Hunting & Fishing Why are pigs considered an environmental problem?

[hlee]

I checked my game camera yesterday. At the time the following video was shot the feeder the camera watches had been out of corn for over a month...

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These little guys are cute, but they turn into this...

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The opening under the fence is 20" tall which makes this guy around 30" tall at the shoulder... This big pig is smaller than the sow I shot during deer season, featured below...

The angle (and the other pig laying on top) makes the black one look smaller than she is.

We can keep the pigs out of our feed pens by keeping the fences down, but rest assured they are there none the less...

I wish I had pictures of the pasture torn up by the pigs, but I didn't get pics at the time. They can do a lot of damage, especially to an agricultural crop.

 

[ceylonc]

That is a BIG boar hog you got there! The tusks could do some serious damage. Looks like he has a lot of Russian genetics in him.

Good eating!

 

[AfghanDM]

We're getting ready to do the spring burn off and spraying so I went around the property to get things ready,,, I found these...

We feed year round to try and keep them from messin up the property but it doesn't work. Two years ago they almost destroyed my hay fields...

 

[Shooter McGavin]

Got the same stuff happening in my back pasture. I moved all the cattle, dogs and donkeys back there. Seems to have stopped it for now.

 

[Defuzer]

When I worked at Fort Stewart, it was pig season almost year round, except maybe a few weeks during deer season. dam things tore everything up

in southern AR where my dad lives he has said the paper companies are going to put a bounty on the hogs again cause of rooting damage in newly planted areas.

 

[Sealhunter]

If you have a hog problem, get your neighbors together, and give me a shout. Not some idiot hunter. Liscenced, state permits, and insurance, we capture them (not shoot them) from a MD500

 

[seanh]

How do you capture them and why? What do you do with them once you've caught them?


Thanks for the reminder....helicopter hunting.
http://www.texasvarminthunting.com/TexasHelicopterPigHunting.html
http://helicopterhuntingsafety.com/

 

[Sealhunter]

Because if we just shoot them, we have to charge the land owner to pay for operations costs, most ranchers can't afford a helicopter that burns 20gallons of jp4 every 45min, plus maintnence and crew, so we capture them, and sell them, so the rancher reduces a problem without the insane cost of a heli. That and it's just stupid fun to tie up a pissed boar with your bare hands.

 

[Phil1]

Because if we just shoot them, we have to charge the land owner to pay for operations costs, most ranchers can't afford a helicopter that burns 20gallons of jp4 every 45min, plus maintnence and crew, so we capture them, and sell them, so the rancher reduces a problem without the insane cost of a heli. That and it's just stupid fun to tie up a pissed boar with your bare hands.

Who do you sell to and how much do you get for them? How do you capture them from a helicopter?

 

[Sealhunter]

The pigs generally go overseas, apparently our "problem" is a delicacy for others. We put a net on them, then tie them up. As for how much we get, that varies by size and season, but generally between next to nothing and pocket change, the key is bulk, and that's what the helicopter is good for. You can shoot all of them you want, hunt dogs, and set traps, but you will never find as many pigs as you can from the air.

 

[hlee]

Nearly every county has a livestock auction nearly every week. Get a pig trap, lace with corn, wait. When the pigs get trapped, load them in a trailer and take them to the "sale barn." Some people advocate lacing the corn with diesel to keep the deer out of the trap. Yes, pigs will eat corn soaked in diesel.

This is leased land so I am quite content tackling the problem 168 grains of copper-clad-lead at a time.

 

[Sealhunter]

Sean, it is great fun, I most certainly don't want to bash any of the operations you listed, but R-44s are tiny. If your interested some time, shoot me a message, I can promise you it is NOWHERE NEAR 5.5k for a day, and we use an MD500.

Also, it is ILLEGAL to sell or transposrt a live feral hog other than to licensed facilities in Texas. A livestock show is a no-go for feral pigs. The only place they can go is either a slaughter or boars that have been tested and tagged may go to an approved game ranch.

 

[hlee]

A livestock show is different that a livestock auction. The "sale barn" is where most livestock is sold for slaughter. Typically, calves are sold to feed lots who (after fattening the calves for an undetermined amount of time) resell the cattle to slaughter houses. Feral pigs would be auctioned directly to slaughter houses. I've seen more than a few flatbed trailers loaded with large pig traps (full of pigs) destined for auction.

One of these days I'm going to do one of those helicopter pig hunts.

At any rate, post your pig videos, pictures, and hunt stories here if you like. Good hunting!!

 

[Sealhunter]

I was going to try to post a vid of a flight or two, but havn't figure how to shrink it from 2gigs. Have no issue emailing someone if they think I'm full of it. People have told me we can't CATCH pigs from a helicopter, after we placed second in the state during the hog out program, people haven't said that too many times.

 

[AfghanDM]

I'm baiting two traps full time and I sell most of the hogs we catch. Don't get shit for them, but they're off my property. I'm less than a mile away from the river bottoms in East Texas and have a large creek that feeds into the bottoms that the pigs use as their travel corridor... Catching/shooting a lot less now than we used too, but we still catch one or two a week with a few large groups occasionally showing up

 

[808Huntress]

SH,

Sounds like a lot of fun! My other half works in natural resource management they fly in MD500's daily looks like fun. They have netted quite a few goats etc. But terrain and vegetation makes helicopters almost useless here to catch hogs. Trapping and dogs are better suited for our area.

Goodluck in your endeavors!

Aloha

 

[Sealhunter]

Afghan, yeah the prices suck, especially when you see what the buyers sell them for ($300 for 2 sets of ribs), but that's why ranchers love us, we don't charge them the 800+ an hour it costs to keep to keep the 500 in the air, and we get stupid results. Point and case, we flew 2.9 hours this last weekend and ended with 39 live hogs at 4700lbs, 9 dead pigs (one of which weighed in at 368lbs), and also picked up 9 piglets. We ended the weekend with one THRILLED corn farmer.

 

[hlee]

Sealhunter, with a gmail account you can set up a youtube account. They are both free. From there you can upload your videos to youtube and share the links. Although, 2 gigs is a very large file. You may need to do some editing to get it small enough for someone to view. I'm not calling BS, but I'd love to see the videos all the same...

 

[Sealhunter]

http://m.youtube.com/user/richpotts007 I'll try to get him to upload more recent vids, but what can I say, I pull trigger make gun go boom.

 

[diverdon]

If you have a hog problem, get your neighbors together, and give me a shout. Not some idiot hunter. Liscenced, state permits, and insurance, we capture them (not shoot them) from a MD500

Wow, you are so much better than us idiot hunters. Why you even got yr own turbin helecoptr. Jezze, how cn ya ber ta lower yr self to talk with us gun carring nuckle dragrs?

 

[neeley205]

Wow, you are so much better than us idiot hunters. Why you even got yr own turbin helecoptr. Jezze, how cn ya ber ta lower yr self to talk with us gun carring nuckle dragrs?

I don't think he was insulting hunters, just saying that he is a legitimate insured business man vs. You sister's boyfriend's unkle who calls himself a world champion pig hunter and will gladly sling bullets at random all over your property.

 

[Sniper Uncle]

i am no world champion hunter, but I would sure love to go pig hunting some time. We "don't have a pig problem" in PA, although I think I read this year that feral pigs were spotted in PA last year...

 

[Southbreeze]

Originally Posted by Sealhunter
If you have a hog problem, get your neighbors together, and give me a shout. Not some idiot hunter. Liscenced, state permits, and insurance, we capture them (not shoot them) from a MD500

Wow, you are so much better than us idiot hunters. Why you even got yr own turbin helecoptr. Jezze, how cn ya ber ta lower yr self to talk with us gun carring nuckle dragrs?

I'm kinda with diverdon, some of us idiot hunters can shoot, so watch yo words duckboy. why isn't your name hoghunter then? Just asking, you know, so maybe I won't be an idiot hunter my whole life.

Next time you join a forum, try not to insult every fucking one in your first three posts....mister professional hunter.

Cheers,
Breeze

 

[50calibercruiser]

Why hire or call sealhunter when you can call the state to come and do something we all love to do (and would gladly do for free) but with our tax dollars? Get the sarcasm? I'm just an idiot hunter though.

I wonder how much sealhunter sells hunts for?

 

[Sauce787]

<---- this idiot hunter would gladly pay or trade out an Illinois white tail hunt to come down and kill some bacon rabbits. Just sayin....

 

[Southbreeze]

This is what we do with them hog.

We season them up!

Then we cook them up!

Then we give/feed our own heroes with them. USO/Wounded Warriors (Ride to Recovery)/ U.S. Soldiers Foundation

and all dat from an idiot Navy Squidly type hunter!

 

[shooter6.5]

Southbreeze,

That is outstanding !!!!!!!! Only wish I was closer/

Looks like a lot of happy eaters you have gathered there !!!!

 

[Southbreeze]

Southbreeze,

That is outstanding !!!!!!!! Only wish I was closer/

Looks like a lot of happy eaters you have gathered there !!!!

That's the folks who turned out to help put it on. There were 177 wounded warriors in the ride. We covered them and all the support folks involved.

Thanks for that.

Cheers,
Breeze

 

[Sniper Uncle]

That's the folks who turned out to help put it on. There were 177 wounded warriors in the ride. We covered them and all the support folks involved.

Thanks for that.

Cheers,
Breeze

Now that's what I call doing good for our Heros! So pleased to see this....

 

[heavy boolitt]

that definetly needs to go on the motivational thread,makin me hungry ,+100 helpin out the heroes.

 

[dawson08]

As grandpa always told me hogs and geese are to animals that could turn a teaspoon of water into an arce of swamp. +1 on the helping out the heros

 

[Southbreeze]

OP, didn't know mean to hijack your post. Seal hunter got under my skin. Great looking kills, just be careful handling the bastaards. They can carry eighteen zootropic diseases that can jump species, including to humans. State of MS says leave them where they lie if you aren't used to handling them.

Cheers,
Breeze