Honest opinions wanted

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by Burnsie:
I have never hunted hogs, but have eaten quite a bit from freinds who have gotten them.  I love domestic pork, but I like the wild/ferrel stuff even better.
I have never experienced the property damage and over population firsthand, but I would think if it is as bad as everyone says there would be all kinds of land owners/farmers begging hunters of all kinds to come on down and hunt as many as possible.  Instead all I see is high dollar hog hunt packages being offered.  I would love to hunt hogs some time,  but I have a hard time shelling out money to hunt what most are considering a pest/varmit as though it were a sought after elk/bear/whitetail...etc hunt.

you WILL be invited by farmers to kill as many hogs as you can on their property.  mostly, they want the hogs gone fast and turn to gun hunters.  this is quite common down south. CAVEAT - assuming the farmers can trust hunters, and YOU!

so the onus is on all of us to locate farms and ask for hog hunting permission.  somewhat straight forward and easy, right?    

then you gotta get there, which for quite a few of us is outta state, and buy a hunting license - yep, even for varmint killin' you need a license.  

then you gotta know something about the lay of the land, where to hunt, etc. - and that might be a tad hard to grasp inside of a 3 to 7 day hunt.  

then ya gotta stay somewhere, eat, sleep, take care of hygiene, etc.  with most hog hunts that i know of, your hunt fee dollars goes for almost all of those costs.  

ain't no free lunch unless you kill it, cook it, prepare it and eat it yerself.    :D

[captainkirk]

I haven't said much for a long time around here, but I'll chime in on this one.  My in laws lived in the City of Houston and had to kill many as they were destroying their yard, fruit trees, etc.  They simply could not fence them out to the best of their abilities.  To those not from around here, it is a whole 'nother country.

In my job as an aquatic scientist for the state of Texas, we are currently weighing the input of the hog population as a (potentially) significant source of bacteria to our waterways...

[Burnsie]

Rob, understood, not looking for a free ride and I also understand opening up your land to every Tom-Dick & Harry that comes by is asking for even more trouble. My point is,  I'd be willing to pay a land owner some sort of reasonable fee to access his land for the privilage to hunt and have an enjoyable time.  But I don't want pay for some elaborate "hunt package" only to know that after I leave he is probably going to be out there taking out dozens of them with his rifle and leaving them lay because they are such "varmits/pests"  JMO

[Soilarch]

Understood Burnsie.  I'm about 4hr south of Champaign (sp?).   Very near the Shawnee...rumors have been running the last 5 years or so...what I'm getting at is that you may not have to wait very long for "free" hog hunting.  I truly wish that wasn't the case.  Deer and Turkey hit our crops hard enough as it is, heck even the beavers are getting bad.  5 acres so far this year are lost from a single family's damming.

[Kip]

Burnsie  Most of the hog problems are with real farmers not pay to hunt operation.They are working the crops and way too busy to try to show bowhunters where to go and worry about liabilty for someone to kill a few hogs.The farm we go through to get to our lease the hogs are coming to his fields from our woods so he could not let strangers go on our lease.Before he owned the land the previous farmer did have the lease for the woods.The hogs were eating everything so he hired some hog hunters with dogs and traps in about 4-5 months they took out live and dead right at 600 hogs which gave us some piece for a few years.Usually when they get too many they get cholera and die off adding other problems.I love to eat them and fun to hunt but they just have too much of a sex life for the rest of nature.Kip

[ron w]

I would have a hard time killing one and leave'n it!

[longarrow]

Most of the folks from Texas said it right! Let's see..would you kill a "Yote" if it was killing your chickens or pets? Hoggs are fun to hunt and a great sport. They love to eat Turkey eggs, young turkey's in the nest, Quail and their eggs and young and YES when they have the chance young fawns!!! I have seen them destory a 100 ac field crop in one night! As for breeding, a rabbit can't hold a candle to them! We eat some of them, but most lay...good pickin's for the buzzards!  ANOTHER GOOD WAY to look at is...the wolves in the North West...????

[Cory Mattson]

OK - had to go back and read the question. And there seem to be a couple of issues being discussed. 1 when managing land that is good habitat for turkeys and or deer - the hogs must be harvested at a rate of about 80% just to keep the hog numbers from increasing. Even higher would not wipe em out. 2 Hogs are most commonly NOT eaten in Australia as mentioned - but note that hogs in Australia feed on carcasses (hogs, cattle, etc) and most natives find this undesireable - not only that hogs hit rotting carcasses butw the usual amount of maggots. This is a far cry from taking a hog off an oak ridge mid fall typical southern state. 3 any hog harvested should be inspected for an overload of parasites, body weight, old wounds, body confirmation before eating the hog (we eat over 90% of the hogs we recover) but not all - whenever there is any doubt feed the coyotes and vultures 4 long distance recovery - for a good woodsman this is a easy - with a few cuts you can get both back legs and oth backstraps into a day pack and bring this out with you. We make great effort to reover and eat all wild hogs - but I do think responsible ethical woodsman could come to a different conclusion. No judgements from me on that. On my own leases and leases of friends we value hogs and might take offense at carelessly wounding or not making an effort to recover a hog.
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[Burnsie]

Too bad the there isn't some kinda of infrastructure or organized program to get all that meat laying out for the buzzards and yotes to those that are hungry.  Would be a good source of protien/nutrition for those less fortunate. I wouldn't mind having a good pork loin or roast as part of my diet. It is amazing how much potential food (not just wild game) is wasted in or society every day, and then food pantries are continually asking for donations.

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

Originally posted by Rob DiStefano:
... turkey vultures and coyotes gotta live, too.
no matter what, pigs are GREAT HUNTING!    

Right on both counts! From the statistics I have heard, there is no danger os us wiping out the US hog population in our lifetime.

[Cmalone1]

I would keep the meat!!! I absolutely LOVE the way a wild hog taste with some dry rub and smoked whole for about 3or 4 hours!!

[Diamond Paul]

Down here in Louisiana, hogs can be a plague on a deer lease.  They breed like rabbits and eat anything, even killing newborn deer at times.  They are certainly tough on deer, and we treat them like varmints in cattle country.  I would say that if they have overrun a lease and are being hunted for control, I would not skin and eat every hog that I shot.  Do people worry about leaving gophers, woodchucks, coyotes, and other varmints?  Not usually.  If I were going out to hunt hogs with the same mindset as hunting deer, then yes, I would always take one out with me, but not when hunting them as pests.

[Hoyt]

I just read a post on a Fl. forum about too many hogs. The land owner said they were destroying his land and wanted to know if anyone knew a better way to get rid of them beside trapping and shooting on site. He said they were shooting them in the traps and piling them up to rot. Wanted to know if there was some kind of pois ion to use on them. However he didn't want anyone on his land to help out.

[nightowl1]

Seems most of the people who wouldn't leave them lay are from an area where hogs aren't too plentiful. If hogs didn't taste good but were still a nuisance this wouldn't be an issue. You would shoot them and leave it be. I don't eat coyotes when they get after a calf, wild dogs when they start killing deer on the ranch, coons when they start making a mess of the garden, or European starlings.

There difference between the previously mention animals (except the Starling) is that they are native. I will shoot all the hogs I can. Personally, I leave the big ones and keep the small ones. There are enough out there to be picky.

Oh I was definitely raised to eat and use what you kill, but I was also raised to be a part of nature  and a steward. It is my role to help right the balance, which means dead hogs.

I would gladly give anyone hog meat that wanted it. Some of it isn't safe though.

[ishoot4thrills]

I imagine one could eat a coyote, if you wanted to bad enough. Or maybe a starling or an English sparrow or other unprotected species. Or how about a Norway/Black rat? They're probably all edible. You don't hear many complaints about leaving them lay after shooting or trapping one though do ya? I see no difference with non-native hogs either. IF you wanna eat them, then by all means do so, but don't say anything about the people who choose to leave them lay. Unless, of course, you eat all the coyotes, mice, rats, snakes and everything else you kill in addition to the feral pigs as well.

[Benha]

Could not leave it.

[ishoot4thrills]

How about ole brown mud carp? Who shoots them and eats them too? Not many I bet.

[Friend]

Our hunting rights, in part, remain due to hunters being effective game managers.

When populations are out of control, we need to do our part even if we deem it to be a little unethical. As long as we continue to be a productive game management tool, together as hunters, we may continue to enjoy the experience of the great outdoors.

Personally, I don't care to harvest an animal then let it lay, however if it serves a larger cause and may serve to protect our future as hunters, then I will swallow my medicine and shoot.

[Bonebuster]

I can`t imagine letting pork chops go to waste.

[nightowl1]

Oh... Hogs DEFINITELY drive off deer. I'm not sure about turkey. Two places that I go for hogs use to be great deer hunting. Since the hogs started doubling and tripling in number the deer are getting rare.

There is a big deal going on about asian carp too. They thrive in our waters and take up food and resources for other native species. I wouldn't let one of those back into the water if caught.

There is no justification needed for leaving one lay. If my freezer was full and I didn't know anyone who wanted it I would still shoot it for protection of habitat. If I'm deer hunting and see a hog i shoot the hog, if I'm squirrel hunting and see a hog i shoot the hog. If I was fishing and saw one I would at least give him a dirty look