They’re spreading like ants across the scrubs of Texas, where their population has exploded over the last decade. Florida is inundated in some parts and Georgia faces a Texas-sized onslaught. Even the benighted Piedmont of Virginia faces a coming invasion.

Fortunately for most shooters, the invasion of wild pigs across the south and southeast is a target rich environment with a succulent porcine finish. But even though states like Texas have taken hog eradication to the next level with night shoots and aerial hunts, it’s still not enough to stem the flow.

That’s why the folks at Louisiana Hog Control are employing a controversial piece of new technology in their quest for trophy swine. Dubbed the “Dehogaflier,” the team of pig hunters uses a thermal camera-wielding unmanned plane to spot groups of hogs from the air to help vector in AR-shooting marksmen for the kill.

“With the thermal camera, they have nowhere to hide,” one Dehogaflier hunter told Louisiana’s KATC TV.

Invented by two electrical engineers, the Dehogaflier has been plying the midnight skies of Louisiana rice farmers who face millions in damages from pigs trampling their fields and gorging on their crops.

Most commercially-available drones are still too delicate to affix rifles or shotguns to, so for now they’ll have to be used for reconnaissance. And with the FAA soon to rules governing civilian drone use at high altitudes, it’s certain that calls for the unmanned craft to help hunters will increase.

But that hasn’t stopped some naysayers from trying to block their use before the ink is dry on FAA regs. According to Forbes, the Colorado FIsh and Wildlife service is already trying to ban drone use for pig shooting. Let’s hope they don’t succeed.

This article originally appeared in the Varmint issue of AR Guns & Hunting magazine.