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Feral hogs destroy golf course at Lockhart State Park
The golf course at the Lockhart State Park has recently started receiving damage from feral hogs in the area.
LOCKHART, Texas - The golf course at the Lockhart State Park is not the most difficult around. There’s no big lake to hit over, no sand traps to avoid, but golfers are having to play through a different kind of hazard.
Sections of the fairway, as well as tee boxes and around some greens, have been dug up by feral hogs.
"I’m not gonna let these hogs take over my golf course," said one of the golfers on the course Friday.
The damage started showing up last month, according to park superintendent Austin Vieh. He took us around the nine-hole golf course to show us the areas damaged by the hogs.
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"When they come and hit us like this, it’s very frustrating," said Vieh.
The latest spot to be dug up is the woman’s tee on hole number four. It now looks like the beginnings of a vegetable garden. On Thursday it was a perfectly good tee box.
"It was and now, it has one-foot holes, one-foot deep holes," said Vieh.
A single group of hogs is what Vieh believes is responsible.
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"The sounder that I’ve seen out here was probably between 35 and 50 pigs with a few of them being upwards to 200 pounds and a whole bunch a\of little ones," said Vieh.
Traps have been set up and they’ve caught a few pigs. Corn is the basic bait used to lure them in, but now special mixes of corn are served up.
"One of the things we try a lot is the strawberry banana and Jell-O," said Vieh.
A large trap near the 5th hole is part of a new strategy in play. The trap is like a small corral and was provided by the local feral hog task force. Some of the earlier damage was repaired by a volunteer group.
Vieh said he’d welcome more help. Until grass starts growing again, golfers are being given half-price discounts on green fees, adding to the financial burden on this small park, the last in the department to operate a golf course. Vieh isn’t worried the hogs could kill the course.
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"No sir, I think it’s just a continuous battle that we are just gonna have to keep fighting," Vieh said.
The feral hog problem is not limited to just this golf course, it’s a countywide and statewide problem. Eradication programs apparently just can’t keep pace. Caldwell County is part of a bounty program. More than 300 tails were turned in on Thursday. The problem is what’s lost can easily be replaced.
"You see one pig go by and you see like 20 little piglets, so who’s winning," said Lou Berry.
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Berry lives a few miles outside of Lockhart. He said hog invasions on his property are now common place. He told FOX 7 about a recent late-night visit outside of his bedroom window by a pack of feral hogs.
"My wife walks out and says, boy, those are big armadillos and I said they ain’t armadillos," said Berry.
For now, stopping the feral hogs may be just like a round of golf. It’s all about recovering from the last bad shot.