Home› Main Category› Hunting
Fisheadgib
Posts: 5,797 Senior Member
Hog damage!
Fisheadgib
Posts: 5,797 Senior Member
I'm sure there's a few of you folks that haven't witnessed firsthand what a hog can do to the land so I took a few pictures last weekend. I've mentioned in some previous posts that we've had a hog population explosion on our lease and I also mentioned that we pull our feeders before the hunting season starts. Well with the feeders gone, the hogs are starting to root up the greenfields and it's amazing how much damage they can do in a short amount of time. The particular field in this pic is about 110yds square and they dug up about a third of it in a week and a half. My camera's have shown four adults and six piglets in this area so it didn't take a huge herd to do this. Imagine what they can do to a farmers crops in that time. They can totally wipe out a rural residents garden overnight.
Replies
Jerry
Thank's Paul, you saved me some typing. Unfortunately most of the fields getting tore up by the pigs are on timber company land that we lease so this doesn't apply and we can't even shoot them at night when most of them come out. That's why we keep so many cameras out all year as we try to find area's where the pigs are out in daylight. You only get one or two shots at them and they go nocturnal.
The Governor of Georgia Just signed into law the Baiting Bill in the Southern Zone (we are In the Southern Zone) of Georgia. We can Now LEGALLY Hunt DEER AND HOGS over Bait.
Hogs can Be Hunted ALL Year Long over Bait!
This is a BIG Change in Georgia Law and will make this Hunting Season even More Enjoyable and Successful
Regulations
Residents and nonresidents need a valid hunting license, but no special permit is required. There is no closed season and no limit. Hogs may be harvested during the deer, turkey and small game seasons. If you are hunting during a firearms season, blaze orange must be worn. Hogs may also be hunted at night with a light.
Read more: Hog Hunting in Georgia | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_6311151_hog-hunting-georgia.html#ixzz2DLrclfF8
I understant the area around Ft Benning and the base itself is over run with ferral hogs. You'd think they would provide free 308 and 223 ammo to help cure the problem. Think what you could do with a M60 and a starlight scope. No shortage of bacon for the military but they don't think that way. I guess claymores are out of the question too. Oh well. :iwo:
Recoil is how you know primer ignition is complete.
The problem is: "Too many Bunny Huggers in High Places." Here in Texas even back in the 90s we had this insanity. There was some clown within the heiarchy of the TPWD that suggested putting a limit and seasons on feral hogs. He almost got hung or at least tarred and feathered.
Reason has prevailed here, although I think only on this issue, simply because of the unpopularity of feral hogs in this state. We have too many people that depend on the land to make their livelyhood for the hog to go unscathed.
Recoil is how you know primer ignition is complete.
Fat Billy, it's interesting you bring this up because deer, when their populations go unchecked can do damage to crops just as well as hogs. The difference is the hog will root up the ground AND hogs are much more prolific at multiplying than deer. But we have had legal baiting of all state controlled species for ever. It not only draws animals out of cover so you can get a shot more easily (The more obvious benefit), but it's overall good for the heard. It makes for a healthier deer population by giving them another protiene source and also by helping manage the heard numbers.
Maybe those in charge are just seeing a revenue opportunity and feel that limited harvest would allow the population to grow and then get more revenue through hunting licenses and permits?
Oh no doubt, the revenue issue is there too. But Austin is full of liberal bunny and tree huggers. And parks and wildlife had its share that infiltrated. It's pretty well known here that this was the case. Also, I'm sure the bunny huggers felt that the revenue issue might help them get insane legislation passed.
Bunny Huggers, tree huggers, Liberals in general, all pretty much the same type folks are in every level of government.
I beg your pardon, but in my most humble opinion, Bunny Huggers will do anything they can to LIMIT hunting.
Look Bream I know you want me to argue with you, but I'm not. Not on this. It is my firm opinion and unless you can show me some hard evidence, I'm not moving.
My hard evidence? Personal interaction I and my colleagues have had with animal rights advocates who have sought to eliminate hunting or fishing. On the other hand, most of the actions we've seen to set limits or seasons on exotics and other non-indigenous animals have been by folks who are working to extend or expand a revenue stream for their agency.
It's kind of like the guys who advocate we need to be allowed to keep gut-hooked fish, even if undersized or over the limits. Some of them would shove a hook or lure down a fish's throat just to bring home more.
Like I said, I have my own opinion about this. I don't trust the opposition. We have seen too many examples of how underhanded and devious they can be. This is in my opinion because they, the Liberal bed rock, have an agenda, and illiminating your and my rights to hunt and fish is part of it, along with our right to keep and bear arms.
However, I'm not arguing this with you, partly because I feel you are correct in part of what you say. We just differ in the part that I believe the liberal base is a more serious problem than most people believe or understand. So maybe I'm a right wing nutt. If that's your opinion I don't think I'll ever change it. But Like I said, I do agree with what you say about revenues.
Look, states want the revenue stream from selling Big Game licenses for hogs. Also, so do the "outfitters" who try to sell guided hunts to Yankees for these "dangerous" animals.
They are the ones with pictures on their websites of frothy-mouthed, long-tusked hogs, and cartoon like drawings of Razorbackers with permanent scowls, muscle shirts, and Born To Be Wild tattoos on their biceps.
Its a big freaking joke. Anybody here ever watched The Pigman on t.v.? How about the episode where he "dumped the clip" into a homicidal 40 lb hog? Good tv, and it sells hunts to those who have no experience with hogs. They're just rats with hooves, but guides and states want the money.
Until the state loses more in crop damage than they make in ticket sales, expect the hogs to stay on the list as "game".
Liberals. Nothing to do with it.
Why is the left winning? the same reason Hitler took over Europe, the same reason the Middle East is what it is. Human nature can cause a lot of strife. Wake up and smell the roses.
The Anti gun and Anti hunting movement are all about politics and in reality one and the same movement. And today, politics is all about being on the left and/or the right.
The damage that you see in the photo posted by fisheadgib is just that....VISUAL damage. What you can't see is the direct and intense competition with deer and turkey for food material. I promise you it IS intense. And then there are the diseases that feral hogs introduce and spread. We can go on with examining the damage to various soil organisms that are destroyed. An example: Native Southern Longleaf Pine once covered an estimated 112 million acres in its range from southern Virginia around the Coastal Plains to east Texas close to where Snake is located. Today that acreage has been reduced to maybe a million acres, but no more. Feral hogs will root up freshly planted Longleaf seedlings AND ALL NATIVE SEEDLINGS for 2-3 years after planting for the tender taproot on this species, and there is growing evidence that the hogs are responsible for the reduction of soil organisms under Longleaf stands that are necessary to fix nitrogen and other nutrients on the roots.
I could go on and on like a broken record, but you get the point. In short, you can have "X" numbers of deer and turkey (and about all other species of wildlife) per acre, or you can have a fraction of this number along with feral hogs! Your choice! Might as well invite Radical Islamic Terrorists home for dinner....same situation!
I'll admit I can be radical when i speak of the left, however, Woodsrunner, now i know why you're so radical about killing the feral hogs. Thanks for posting this. We all need to know about such things and keep an eye on local legislation to make sure hogs are killed.
I was already trying to do my part, but now I will shoot everyone I see, no matter if there's a big buck standing next to him/her. I will shoot the hog first.
Did I mention that I do love Pine Trees?
Jerry
Texas Parks and Wildlife Law Enforcement branch is really putting the pressure on. It all started when netting was outlawed for trout and redfish here. The outlaws went into overdrive, but Parks and Wildlife countered by hiring and training more wardens. Back in the 60s and early 70s there were exactly one state game warden in this county. In the 80s when the tough laws were put into place, the number of wardens in this county fluctuated between 10 and 20. There was a big campaign against netting. One of my friends who is now a retired warden, was one of the key players. He would be in his boat with night vision. When he would see the netters pulling in their netts he would idle into range. Then at the opportune moment he would firewall his engines and ram the netters boat. The netters were using nett skiffs of course which have low freeboard. The game warden boat had a massive bow on it with a long rake. It would slide right up on the nett skiff's deck. My friend and an accompliss would hit the boat and jump on the deck with guns drawn before the outlaws had time to dump their fish in the water. The trick was that a gutted and gilled fish will drop to the bottom where a fish with its guts (Air Bladder) in tact would float. So the first thing the outlaws would do is gut and gill their catch incase they had to dump it. No fish-no evidence.
Anyway, having said all that, that campaign got the numbers of wardens up in the state. Today, we only have 4 or 5 regular wardens in the county. In high activity times such as opening day of duck season or during shrimping season, they will borrow wardens from other areas to send to traditionally troubled spots (Like here in Calhoun County) and we may have 10-20 wardens here for a short time. However, having 5 wardens makes the odds of getting caught doing illegal activity a good bit higher than with one or two. Also, I don't know about in other states, but here a sheriff's deputy or even a Texas Hiway Patrol officer can issue citations and make arrests for wildlife offenses. That increases the number of LEOs patroling the bays, farms and ranches on the job a good bit. My son in law is a deputy and he communicates with the game wardens during his shift. If a warden has to go out in the boonies, my son in law and his cohorts can watch the local fishing piers and boat launches and free the wardens up to check up on hunters. More LEOs and much bigger fines has wisened up many an outlaw.
But there's always going to be a certain element who will try to pull the wool over the LEOs eyes and get away with murder. It's a challenge some cannot avoid, no matter how great the risk or how large the fine.
Funny story. Several years ago some hogs from the Star Mountain area East of Etowah, TN decided to move West. They found the golf course in Athens, TN to their liking as it had lots of stuff to eat, and the water traps made good wallows. After they had rototilled a good bit of the golf course over a one week period, and annihilated the shrubbery and flowers the game dept had to get rid of them; lead poisoning was opted as the most efficient means. They put out corn in several spots, and used M-16s and spotlights at night to get rid of the piggies. Several Asian pot bellied pigs were in the mix. Them little fellers get pretty big if you throw the feed to them. The pigs in the Star Mountain area are pretty smart. The Cherokee National Forest land borders the highly productive farmland in the valley. The piggies come out at night and pig out on the crops and go back to the 'safe area' of the National Forest during the day. The hunters that lease the farmland are totally inadequate at keeping the numbers down; they have bought into that 'trophy hog' baloney. The hogs can wipe out 100 acres of corn or soybeans in short order.
― Douglas Adams
Just do it!!! Don't get buck fever, cause it ain't no buck. Just try to keep your cool and mow as many down as you can. If it's a hog just shoot it on sight. Then go cull through them and keep what you want to eat. But first just shoot 'em.
And I know there's some of us here that don't want to see them completely exterminated, because they are fun to hunt and good to eat. But I don't think, even with a hard campaign, that we'll ever wipe em out. They are hard to keep down because they are SOOOO Prolific. But we gotta try to control them. Shoot all you can and trap the rest. That's a good policy.