Helicopter hunting hogs down side

[GunHawk]

View attachment 156965 Hogs are nuisance period. I am a rice farmer in central louisiana. Hogs can decimate a rice field in a matter of nights. The will literally dig the beans up in a row the night after you plant them and now they are getting into sugar cane. Yes 12 foot tall sugar cane and they will roll over it and lay it down to wallow. The damage done by these animals is untold each year. Another note for about 12 years we have had a serious hog presence and since then the rabbit population has dwindled. They will eat literally anything they can chomp on inculding same game and fawn deer. I shoot them whenever wherever i can. There has been hundreds fall from my ar-15 from 5 feet to 350 yards. My load of choice is mk262 or equivilent(77gr matchkings loaded to 5.56 pressure). Heck i even shoot them suckers off the combine while im cutting. Had shot these a few years back and had to drive around the field and pick them all up.

Nice work!

 

[sturner]

They have ruined acres and acres of our hay fields in East Texas had to turn them into grazing pastures but even then it's ruff as hell to maintain

 

[Swinehunt74]

One of the ranches I hunt hogs at is near Mathis Tx, 25 miles North of Corpus. 2500 acre cattle farm, running 2-300 head..Witnessed feral hogs turn 40 acre grazing pasture into, what the rancher called a mortar field. Rooted craters 1-3ft across and up to 30"deep. Could not drive tractor across pasture for couple months to let erosion reduce those craters so he could blade and replant. Not to mention over the years he has lost livestock to injury in these type of pastures. Over a 15yr time span We have taken over 700 pigs on this ranch and finally started to see decline in nocturnal behavior.

 

[Tree Farmer]

All this talk about adverse economic impact and irrational solutions to obvious problems has me confused. Are we talking about hogs or liberals?

 

[sturner]

Sus scrofa

 

[KyCarl]

The ones I shot in Florida were eating citrus as high as they could stand on their hind legs..Ring around the tree. But the guy who's place we were on was worried more about "Greening" some blight or something? Those pigs run all over unchecked Who knows where?

 

[Shootin4fun]

Here's my issue...hog hunting has been turned into a revenue stream. What incentive do land owners have to exterminate them? If the land isn't being used for livestock or farming, the revenue is charging people to shoot hogs, but limiting the amount of hogs taken, to continue the cash flow.
If hogs are to be removed because they are a feral pest, destroying the habitat for wild animals, wouldn't hogs need to be eliminated entirely? Not when the cash cow became the norm.
Even prairie dog hunting is a huge revenue stream for ranchers, taking cash from wealthy people while the shooters act like pest control for the ranchers. It's turning the whole thing upside down. The property owners employing these methods are capitalists, and if that is the decision they have made, I can understand why.
Thankfully, I live in AZ. it's only 15% private/city/ town. The rest is pretty much our hunting grounds, for now. Hogs probably would never survive here. They are not regulated as state game animals, and therefore open season.

Right, I've lived in Texas for a few years now, and when I arrived I was excited to go hog hunting. Then I found out practically the whole state is privately owned and the "hog problem" is a huge commercial endeavor. I do understand it's a real problem but then why charge $600 which a lot of people can't afford for people to come and shoot them? I think it's totally reasonable to take a fee for letting someone hunt an invasive species on your land, but then setting up a website with videos, hyping the hog numbers, charging a lot then complaining about a hog problem seems a little hollow. If they're such a problem, I would think they'd want to charge less so more hunters can afford it and subsequently see more hogs go bye bye. Actually in most other situations, people have to PAY to have their problem pests eradicated. Anyhoo, I'd pay a courtesy fee to get on someone's land and kill their hogs but I don't see anyone online with offers like that. Only commercial operations seeking to maximize their profit, which is of course their right to do.

 

[KyCarl]

Like high fence operations that sell ginormas bucks by the inch. It's not my thing
but it doesn't bother me. What ever the market will bear is what they will charge.
How can any of us that have changed jobs for more money say anything?
I choose to not support such things financially that's all.

 

[Buck1970]

My take on hog hunting in TX is, it's about the money. I don't think it is impossible to eradicate hogs in TX and other states. However, I don't think you'll ever eradicate them until you take the profitability out of them. Until that happens there is no real incentive to reduce the numbers.

Just an outsider opinion.

I agree!
And as JEC stated, we (Texas) had a great opportunity in 2017 to wage a war on hogs with warfarin. Some of the main opposition was the hog hunting guides and outfitters. They won! Money and politics!
Hogs are devastating on the land, wildlife, livestock and basically the entire ecosystem. About the only predator they have is the rare cougar which isn't helping much.
We hunt on about a 900 acre ranch on the red river in that county. The land owner and I almost had a blow up three weeks ago because the night time "hog hunter" was on the property riding around all night in the bottoms with his thermal scope blasting away. I ran into him right before daylight Saturday morning as I was heading to my bow stand. Needless to say, I didn't see a good buck.
I want the hogs gone as much as the next hunter/land owner and I understand the dilemma they are putting each of us in.
I feel your pain JEC, hopefully a viable solution can be found to control them soon. I just hope our elderly rancher doesn't find out about the helicopter this deer season!

 

[Ken Seamann]

Yep...originally released in Louisiana country by the French....
But another that was introduced....the mink....there was probably a native mink population here....but it was a farmed animal for the fur...prices dropped..so did the cage doors.....i like mink...they are a cool little critter....
And i also like the ermine....brown phase is neat looking but they change to white like many critters do during cooler months......vicious little guys....
Wanna get a couple of the whites to mount on the wall.....
Forgot to mention...have cousins that own rice properties near willows CA....
But not many pigs survive there.....

Lots of pigs in Cali, some not to far from there.
Nutria are showing up here in the Delta.

 

[Ken Seamann]

Did you guys see the Google deport of the girls that found the grizzly bear skull......partially petrified......in Kansas.........time to ship rogue grizz back to homelands.........

Grizz used to be native to Great Plains

 

[SnkBit]

Right, I've lived in Texas for a few years now, and when I arrived I was excited to go hog hunting. Then I found out practically the whole state is privately owned and the "hog problem" is a huge commercial endeavor. I do understand it's a real problem but then why charge $600 which a lot of people can't afford for people to come and shoot them? I think it's totally reasonable to take a fee for letting someone hunt an invasive species on your land, but then setting up a website with videos, hyping the hog numbers, charging a lot then complaining about a hog problem seems a little hollow. If they're such a problem, I would think they'd want to charge less so more hunters can afford it and subsequently see more hogs go bye bye. Actually in most other situations, people have to PAY to have their problem pests eradicated. Anyhoo, I'd pay a courtesy fee to get on someone's land and kill their hogs but I don't see anyone online with offers like that. Only commercial operations seeking to maximize their profit, which is of course their right to do.

The problem is hunters tend to go places they're not supposed to go and shoot things they're not supposed to shoot. I'm not willing to take on that headache and liability for $100. I don't need it. If I'm going to let hunters on my land it's going to be for a price I feel is worthwhile. The benefit needs to outweigh the risk. Yes, it can be a revenue stream and why shouldn't it?

 

[Kmccord]

I have a farm in NE TX and have hogs, I will not let anybody on it to hunt, I will do it myself or let someone I know very well. I will not take the chance, I raise Black Angus cross cows, some one with a night vision scope or thermal mistake one of my calves for a pig or end up shooting in the direction of my cows.

 

[sturner]

Our problem in NE Texas is helos don't work very well here
And as far as thermals go I like to sleep at night
I been cutting loop holes across my creek today so I can see them in daylight