quote:

The state promotes a “report, don’t shoot,” strategy, encouraging landowners and hunters to hold their fire and report sightings to conservation agents, who theoretically will come in and trap the animals.

Leary said the bans on hunting and commercial processing act as a deterrent for anyone who would intentionally release wild hogs for hunting. He said hunting — and killing only one or two hogs — can scramble efforts to capture the entire group.

Huh... it seems “report, don’t shoot,” isn't working either.

quote:

Scaggs deals with the problem himself the best he can. He said that he traps the hogs on his property, shoots them and attempts to butcher them.

“I know there’s a difference of opinion of how landowners are supposed to deal with these hogs,” Scaggs said, “but I don’t think there’s enough resources between the federal government and the state government to deal with the invasion that we’re encountering.”

Shooting one or two may not make a difference but I think this Scaggs guy is right about that.

Shooting one or two or even 10 will not make much of a difference. We've seen a few but we've tracked the boars, sows and piglets down and eradicated them.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Shoot, sausage, stuff (your face)?

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
the local guys are probably already practicing the "Three S's"...

HAHAHA maybe not...sometimes they taste gamey...I was referring to the

Shoot
Shovel
Shut-up

After the war, Germany ended up with a huge over population of wild hogs. The forestry service had not been fully re-established then, and the problem became a self-solving one.

They had a disease plague on the hogs. Hog Cholera? Only problem was it killed the domestic hogs as well. And it was rapidly passed from one hog to the next. They hunt them over there now and have for a long time. I shot a couple when stationed there. Young ones taste good, older ones can be a little rank.

The answer here MIGHT be to infect the wild ones with something like what wiped out that plague in Germany. At least it would severely reduce the population which has proven to be impossible so far.

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
The answer here MIGHT be to infect the wild ones with something like what wiped out that plague in Germany. At least it would severely reduce the population which has proven to be impossible so far.

Only if thought through VERY well. Biological warfare can have many unintended consequences.

It's the reason we no longer have salmon runs around here. The MT Fish & Game planted mysis shrimp in the Flathead watershed to ostensibly reduce the number of lake trout and feed the salmon and bull trout. They took over and killed off all the salmon. Lake trout populations boomed and they killed off most of the bull trout.

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
After the war, Germany ended up with a huge over population of wild hogs. The forestry service had not been fully re-established then, and the problem became a self-solving one.

They had a disease plague on the hogs. Hog Cholera? Only problem was it killed the domestic hogs as well. And it was rapidly passed from one hog to the next. They hunt them over there now and have for a long time. I shot a couple when stationed there. Young ones taste good, older ones can be a little rank.

The answer here MIGHT be to infect the wild ones with something like what wiped out that plague in Germany. At least it would severely reduce the population which has proven to be impossible so far.

A mass eradication method needs to be found. Last guesstimate I saw said there were about 10 million feral hogs in the U.S. causing a couple of billion dollars of damage a year.

quote:

the local guys are probably already practicing the "Three S's"...

I thought you were referring to the morning routine...
Shit
Shower
Shave

If by "shower" and "shave" you mean dunking them in boiling water to get the bristles off. They shit naturally when you shoot them.

650 hogs were killed from a helicopter hunt at a wildlife refuge near here recently. It is just a matter of time before the hogs come to town. That will be a whole new ball game.

quote:

Originally posted by ulsterman:

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
After the war, Germany ended up with a huge over population of wild hogs. The forestry service had not been fully re-established then, and the problem became a self-solving one.

They had a disease plague on the hogs. Hog Cholera? Only problem was it killed the domestic hogs as well. And it was rapidly passed from one hog to the next. They hunt them over there now and have for a long time. I shot a couple when stationed there. Young ones taste good, older ones can be a little rank.

The answer here MIGHT be to infect the wild ones with something like what wiped out that plague in Germany. At least it would severely reduce the population which has proven to be impossible so far.

A mass eradication method needs to be found. Last guesstimate I saw said there were about 10 million feral hogs in the U.S. causing a couple of billion dollars of damage a year.

Sodium nitrate in feed will kill them but it has not yet been made legal in Florida. It supposedly won't kill other species but I am dubious. If hogs will eat it I would think bears would also.

The hog population here was wiped out by cholera in the early 70's and USDA came in and killed the domestic stock to keep it from spreading.

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:

quote:

Originally posted by ulsterman:

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
After the war, Germany ended up with a huge over population of wild hogs. The forestry service had not been fully re-established then, and the problem became a self-solving one.

They had a disease plague on the hogs. Hog Cholera? Only problem was it killed the domestic hogs as well. And it was rapidly passed from one hog to the next. They hunt them over there now and have for a long time. I shot a couple when stationed there. Young ones taste good, older ones can be a little rank.

The answer here MIGHT be to infect the wild ones with something like what wiped out that plague in Germany. At least it would severely reduce the population which has proven to be impossible so far.

A mass eradication method needs to be found. Last guesstimate I saw said there were about 10 million feral hogs in the U.S. causing a couple of billion dollars of damage a year.

Sodium nitrate in feed will kill them but it has not yet been made legal in Florida. It supposedly won't kill other species but I am dubious. If hogs will eat it I would think bears would also.

The hog population here was wiped out by cholera in the early 70's and USDA came in and killed the domestic stock to keep it from spreading.

My uncle managed a hog farm and I remember them digging a ditch beside the hog barn. They killed all the hogs, put them in the pit, dumped kerosene or diesel on them and burnt them.

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
The answer here MIGHT be to infect the wild ones with something like what wiped out that plague in Germany. At least it would severely reduce the population which has proven to be impossible so far.

I think this is a spectacularly bad idea. Biological warfare always has unintended consequences because we humans aren't nearly as smart as we think we are.

The only solution (if you want to call it that) in my book is an 'all of the above' approach. Have Wildlife Services trap and shoot as many as they can, while encouraging private land owners, hunters, and enthusiasts to shoot every pig they can. It's a game of attrition that we can only win by killing every one of these things as quickly as possible.

Starting in 2002 we suddenly had a wild hog problem here in SW WI; some moron actually imported 30 hogs and turned them loose for hunting (he was arrested and convicted in 2008).

For several years I ran into people who'd had problems, and I often met hunters. You can shoot them anytime anyhow on your own land, and need only a general small game license to shoot them anytime anywhere else it's legal to shoot at all.

Then it just stopped, like someone threw a switch. I don't know why, but all of a sudden, it just wasn't seen as a problem locally anymore. Crawford County is reported by the DNR to still have the largest population of wild hogs in the state, but I haven't heard anyone around here mention them for years.

I thought at first that somebody rounded them all up and shipped them back to Texas, but according to other recent threads in here, that wouldn't work; UPS or whoever would lose the hogs.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
The answer here MIGHT be to infect the wild ones with something like what wiped out that plague in Germany. At least it would severely reduce the population which has proven to be impossible so far.

I think this is a spectacularly bad idea. Biological warfare always has unintended consequences because we humans aren't nearly as smart as we think we are.

The only solution (if you want to call it that) in my book is an 'all of the above' approach. Have Wildlife Services trap and shoot as many as they can, while encouraging private land owners, hunters, and enthusiasts to shoot every pig they can. It's a game of attrition that we can only win by killing every one of these things as quickly as possible.

Note, I emphasized the word MIGHT. Just threw out an idea! Yes, it has down sides. Given how well gubbermint manages stuff probably not a good idea. I note that this problem grew up under gubbermint supervision, as well.

Given the amount of damage those hogs do, and the monetary costs, maybe declaring a generous bounty for killing them. How many billions a year are they costing now?

Here in Louisiana we can hunt them day or night and we do. I recommend killing the big boars but not good for eating as they are gamey. The sows, and boars less than 150 are very good and make great smoked meat and sausage. There are many butcher shops that will butcher up and wrap as well as passing along to the poor.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
If by "shower" and "shave" you mean dunking them in boiling water to get the bristles off. They shit naturally when you shoot them.

Funny, none of the 7+ I've shot had the time to shit.