Feral hogs are an increasing problem in Georgia, and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom McCall has seen enough.

“They are a nuisance in this state about like ticks and mosquitoes and along the lines of political opponents to incumbents,” McCall, R-Elberton, said.

His colleagues agreed and voted 170-0 to send House Bill 475 to the Senate.

The bill would allow anyone to kill feral hogs without a hunting permit nearly year round.

Georgians could “kill them with anything from a pellet gun to a bazooka and at anytime except during deer season,” McCall said.

Rep. Tom Taylor, R-Dunwoody, said feral hogs tear up crops and plants and destroy other animals' habitat. They're also prodigious breeders, he said.

McCall agreed.

“Three months and three days there’s another litter on the ground,” he said.