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<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>[\/et_pb_slide] [\/et_pb_fullwidth_slider][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Section” fullwidth=”off” specialty=”off”][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_size=”initial”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”3.0.51″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\nAs he makes his morning round of chores, a chorus of snorts and squeals resounds from Bubba Ortiz\u2019s front yard. <\/span><\/p>\n
Ortiz, the owner of Ortiz Game Management and Wildlife Development, is up before the sun is out. He tends to a hog cage he designed and built less than a hundred yards from his house near New Braunfels\u2019 stretch of Interstate 35. From this plot of land, he makes his living in capturing, killing and cooking wild hogs. <\/span><\/p>\n
In Texas, the <\/span>hog business is booming<\/span><\/a>. An entire sub-economy revolves around the strange ways Texans try to kill the invasive species brought by the Spanish in the 1500s \u2014 from kerosene to hand grenades to machine guns fired from helicopters. The industry even garnered national attention this spring when <\/span>Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller proposed solving the state\u2019s hog problem with poison<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n
Though Texans get creative with their weapons of choice, Ortiz takes what he considers a more humane approach. <\/span><\/p>\n
After catching the hogs in traps he lays in clients\u2019 properties, he takes them back to his holding station until he has captured enough for transport, or until someone comes and pays him to prepare one for a meal. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cEvery one that ends up here ends up dying \u2014 either by my hands or through a processor or perhaps a certified game ranch that we sell to \u2014\u00a0but they all end up on the ground somewhere or on the table somewhere,\u201d Ortiz said. <\/span><\/p>\n
Though Ortiz said the wild hogs are a nuisance that needs to be eradicated, he still tries to keep them comfortable during their time in custody. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re like my prisoners, you know; I have to take care of them. They got enough water? They got enough shade? They got enough food?\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cThat\u2019s bad karma to starve them to death.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
After having spent 48 years in the industry, Ortiz said he maintains a certain level of respect for the beasts that help him bring home the bacon. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t hate them. That\u2019s a pretty strong word. Do I think they\u2019re a nuisance? Absolutely, [but] I really can\u2019t hate them, I guess, if they\u2019re putting pennies in my pocket,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cThe power of pork has kept me alive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Ortiz isn\u2019t the only person who hunts the prolific pigs that plague the southern United States. However, Ortiz said he one of the few who does it to his level of rigor and dedication. For Ortiz, who claims to have caught his first pig at the age of 4, catching wild hogs isn\u2019t just a trade, but a family enterprise. <\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cI think the reason we\u2019re so successful is we have the time and opportunity to do it full-time,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cWe dedicate as many man hours as it takes, and we have resources and equipment to do it. It takes time. It takes patience. It takes knowledge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n