Did Sid Miller’s 2011 Law Help Start 130 ‘Helicopter Hog Hunt’ Businesses?

Our weekly check-in with the Texas Truth-O-Meter.

By Alain StephensAugust 17, 2016 9:57 am,

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller keeps a toothsome mounted boar’s head on a wall outside his office. A toy helicopter looks like it’s floating above.

As a Texas House member, the Stephenville Republican carried into law a 2011 measure enabling hunters to shoot at feral hogs or coyotes from helicopters, provided the landowner or his agent has given permission. “It became law,” Miller told Austin American-Statesman columnist Ken Herman during an office tour in June 2016, “and we have 130 new businesses across Texas doing helicopter hog hunts. Took a liability and turned it into an asset. It’s been great. It’s been eradicating hogs ever since.”

Is that a fact? Gardner Selby of the PolitiFact Texas fact-checking team has the answer.

Hear how Miller’s claim scored in the player above.