Careful, if you say they are getting smart enough to not go into the traps, you'll be called an idiot.KW02 said:
We see very few during daylight hours but still shoot on sight. However, that does not put a dent in the population. We have small traps too but they are getting smart enough not to go in them. We need to build/buy a large pen trap.
"Texas is losing the War on Feral Hogs"
13,590 Views |
94 Replies |
Last: 5 yr ago by wangus12
The type of trapping I'm talking about isn't done extensively. Most "pig management" is shooting on sight or using smaller traps which are less effective. The type I'm talking about is very labor intensive, but gets results.jwoodmd said:And yet in that 15+ years the population still continues to grow rapidly.zooguy96 said:That's anecdotal evidence at best. Again, if done correctly, trapping will remove the entire sounder. It has been done successfully for 15+ years in a number of different locations in the state.jwoodmd said:Problem with trapping is you catch the ones that are not as smart. What that does is cause more of the breeding done by the "smarter" ones - thus, it is actually increasing their prowess.zooguy96 said:
All shooting pigs does is disperse the group. Which produces more pigs in a greater area.
Trapping is much more effective if done correctly, and kills the entire sounder.
So of course the population is still growing given that this technique is not widely utilized.
Therefore, your "insinuation" that this management technique doesn't work because "the population still continues to grow rapidly" is not based on the fact that this management technique isn't widely used - its based on the fact that pigs are being dispersed (because of ineffective management techniques) and most "management techniques" are not effective (let's go shoot some pigs! - is not effective).
I know a lot about a little, and a little about a lot.
Then we're likely not in disagreement. If you can trap a full sounder then that will change results but all the ranchers around mine have been saying the same thing about old methods aren't working as the hogs are getting more savvy (I won't use "smarter"). I also think all the deer feeders is a huge problem for feral hog population but I know I'm going to get skewered for saying such a thing. Incoming!!zooguy96 said:The type of trapping I'm talking about isn't done extensively. Most "pig management" is shooting on sight or using smaller traps which are less effective. The type I'm talking about is very labor intensive, but gets results.jwoodmd said:And yet in that 15+ years the population still continues to grow rapidly.zooguy96 said:That's anecdotal evidence at best. Again, if done correctly, trapping will remove the entire sounder. It has been done successfully for 15+ years in a number of different locations in the state.jwoodmd said:Problem with trapping is you catch the ones that are not as smart. What that does is cause more of the breeding done by the "smarter" ones - thus, it is actually increasing their prowess.zooguy96 said:
All shooting pigs does is disperse the group. Which produces more pigs in a greater area.
Trapping is much more effective if done correctly, and kills the entire sounder.
So of course the population is still growing given that this technique is not widely utilized.
The technique I'm discussing is used at the Fort Worth Nature Center. They haven't had a huge hog problem there in years. It involved a large pen trap with a guillotine gate on each end and monitoring pig activity constantly. Traps aren't moved. They have 2 or 3 traps over 5,000 acres which were strategically placed where pigs were found. Once they kill the entire sounder, they have no pig issues for 12-18 months. Rinse and repeat.
Sounds very promisingzooguy96 said:
The technique I'm discussing is used at the Fort Worth Nature Center. They haven't had a huge hog problem there in years. It involved a large pen trap with a guillotine gate on each end and monitoring pig activity constantly. Traps aren't moved. They have 2 or 3 traps over 5,000 acres which were strategically placed where pigs were found. Once they kill the entire sounder, they have no pig issues for 12-18 months. Rinse and repeat.
don't forget silencers!SunrayAg said:
Maybe the government should start subsidizing thermal scopes and ammunition to help us fix the problem. Or at least make them tax deductible...
Can I go to sleep Looch?
Thought y'all might find this interesting
Bids for hog trapping
https://dallascityhall.com/government/Council%20Meeting%20Documents/bfa_2_upcoming-agenda-items_022117.pdf
Bids for hog trapping
https://dallascityhall.com/government/Council%20Meeting%20Documents/bfa_2_upcoming-agenda-items_022117.pdf
Put a $10 bounty on each pig, and you'll see their numbers decline rapidly.
While shooting them is fun large traps are a ton better. We went out one weekend and shot 10 so we felt pretty good. The land owner put up some large traps the following weekend on the areas we told him to and they trapped 42 in one day.
Disagreetx4guns said:
Put a $10 bounty on each pig, and you'll see their numbers decline rapidly.
My brother and I have shot 93 hogs on our ranch in Kimble County since September. Our hunters shot 63 hogs during hunting season. We've had the ranch flown twice in the same time span in which they got 54 and 47. That's 257 hogs that have been shot in a 7 month window. We will start all over again at some point this year with similar numbers just as we have the past 8 years. There is no stopping them unless there is a legitimate statewide effort to do so. Otherwise it doesn't matter what an individual does to help their property because more will just move in. I just don't think people realize the problems they are creating out of a desire to have them around for recreational hunting. They need to be eradicated. Entirely.
Say there's 5,000,000 pigs in Texas (probably more). That's $50,000,000 potentially for a $10 bounty. Would never happen IMHO.
Start trapping them then dumping them in Suburbia. That should garner some attention.
PJYoung said:
http://txagtalks.texasfarmbureau.org/peta-wants-no-feral-hog-left-behind/
The world has done gone crazy!
https://share.icloud.com/photos/03EkZaqEtqMnKmp-3F9c3hvdg
The world has done gone crazy!
https://share.icloud.com/photos/03EkZaqEtqMnKmp-3F9c3hvdg
Fishing Fools said:
http://txagtalks.texasfarmbureau.org/peta-wants-no-feral-hog-left-behind/
Such dumbasses.
Country - where is your ranch in Kimble Co.? We have a ranch north of Junction off of US 83. We used to have pigs (and they were increasing in numbers), but they left during the drought and have not come back (yet). I worry all the time that they'll be back (and we had no where near the numbers you're talking about).
One of my best friend's wife thinks its wrong to kill a hog and leave it. I've hammered in the facts of how much damage they cause each year and how quickly they reproduce.
Nothing has gotten her to even budge. People can be extremely shortsighted
Nothing has gotten her to even budge. People can be extremely shortsighted
FAT SEXY said:Once again the bleeding hearts prove they have no logic.Fishing Fools said:
http://txagtalks.texasfarmbureau.org/peta-wants-no-feral-hog-left-behind/
The world has done gone crazy!
Bleeding hearts and bleeding brains.
We are in the Segovia area in the Blue Mountains. That area has always had more of a hog problem than north and west, but it has escalated at an astonishing pace the past 10 years. We used to shoot 30-40 max on the ranch.....and at those numbers they put us out of the sheep business.
country said:
My brother and I have shot 93 hogs on our ranch in Kimble County since September. Our hunters shot 63 hogs during hunting season. We've had the ranch flown twice in the same time span in which they got 54 and 47. That's 257 hogs that have been shot in a 7 month window. We will start all over again at some point this year with similar numbers just as we have the past 8 years. There is no stopping them unless there is a legitimate statewide effort to do so. Otherwise it doesn't matter what an individual does to help their property because more will just move in. I just don't think people realize the problems they are creating out of a desire to have them around for recreational hunting. They need to be eradicated. Entirely.
Interesting, I am always impressed by people who keep good records. I am in the Panhandle where pigs are few and far between. I'm making an assumption that your property has feeders at least part of the year. What impact do you think taking all the deer feeders away would have on your property? Just for conversation's sake. I get that paying deer hunters want feeders.
It would be interesting to take the corn away and then see what the numbers were like.
I'm a trapper, and I was about to say the same thing. There is no money in selling hogs, like some people tend to think.chris1515 said:
I have an uncle that traps and sells a couple hundred hogs a year...and it barely pays the fuel to drive around and check the traps. It's more of a hobby for him.
Pretty sure if I told him other folks were buying nice trucks with their trapping proceeds, he would laugh.
The money is in pitching the service to a neighborhood of people that are terrified of feral hogs. Put out a few traps, tell them you need X amount of money per month to control the wild hogs in the area. Even then, not very much money. My HOA has about $20k in the budget for hog control.
Class of '03
What we need is an apex predator....unfortunately ranchers aren't going to want that.
I can build an Apex predator that every farmer/rancher in Texas would pay for....up front.
But rules are rules.
But rules are rules.
Here in Rockport we have them encroaching into the public park to get to water. They have completely destroyed all of the vegetation on one side of the park. The park is surrounded by private property that is up for sale. There isn't much that can be done on public property besides perhaps trapping. Have seen their defecation and their prints and it is a sizable herd. Not good when they are bumping up against the public in a park that is used quite extensively from 6:00am in the morning to 11:00pm at night. Park also has a small and large dog park and walking trails.
Gig'em, Ole Army Class of '70
We do have deer feeders that run 3 months per year. I don't think removing them would change the numbers a single bit. We used to laugh at people southeast of us that would talk in terms of the numbers I just did. We laughed until the hogs finally moved to our area and they will continue moving northwest. At some points the panhandle will not be able to say there aren't many hogs. It's just the nature of the exploding population.
Think,of,those that feed year round. I can't see how providing a high quality food source isn't adding to the problem. But nobody will ever say that out loudcountry said:
We do have deer feeders that run 3 months per year. I don't think removing them would change the numbers a single bit. We used to laugh at people southeast of us that would talk in terms of the numbers I just did. We laughed until the hogs finally moved to our area and they will continue moving northwest. At some points the panhandle will not be able to say there aren't many hogs. It's just the nature of the exploding population.
This article says they are doing 500 million in damage annually.zooguy96 said:
Say there's 5,000,000 pigs in Texas (probably more). That's $50,000,000 potentially for a $10 bounty. Would never happen IMHO.
http://bri.sulross.edu/pubs/borderlandsnews/BN_2016_11.pdf
Although I'm sure you're right, not sure who would pony up the money anyway.
BQ_90 said:Think,of,those that feed year round. I can't see how providing a high quality food source isn't adding to the problem. But nobody will ever say that out loudcountry said:
We do have deer feeders that run 3 months per year. I don't think removing them would change the numbers a single bit. We used to laugh at people southeast of us that would talk in terms of the numbers I just did. We laughed until the hogs finally moved to our area and they will continue moving northwest. At some points the panhandle will not be able to say there aren't many hogs. It's just the nature of the exploding population.
While I see the point of this arguement I just think it is simplifying the issue a little much. Assume a high quality food source adds 2 piglets per litter. I suppose 6 per litter is better than 8 but it still doesn't slow the exponential growth. Take away all feeders in the state and the hog population is still growing and still has to go somewhere.
Well duh. Of course those qualify as farm expenses. Use your imagination.SunrayAg said:
Maybe the government should start subsidizing thermal scopes and ammunition to help us fix the problem. Or at least make them tax deductible...
tx4guns said:
Put a $10 bounty on each pig, and you'll see their numbers decline rapidly.
Guadalupe County currently has a bounty of $5 per hog tail. I believe the bounty goes through September. Will be interesting to see how many are submitted and the payout.
That all being said, I'm not confident that the bounty will have much of an effect on the county's overall population.
Sodium Nitrite. The newspaper article about its use in Australia and the Kerr wildlife area study was in the Houston Chronicle on July 25, 2013. At the time the study had been going on for 3 years at Kerr.Doc Hayworth said:
I believe you're referring to sodium nitrate. Yes, it will kill them, but then you have to worry about the chain of death following with The vultures and other animals that clean up carcasses.
If they can prove it's target specific, I wouldn't have a problem with it, but they can't .
Just don't clean a hog if the fat is blue.
The full page story is still tacked to the wall of my camphouse. Sounded real promising...
Featured Stories
See All
Pieces in place for another hard-fought Texas A&M-Arkansas battle
by Olin Buchanan
7:16
1d ago
3.7k
50:14
1d ago
11k
9:55
19h ago
6.3k
DenverAg91
What other college team(s) do you have a soft spot for?
in Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium
75