others. This particular land owner has stopped letting all other strangers on his place for some of the same reasons above and bc other hunters weren't killing anything. He had also talked to his friends and neighbors and I now have permission to hunt his neighbors place also bc he told his neighbor about me and that I'm effective trustworthy and respectful.
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