Cash Ubben
Cash Ubben’s grandmother told him about an Anna, Texas, dog rescue facility struggling with a feral hog infestation. Ubben, then finishing up his senior year at Lake Highlands High School and working to become an Eagle Scout, jumped in to organize a hog hunt to give the rescue facility some relief.
Ubben has always enjoyed hunting. Dad Ted first took him to get a hunting license when he was nine, and they’d return to Sweetwater often for the opening of deer, dove and hog seasons.
“Opening week usually falls on dad’s birthday,” he recalls. “It was a great time.”
According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife, feral hogs, also known as wild pigs, are one of the worst exotic invasive species in the world. Researchers estimate that wild pigs cause about $119 million in agricultural damage in Texas per year. Most damage is through rooting or the consumption of plant and animal materials.
Ubben arranged for Kuby’s to process the meat and deliver it to the North Texas Food Bank. Fellow Venturing Crew 728 members Nathan Clynes, Preston Foley and Baron Ubben participated in the hunt. Instructor Richard Johnson inspected the land and shared shooting protocols, while Marc Lubin from Lake Highlands Shooting Center and Larry Brownlee from We Stand Academy provided training, safety skills and hunting ethics. RCK Kitchen, an LH meal delivery service, catered food for the day.
The Boy Scouts didn’t bag a hog at Lone Star Dog Ranch, but they didn’t go away empty handed. Ubben earned the conservation requirement for his Venturing Ranger Award in scouting, and he became the first youth in Circle 10 to plan, organize and carry out a hog hunt.
“One of the biggest things I learned from this project was that if you’re passionate about something, there is almost always a way to see it through,” Ubben told me.
Ubben graduated from LHHS in May. He’s now pursuing his private pilot certificate at Monarch Aviation.
Wild pig, courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
