Hog Trapping in Lampasas, TX

Built on springs

Lampasas sits on Sulphur Creek, a spring-fed creek that rises about four miles southwest of town and runs northeast past Gold, Gooch and Hancock springs before it reaches the Lampasas River two and a half miles east of town, per the Handbook of Texas. Hancock Springs, in Hancock Park, issues from Marble Falls limestone and averaged about 70 gallons a second between 1886 and 1975.

Moses Hughes settled at Hancock Springs in 1853. The springs drew people for the same reason they draw hogs: dependable water in country where a lot of the tanks go dry by August.

Cattle country

The Handbook describes most of Lampasas County as Grand Prairie, "high rolling prairie with steep slopes and limestone benches," with shallow clays and loams over limestone and cover of live oak, mesquite and juniper. AgriLife Extension lists cattle grazing, hay, wheat, sorghum and pecans as the main land uses.

The 2022 Census of Agriculture backs that up. Lampasas County had 1,076 farms on 448,284 acres, about 70 percent pasture and 18 percent woodland, and 95 percent of the $33.1 million in farm sales came from livestock. That's a county where hog damage means torn pasture, wrecked hay meadows, fouled tanks and busted water gaps rather than lost corn.

Juniper and limestone benches

Steep slopes and limestone benches covered in juniper are ideal hog cover. A sounder can bed on a shaded bench all day within a few hundred yards of water and pasture and never be seen. Pecan bottoms along the creeks add a fall food source on top of that.

On rough ground like this the trick is reading where the slope breaks. Hogs come down off the benches on the easiest grade to reach the creek or the pasture, and those paths get worn deep. That's where the bait and the camera go.

How we run a Lampasas job

Same process as everywhere we work: bait where the trails already run, a cellular camera on it, a trap built in stages while the sounder keeps feeding, and the gate closed from a phone when every hog is inside. Then they go out alive to a buying station or are dispatched on site, depending on the market and the situation.

Ranch ground out here is often big and rough, so access matters. Tell us how the roads and gates work on your place, and whether a truck and trailer can reach the bottoms after rain.

• Cattle ranches and improved pasture
• Hay meadows and wheat ground
• Pecan bottoms along Sulphur Creek and the Lampasas River
• Juniper country on the benches

What to check on your place

Start at the water. Around a spring, seep or creek crossing, look for wallows dug into the soft bank, rubs on the nearest trees, and rooting in the wet ground around it. Then follow the trail away from the water uphill. Where it reaches open pasture is usually where the worst rooting starts.

In hay meadows, look for patches turned over overnight, often in a line along a fence or the edge of brush. If you're seeing it fresh most mornings, the group is close and on a routine. Call while it's fresh.

Getting there

Lampasas is about 29 miles from Killeen, a little over half an hour. U.S. 183, U.S. 281 and U.S. 190 all meet in town, so most of the county is an easy reach for trap checks and hauling.

Lampasas County resources

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension's Lampasas County office is at 409 South Pecan Street, Suite 102, in Lampasas, (512) 556-8271. It's a good free source on range, cattle and wildlife questions. Colorado Bend State Park, which straddles Lampasas and San Saba counties, is the big public ground on the west side. For hogs trapped and off your place, call us.

Lampasas hog trapping questions

Nearby: Killeen · Copperas Cove · Belton · Brady · all areas

Sources: Handbook of Texas, Lampasas; Handbook of Texas, Sulphur Creek; Handbook of Texas, Hancock Springs; Handbook of Texas, Lampasas County; USDA NASS 2022 Census of Agriculture, Lampasas County; Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Lampasas County.