Hawaii Hunting is going extinct.

[Msturm]

the Department  of Land and Natural Resources here in Hawaii has decided that TOTAL eradication is the first and only option for dealing with feral sheep, goats and in many places pigs.

This recently hit home with me as I found that one of my favorite goat hunting spots, where many of the stories I post here come from,  was to be completely eradicated with no plan for meat salvage. Flyovers began unannounced on the 23rd of August and at least 6 people were on the mountain during the shoot, myself included. Flyovers will continue until goat numbers are at zero.

I know this is not a political forum, but with the closing of hunting grounds happening all over the islands, and eradication taking place in the hunting areas not closed we hunters are soon to be left with nothing.  Here is an update I made to a news story that I was part of. Please watch it check out the links, nothing is for sale nothing is for profit. We just need help and support in our struggle to save some game for future generations.

If you have any ideas on how to fight this foolishness please let me hear them!
Check out the video below for a more detailed account of what is going on and links to the proposals we have sent out.

Thanks!

Msturm

 

[Rando]

A short-sighted and sad decision in my opinion - qualifying a potential resource as an immediate nuisance/threat... Easier to eliminate than manage I'm sure.
Sorry to here this!
Randy

[Sam McMichael]

I have never been a fan of politicians making "game management" decisions. This is why.

[Jake Scott]

If this is on public land I suggest contacting and joing Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.  Get them involved in the fight.

Jake

[Mark R]

Its an unfortunate situation, would have to know more details on the why of eradication, especially because the goats have been there so long its hard to think of them as an invasive species. What is the cost of eradication? versus an aggressive  hunting plan, is there a hunting plan in place to possibly manage the animals at no cost and maybe a surplus to the tax payer,  Once the governmental ball is rolling it my take alot to stop it,get politically connected with  as many like minded voters as possible. Just my thoughts.

[McDave]

A quick check of the Internet finds that goats have been present in Hawaii since 1778.  How long do they have to be there before they are considered native?  Nature is continually, though slowly in most cases, changing.  Almost nothing relative to animals is the same now as it was before the last ice age, and many changes have been made with or without the help of man in the years since.  I resent the heck out of it when things like this happen, like I do when they purposely eradicate rainbow trout from lakes in the Sierras and elk from the Channel Islands.  It is almost as big a mistake when man tries to keep nature the same as it is when he purposely tries to change it.

[YosemiteSam]

I recall listening to a Radiolab podcast about this kind of thing but it was in the Galapagos.  Feral goats were taking down the brush and hurting the native species -- a tortoise, in that particular case.  Things got pretty darned crazy as they tried all sorts of things to eliminate the goats.  They sure killed a bunch.  But the goats are still around.  Years later, the objective is still not achieved.  Some bitter people are still dropping new goats off on the island just as a "&*%? YOU!" to the policy.  In my very limited time working with a non-profit land trust, I learned that invasive species are almost impossible to eradicate.  It's a doomed objective.  Once established, control is usually as good as it gets.  

Why nobody uses bounties anymore is something I don't understand.  Tags have a cost so even a small fee will limit demand.  Bounties, even small ones, can attract demand.  

But I'll concede to McDave's point -- our attempts to control nature & society, even with good intentions, usually have unintended consequences.  Good luck getting that point across to a politician or bureaucrat, though.  They're doing the Lord's work as far as they know.

[Roadkill]

They did it on Catalina.  I believe it to have been a private island so the owner did as he pleased.  I passed on shewing gum for years

What is their reasoning-non-native species?  Would not we fit into that equation?

[YosemiteSam]

Originally posted by Roadkill:
They did it on Catalina.  I believe it to have been a private island so the owner did as he pleased.  I passed on shewing gum for years

What is their reasoning-non-native species?  Would not we fit into that equation?

Non native species that survive often outcompete the native ones from a lack of predators or other controls that evolved to keep natives in check.  Their introduction was usually from non-native cultures bringing them to places where they would have never gotten there on their own.

Homo sapien is essentially native everywhere.  We're all the same species.

[Terry Green]

This really sucks and it really pisses me off...

 we may have a more proactive political forum on the new platform. I'm not sure but stuff like this is got to stop..
its got to end or at least we need to have a place to vent.

 I mean I just can't believe this crap is happening to us and if we don't do something if we keep denying it it's not going to go away it's going to get worse we going to have to fight it somewhere down the road and we might as well start now