[rangerruck]

found a great place to hunt, 45 mins from houston, anyone can go there.
private ranch, 1 day , 100 bucks, all the pigs and varmints you can want. go in a group of three or less, they will cart you around in the back of a jeep.
you will jeep around early in the morning, then scout some stands and feeders later, then they will put you in a stand or blind later. tons of buzzards and pigs.
From the back of that jeep, you will be shooting off hand, with not very good footing, to say the least. Caught my piggie at about 75 yards with a old remmy 788 in 243.
cory got his with a new remmy sps in 22-250, about same distance, also from the back of the jeep. shot tons of other stuff througout the day, but these two , since they were under 60 lbs, they were going to become nice food!!!!
mostly if you don't want them, you can kill them , and leave them in place if you like. or take them back to the ranch, backstrap them, then take the rest down to a buzzard drop. These buzzards with the white tip wings here are extremely aggressive, and will eat the whole thing in about 1 hr.
not only that, but they will kill and eat newborn calves, if the mother does not stand up immediately after birth, and stand over the calf , to protect it.
So the ranch owner really wants these buzzards toasted.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/pmullineaux/001-11.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a284/pmullineaux/002-10.jpg

They also will run lanes and to feeders , with the cattle, in groups of 5 to 10, So if you got a fast semi auto, with good sites,
just be ready!!!! they will let you go at night as well if you want, if you got the nightvision gear!!! And yes, there are some big piggies out there as well, We say a couple of over 200lbs, but couldn't get a good shot, or the cattle wwere in the way. This guy also runs deer hunts as well!!! Fabulous...

[scott22]

Man I can't wait until my enlistment is up and I can leave Kalifornia for Texas! Sounds like you guys had a ton of fun.

[Dksimon]

Looks like a nice pig. I wish I could go pig hunting, No wild pigs in south dakota.

[DKA]

Good Eating Size, Congrats.

[rangerruck]

No piggies in South Dakota??? that really sounds impossible, as Feral pigs are I think in every state now, except Alaska and Hawaii, according to all reports I have heard, contact your state wildlife, fish/game dept and ask them where the porkers are running, then try to get a hold of a farmer / rancher there, and ask away!!!

[btucker1947]

My 12 year old Grandson got a pig a couple weeks ago with a 243.
It was about 75 lbs. His first Hog. One shot through the heart and dropped it right where he hit it. 50 or 60 yrd shot.:D

[Dksimon]

I looked on the GFP website and they didnt have anything about hogs on there.

I can try to call tomorrow but I am pretty positive that there arent any here. I travel alot and would have seen one by now if there were any around.

I know there a menace but they would be fun to hunt!

[rangerruck]

they are double fun, exciting, good for moving, stand hunting, tracking them down, everything... and if you get them smallish, good to eat.

[nathan]

rangerruck, PM sent

[quatin]

Where is this place? I might be interested as I'm heading back to Houston in a bit.

[Markbo]

It is absolutely, positively, 100% certain ILLEGAL TO SHOOT ANY SPECIES OF VULTURE IN TEXAS.

If this Rancher wants them gone so badly, he should either properly dispose of corpses or make hunters take them. Even as a feral species, there is NOTHING wrong with feral hog meat. It is a sin to be so wasteful as to just throw dead animals out. These are not prairie dogs or ground squirrels for goodness sake!

That Rancher - and you - should be ashamed of yourself! :cuss:

[TexasRifleman]

It is absolutely, positively, 100% certain ILLEGAL TO SHOOT ANY SPECIES OF VULTURE IN TEXAS.



Clearly not.....

City commissioners in Madisonville, about 100 miles north of Houston, gave their blessing in January to shooting vultures blamed for property damage as long as folks obtain the proper federal permits.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080420/ap_on_re_us/roadkill_warriors

Vultures may be harassed without federal permits, but they can only be killed after obtaining a Migratory Bird Depredation Permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Application for the permit:

http://www.fws.gov/forms/3-200-13.pdf

They are just plain out of hand in many parts of the country and you CAN in fact get permission to kill them.

You must show that you are trying non lethal tactics as well but those just don't work most of the time.

In the case of the rancher in the OP's hunt he is clearly experiencing financial damages because of the overpopulation of the things and might very well qualify for the permits.

These are not prairie dogs or ground squirrels for goodness sake!

Not sure what that means, I've eaten a hell of a lot more squirrel than feral pig. If I was going to choose which meat to waste it would not be the squirrel. (breaded and fried is usually the best way for squirrel)

[Gaiudo]

and there's nothing wrong thinning out a pest species. Some of those big ol' boars can get pretty rangy. Sin....? I think not.

[paintballdude902]

ranger im pretty sure hawii has a native pig species

[rangerruck]

these are a hybrid buzzard, they are part mexican or south american eagle,
they are not like regular vultures/buzzards at all, they are super aggressive.
they will eat baby calves eyes out, as they are born, if the mom does not immediately stand up after birth, to protect them. then they will go on to kill them, eat the calf, and eat the afterbirth right out of the mom , if she continues to lay down.

So please, feel free to tell these ranchers, who make their living off of cattle, to not shoot these buzzards.

and we skin and clean the pigs, some guys just backstrap, and he has a couple of families and friends he calls, to see if they want any of the rest of the pig. And they come and pick it up.
only the innards were wasted, and i took some of those, for my dogs.

[rangerruck]

if anyone in the area wants a hunt, call Zeb, at Carter's Country, on hwy 59 s. , and ask him about the hog hunting, he will give you name address and phone number of the rancher.
also remember, if you have night gear, he will let you go into the night as well.

[rangerruck]

and yes they are a pest species, you should see how many of his clear cut parcels of land, have huge dig holes, low spots, pitt burms, and they will ruin farm equipment real fast.

[TexasRifleman]

these are a hybrid buzzard, they are part mexican or south american eagle

Might be Crested Caracara which are neither eagles nor buzzards.

They are aggressive and fast. They have even been spotted hunting prey by running along the ground. They are closer to falcons than anything really. Unusual since they like carrion and live prey both.

Some websites say they only show up in Central America but that's crap, they are all over South Texas and Northern Mexico, Arizona too.

Lots of people call them "Mexican Eagles"

[rangerruck]

I did not get a close look at their head, but their bodies are very dark, proly black, and the have white tips on all their flight wings. Anyone got any pics? Nope , just looked at a lot of pics, of caracaras, and this is not the same at all, these heads are totally diff.

[Enron Exec]

lol awesome!!!

[btucker1947]

Back in 1981 I field dressed a deer, with a flock of vultures circling just a few feet above me squawking and flapping their wings, noisily. I couldn’t scare them away. They were so close I could feel the wind from their wings, and hear them flapping as they maintained their height a few feet above me.

Those big vultures’ wings flapping overhead, as close as they were. I quickly dressed out the deer, and pulled it about 10 yards from the gut pile. Immediately the vultures descended down onto to them, making their squawking gutturally type noises, :barf:as they began feasting on the warm innards. "Wow!" what an experience; the birds were huge and this was my first kill in Texas. I started laughing about it. I was going to go and get one of my cousins to help drag the deer, until they appeared. In the North east we never saw these. :D

[nathan]

rangerruck, I tried several times to ask for Zeb at Carters but never get to talk to him. I dont know but theres a guy who always picks the phone and would immediately says Zeb is not in yet. I guess they dont want personal related calls.

[ar154life]

what is the magazine capacity limit for hunting these pigs?

[OMGWTFBBQ]

what is the magazine capacity limit for hunting these pigs?
There is no limit :D. They're considered an invasive species and you can shoot them where ever, whenever, however, and with whatever you want so long as you have the blessings of the land owner and don't violate any other laws.

[rangerruck]

Here we go ; try Mr. Schultz, Rock Island(no kidding) Ranch. 281.744.5228
he also runs deer hunts.

[K3]

If this Rancher wants them gone so badly, he should either properly dispose of corpses or make hunters take them. Even as a feral species, there is NOTHING wrong with feral hog meat. It is a sin to be so wasteful as to just throw dead animals out. These are not prairie dogs or ground squirrels for goodness sake!

Except for the fact that boars are rank, especially the bigger they get. Abcess and infection is a problem too. My 150# Russian sow that I took with a knife had to be tossed because of abcess.

Sin? Not sure what particular sin this as. We are to have dominion over the animals, and that means all of them. If there is an invasive species wrecking a man's livestock and having a negative effect on inigenous wildlife, then it is prudent and responsible to eliminate that threat. Not a sin.

Know what I do with 'yote? I hang them from the fence. You see, they prey on calves, lambs, and kids. The rancher appreciates what I do, and I get to hunt year round. He loses less $ to predators.

The horse you're on is kinda high...

[TexasRifleman]

Know what I do with 'yote? I hang them from the fence. You see, they prey on calves, lambs, and kids. The rancher appreciates what I do, and I get to hunt year round. He loses less $ to predators.

And the sad thing about that one is that there was a way to get some use out of those 'yotes.

Back in the 80's when I was in high school I made a rather decent weekend income selling coyote pelts to fur buyers.

The government was using coyote fur for some military coat linings. Not huge money, $10-15 each maybe plus $10 for a pair of ears from the landowner usually.

But then the animal rights people decided it was bad to use coyote fur so now what happens?

We kill the things anyway and the fur goes to waste.

Thanks PETA, that one worked out really well huh?

[K3]

And the sad thing about that one is that there was a way to get some use out of those 'yotes.

Back in the 80's when I was in high school I made a rather decent weekend income selling coyote pelts to fur buyers.

The government was using coyote fur for some military coat linings. Not huge money, $10-15 each maybe plus $10 for a pair of ears from the landowner usually.

But then the animal rights people decided it was bad to use coyote fur so now what happens?

We kill the things anyway and the fur goes to waste.

Thanks PETA, that one worked out really well huh?

No kidding. The guy that taught me how to hunt predators made a lot of money in the early to mid '80s. He and a friend of his cleared about $12K over a winter of hard hunting. The wives were getting irritated about them being gone all the time...

until they brought the check home.

[Markbo]

TexasRifleman - thank you, you make my point for me. Without a federal permit, one is not allowed to kill vultures in Texas. Rangerruck mentioned nothing about any permits. In fact he mentioned they are a hybrid??? I don't think that is even possible in the lab.:rolleyes:

If someone can't tell the difference between a Mexican Eagle and a Turkey Vulture they sure have no business shooting either. I never said the hogs were not a problem. Anyone that hunts in Texas knows they are. My remark about not being squirrels had to do with their respective size.

Except for the fact that boars are rank, especially the bigger they get.There is so much BS out there about hogs of such and such size are just no good. http://ar15.com/images/smilies/anim_bs.gif. If a singular animal has something wrong with it, that is one thing. Abecesses are a common and well known problem in all swine. but a 50lb pig or a 500lb board that do not have any particular disease or issue are fine to eat. Now I am not saying that a huge boar cannot be rank. Clearly they can, but it is an individual issue - not a species issue. I have personally taken over 300 lb boars and if you are careful in how you process them in the field, they are absolutely fine! All that nonsense about shooting only small ones to eat is just that - nonsense!

I have converted probably a couple dozen hunters over the last 10 years because they thought the same thing. Sure a 60lb pig makes a great barbeque whole, but a 300lb animal can supply a lot of excellent meat when properly prepared in the field. It is just this kind of misinformatin that leads to the discarding of nearly whole carcasses.

K3, my point was that killing these animals and leaving the carcasses is wasteful -THAT is the sin. Dominion over the animals does not free us of responsibilities, like hunting ethics and except for varmints like ground squirrels and prairie dogs (you eat ground squirrels?) that includes using as much of the animals as possible and not just backstrapping them out and leaving the carcasses. Then they complain about too many vultures. Well no wonder!

Then these same carrion eaters grow to have no fear of men and everyone is surprised. These birds have ALWAYS eaten new born animals. This is not news. The problem may be an overpopulation due to the free feasts being provided daily by unethical hunters and on slow days, they find a newborn calf, kid or fawn just as tasty.

[jedwi]

How do you make the distinction between varmints and hogs??? I can kill a rat and toss it aside but a hog that is destroying property, competing with White Tails for food, eating turkey eggs is now to be treated like a fed out steer....

[btucker1947]

Rangerruck,
I have wrote some stupid ass stuff before , but the comments I made to you were uncalled for. So I am apologizing to you and the forum. I'm sorry., sir.

[rangerruck]

btucker... you don't know me at all. You are doing alot of assuming here, you sound evil to me. As for hunting, I did it all growing up, during summers and winters, up in northeast Texas. As for the value of life, I spent much time in the Army , in some of our more nice and delicious infantry units out there, chairborne and otherwise, it sounds like you need to lighten up a bit. Maybe take in a pig hunt.
And you have no idea how we conducted ourselves on the owners' ranch.
We were with him, or one of his ranchhands, the whole time.

[Markbo]

How do you make the distinction between varmints and hogs??? I can kill a rat and toss it aside but a hog that is destroying property, competing with White Tails for food, eating turkey eggs is now to be treated like a fed out steer....

I'm kind of at a loss why this is so difficult a concept to grasp... it is not about how the animals are treated when they are alive. Of COURSE they are nuisance animals - I have already stated that. It is about what you do with the meat after they are dead.

I don't eat prairie dogs, ground squirrels or rats. The huge majority of U.S. citizens DO eat Pork. The waste of perfectly good meat is just sinful to me. If that is so hard to grasp, i.e. eat what you kill then hunting ethics are wasted on you.

Now how do you make the distinction between usage and waste?

[jedwi]

Markbo, I asked what I feel to be a legitimate question. You could answer without questioning my hunting ethics. You seem to make assumptions that are untrue.

[Seven For Sure]

Damn this got ugly fast. I don't see a problem with the way the hogs were killed as long as it was legal. I would'nt call it a hunt really but you don't need a tag either. Think of it as varminting since that's really what it is. I hate vultures, they're everywhere here in N. Florida. Good way to find murder victims though.

[hacksaw]

Never mind, I'm not going to feed any trolls.

[alsaqr]

"There is so much BS out there about hogs of such and such size are just no good. . If a singular animal has something wrong with it, that is one thing. Abecesses are a common and well known problem in all swine. but a 50lb pig or a 500lb board that do not have any particular disease or issue are fine to eat. Now I am not saying that a huge boar cannot be rank. Clearly they can, but it is an individual issue - not a species issue. I have personally taken over 300 lb boars and if you are careful in how you process them in the field, they are absolutely fine! All that nonsense about shooting only small ones to eat is just that - nonsense!"

Bingo!!!

If a person properly field dresses a big boar, cleans it up good with a brush and water, and ices it down over night; the meat will be good. A couple of years ago I killed an old boar that went 352 pounds field dressed. The meat from that hog was good.

I hunt hogs 12 months of the year. When the temperature is 85 degrees one has just a couple of hours to get that hog iced down or it will spoil.

If a person messes around and lets the meat half spoil before cutting up it will taste bad.

Sometimes my hogs are given away before I get home.

[nathan]

The choice part of a hog for me are the ribs and backstraps. ALso I dont waste anything. Irregardless of size, all you do is gut the hog as fast as possible and place in ice . Replace ice and drain blood . Repeat for 5-6 days and the meat will be tender and taste good. The shoulders and legs are great for sausages, mix it with beef fat and whatever spices you prefer and you have a wholesome supply of meat. And dont forget to remove the glands as well.
Thats all there is to meat hunting. Same goes with deer.