I just don't understand, meat hunter or not, why anyone would want the range of such a destructive creature to expand. It just baffles me that people want more hogs, knowing the sort of damage they do to people's land. I just can't wrap my head around thinking having an invasive species that destroys entire ecosystems in some cases is "cool". In the name of conservation alone, they should be eradicated. Their the mammal form of Asian carp.....
If you could eradicate feral hogs tomorrow...
- Thread starter AKElroy
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Have you priced "organic" meat in the grocery? That's why.
buck460XVR
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It's called greed and selfishness. Same reason so many deer hunters want their state to increase deer herds. They want a better chance of seeing/taking one. They don't care if farmers have crop losses, cause they feel it's nuttin' outta their pockets. It ain't their land/crops gettin' trashed. They don't care if the browse and regrowth is destroyed as long as they end up with something in the back of the truck at the end of the day. These are the same types that can't understand why the farmer never lets them hunt anymore after they tried to drive across the hayfield and got stuck, when they just coulda walked the 200 yards to the woods.
AKElroy
Member
That's a bit strong, good buddie. Just because folks like to hunt does not mean they want to see someone's livelyhood or property damaged.
I am heading up this weekend and will do my best to take every hog I see. The AK is going with me rather than my usual lever guns, so I am on a mission to thin the herd.
Please don't hate me if I happen to enjoy it!
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MCgunner
Member
And just how organic IS meat from the grocery store, label or not, vs what you kill and process free range?
Moot argument anyway. Hogs aren't decreasing even when hunted down with helicopters. I don't suppose they've tried nukes, yet.
blarby
Member
I just wish someone would invite me out to hunt them, lol.
And have a way to get all that tasty meat home....
I'd never wish an invasive species on my home, but if I had to have one, that one certainly looks ( and undoubtedly tastes) better than Zebra Mussels did back in the great lakes.
Honestly, I'm super envious that you guys have such a great unnatural resource to harvest. I'd love to be able to do it, I really, really would.
And have a way to get all that tasty meat home....
I'd never wish an invasive species on my home, but if I had to have one, that one certainly looks ( and undoubtedly tastes) better than Zebra Mussels did back in the great lakes.
Honestly, I'm super envious that you guys have such a great unnatural resource to harvest. I'd love to be able to do it, I really, really would.
gamestalker
member
I'm living out here in SW Arizona, and by no means do we have the extreme problem like many other states do. But I have seen massive paths of destruction they have caused to our habitat and vegetation. An example of this is on one of our Saguaro monuments, in which I looked upon dozens of massive huge 150+ yr. old Saguaro's laying on the ground, with the obvious tell tale sign only a pig can leave behind. At first glance I thought it was javelina, but at closer inspection I could see large pig tracks. I'm not one to go all nuts about stuff like this, but when I see such large scale damage done by just a small number of pigs, I begin to wonder how bad it could get if we let the population get any larger and further out of hand.
So for those that enjoy hunting them, enjoy it, but I wouldn't be too concerned about depleting their population to any great extent. I'm afraid they are here to stay, and they'll continue to damage prime game habitat.
GS
So for those that enjoy hunting them, enjoy it, but I wouldn't be too concerned about depleting their population to any great extent. I'm afraid they are here to stay, and they'll continue to damage prime game habitat.
GS
blarby
Member
I'll lastly add this :
If mankind is good at one thing, its rubbing things out.
It is, it really is, one of the few things we excel at.
If we really wanted to.........
If mankind is good at one thing, its rubbing things out.
It is, it really is, one of the few things we excel at.
If we really wanted to.........
AKElroy
Member
There is really no way to eat them all. My son and I have taken a dozen or so in the last year, and eaten three. There is only so much freezer space. I will probably take 3-4 this weekend, and we will take a couple of shoulders for the crock off of a mid sized sow if we get one, the rest are buzzard food.
If I find the perfect eater, 120-150lb sow, and can manage an ear shot, I may go ahead and get it all packaged up. Frankly the labor involved is worth $80.
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I'm intimately familiar with the price of grass raised beef, which is my family's livelihood. Pigs destroying ground otherwise used in beef production only raises the price of the final product when it hits stores shelves. While you may see pork as being "free" meat, the fact is, the more land they destroy, the more food costs raise, whether its because of pastureland destroyed by pigs, or because of food crops they're destroyed. There's a cost, not only environmentally, but economically, associated with expanded pig numbers. That said, organic meant being expensive...or not....*I* wouldn't wish destruction and loss on my friends and neighbors, and wishing for increased...or here, thankfully, introduced....pig numbers would be doing exactly that. My access to cheap meat doesn't offset the damage done by wild pigs no matter how one looks at it, and to see things otherwise means one isn't seeing the big picture in the slightest. Pigs are an invasive species that do untold damage to environments they are introduced to or migrate to. Why anyone would support the expansion of something so wholly worthless to the environment, again, just baffles me. It shows an utter disregard for the ideals of conservation.
no, liking to hunt doesn't mean that one wants someone's livelihood or property damaged, but wishing for more pigs is the equivalent of just that.....more pigs WILL come at a cost to the environment, and to people's bottom lines. Anyone wishing for more hogs is, at least indirectly, wishing for more of the issues that are an unavoidable fact that come with them. You can't want more hogs and less damage to the environment and/or property be it public or private. The two are inseparable...hogs bring with them destruction. More hogs equal more damage. Fewer hogs equal less damage. No hogs mean NO hog damaged fields, and I hope South Dakota continues to be hog free in the future. We don't want them, don't need, them, and think those that want more of them are rather silly and shortsighted, if not downright greedy and selfish.
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Here in far west Houston and many of the other suburbs the hogs are going into the subdivisions and destroying homeowners yards. Never mind hitting a 200+ pound hog in a sub-compact or mini-van. Used to see them all the time in George Bush Park (Corps of Engineers flood control project) but I think they were trapped off or poisoned because they're not seen anymore. Will hogs transfer brucellosis to pregnant cattle? I believe they can.
Carl N. Brown
Member
Feral pigs are an invasive species which destroy native wildlife habitat, literally hog the food supplies that support less destructive and more controllable native species, ruin farmland for cultivating crops for human consumption, have endangered pets and children, and (drum roll) can ruin a golf course overnight. You shave their bristly skulls and you find a birthmark in the shape of "666". If I could eradicate feral hogs tomorrow, I would be fine without them as we had not had feral hogs in my neck of the woods in my lifetime (I am 66). Wherever they spread they leave destruction behind. If sticking a figurative label "free pork, come and get it" helps feral pig removal, I am for that too, but not if folks develop a vested interest in maintaining a population of the vermin. State policy is elimination.
(added: the wildlife resources agency cites brucellosis as one of the many reasons to eradicate feral pigs)
(added: the wildlife resources agency cites brucellosis as one of the many reasons to eradicate feral pigs)
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MCgunner
Member
Like 'em or not, they're here to stay, I'm afraid. I'll take advantage of that, myself.
alsaqr
Member
Been doing my part to reduce the wild hog population by shooting and trapping, mostly trapping. We have given away 17 field dressed wild hogs since 1 April. There are six in our traps as this is written.
Most states refuse to get serious about wild hogs until it's too late. Some problems:
1. Folks releasing hogs into the wild.
2. Lax or non-existent enforcement of existing state laws regarding the selling and transportation of wild hogs.
3. Hog hunting ranches that buy hogs.
4. State laws that ban night shooting of hogs, the use of center fire rifles outside of big game season and other laws that discourage hunters and trappers from killing hogs.
5. State fish and game biologists who do not understand wild hogs.
Most states refuse to get serious about wild hogs until it's too late. Some problems:
1. Folks releasing hogs into the wild.
2. Lax or non-existent enforcement of existing state laws regarding the selling and transportation of wild hogs.
3. Hog hunting ranches that buy hogs.
4. State laws that ban night shooting of hogs, the use of center fire rifles outside of big game season and other laws that discourage hunters and trappers from killing hogs.
5. State fish and game biologists who do not understand wild hogs.
TeaCoffee.Guy
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Recently in British Columbia (where I live) there was an TV news announcement about wild hogs being reported in our province. They said that that there was an open season on them for hunting.
I have heard that a few wild hogs can destroy a golf course overnight by rooting through the soil.
Hogs are destructive and dangerous! I would be glad to shoot them on sight, however, first I want to learn to trap them. Trapping can be done closer to human habitation than shooting.
I have heard that a few wild hogs can destroy a golf course overnight by rooting through the soil.
Hogs are destructive and dangerous! I would be glad to shoot them on sight, however, first I want to learn to trap them. Trapping can be done closer to human habitation than shooting.
AKElroy
Member
Maybe I am not making my position clear. I am NOT advocating for more pigs. In fact, I am doing everything I can to reduce their number. That said, I am enjoying harvesting them, and I would miss it greatly if they were ever actually conquered. In fact, I would probably move off the lease as it is not worth the money for two months of deer hunting if that were the only quarry.
Since the pigs have increased in number every year regardless of how heavily we hunt them, the point is mute. They are not going away until they destroy their own habitat, and the speed with which they are increasing their numbers is a concern. I'm not minimizing that fact. This thread is a theoretical discussion of how we balance the fun of hunting with the need to control this destructive force.
Like a herd of small skidder back hoes. On the outskirts of Houston homeowners will spend several thousand dollars landscaping their yards only to wake up the next morning to have their yard looking like it had been used for a Humvee obstacle training course. Never mind what they will do to a spring or cattle water tank (Texan for pond)
Todd1700
Member
I could show you fields on our land with damage so severe that you would call me a liar to my face if I told you that hogs did it. But they did it. They eat everything. They never stop eating. They consume food sources that other game animals depend on. They devastate crops like corn. It's stunning to see what a group of say 15 to 20 full grown hogs can do to a corn field in one week. "Stunning". The sows have 9 to 12 piglets per liter. And they can have two liters a year. The females in those liters will start having babies of their own at 6 months of age. Sit down and do a little math with those facts under your belt. Then you will know what landowners are up against and why just letting some people hunt your land really isn't going to do much to curb the increase in numbers.
If I could flip a switch and cause every one of them in the USA to drop dead instantly I'd hit that sucker without a moments hesitation.
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Mike1234567
member
A few months ago I read a post in which the author caught pigs in a large pen with a one-way door. Food and water was inside. I can't remember if he had cameras that he could monitor remotely or if he just checked the pen regularly but he'd load them on a truck when he'd caught 10, or 20+ and sell them. I remember his pen was overbuilt or reinforced and digging under the fence was somehow prevented. He stated that he made a good secondary income from it. Sorry I can't remember more.
alsaqr
Member
It's unusual for a wild sow to bear two litters per year. In a year when mast and other food is plentiful, perhaps.
In theory, yes. In the wild, most unusual. i have trapped dozens of sows 2-4 years of age that had never borne a litter. Wish i had an answer to that one.
Brucollosis...maybe?
Nom de Forum
Member
Wanting more feral pigs just to provide more opportunities to hunt is not just selfish. If you are the slightest bit aware of the economic and ecological damage being done,and can still express the sentiment that you don't want all feral pigs eradicated, you are telling us your selfish pleasure is more important than what is best for our country. That is unpatriotic. Food is not so expensive in the United States that feral pigs are necessary for sustenance. Hunting opportunities for game animals are not so rare that feral pig hunting needs to be sustained to provide the pleasure of the hunt.
alsaqr
Member
Almost no one talks about the most serious potential threat posed by wild hogs. An outbreak of foot mouth disease spread by wild hogs would devastate the cattle industry.
Jason_W
Member
We should strive to eradicate all invasive species (though not necessarily all non-native species).
I certainly would never pay to shoot feral hogs. It's the same as asking me to pay someone money to club rats in their basement or pull Japanese Knotweed from their yard.
I certainly would never pay to shoot feral hogs. It's the same as asking me to pay someone money to club rats in their basement or pull Japanese Knotweed from their yard.
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