Texas may let hunters shoot pigs from choppers

Principessa

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Texas may let hunters shoot pigs from choppers
2/19/09

MERTZON, Texas - Millions of wild pigs weighing up to 300 pounds have been tearing up crops, trampling fences and eating just about anything in their path in Texas. But now they had better watch their hairy backs. A state lawmaker is proposing to allow ordinary Texans with rifles and shotguns to shoot the voracious, tusked animals from helicopters. For years, ranchers in the Lone Star State have hired professional hunters in choppers to thin the hogs' fast-multiplying ranks. Now state Rep. Sid Miller of the Fort Worth area wants to bring more firepower to the task by issuing permits to sportsmen.
Bubba factor
"You're not going to have some bubba up there going, 'Pass me a beer and ammo' and hunting some hogs," the legislator said. "We certainly want to do it right."Many hunters and landowners will probably leave the carcasses in the field, just as they do now. Wild hogs that are gunned down cannot be sold for meat under U.S. agriculture regulations. (Moreover, wild boar is said by some to be tough and gamey.)The animals are descended from hogs introduced into Texas by Spanish explorers more than 300 years ago. But their numbers began booming in the 1980s.The big ones have no natural predators. Not even a coyote will tangle with a pig bigger than 20 pounds.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29287057/

I'm not sure which is more disturbing to me the fact there are that many wild pigs in Texas or the fact people will now be allowed to go 'Sarah Palin' on them to cull the herds.
 

pym

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Sometimes......as an environmentalist,my first response would be....WTF?!
Not in a case like this though. Introduced non-native species are usally a holocaust to whatever eco-system they manage to usurpe. In this case....as is many others, a worst case scenario happens. And it is not unique. Take Australia for instance. Cane toads, Mice, Rabbitts, feral cats,feral camels, feral sheep.....etc. Are causing mass extinctions of native flora and fauna. Did you know that even the Dingo is an introduced species there{albeit 40,000 years ago}? All the mammals there were Marsupials till then. A totally unique evolutionary bio-sphere. Until man showed up.....with his hitch-hiking/stow-away furry pals.
Hawaii......70% of the native bird species have gone extinct there in just the last 100 years. For the same reasons.
American waterways...? Infested with zebra mussells, snakeheads, chinese carp, non-native aquatic plants that literally choke a lake to death.
Steve Irwin was really a hero to me....we were the same age too. As much as he loved all gods creatures....he was still objective about the need to control Non-native species. I agreed with him and still do.
It's really a tradjedy too. Its man-kind that in every case has caused these problems in the natural world.
 

javyn

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Good post to counter nj's typical knee-jerk reaction nonsense.

Sometimes......as an environmentalist,my first response would be....WTF?!
Not in a case like this though. Introduced non-native species are usally a holocaust to whatever eco-system they manage to usurpe. In this case....as is many others, a worst case scenario happens. And it is not unique. Take Australia for instance. Cane toads, Mice, Rabbitts, feral cats,feral camels, feral sheep.....etc. Are causing mass extinctions of native flora and fauna. Did you know that even the Dingo is an introduced species there{albeit 40,000 years ago}? All the mammals there were Marsupials till then. A totally unique evolutionary bio-sphere. Until man showed up.....with his hitch-hiking/stow-away furry pals.
Hawaii......70% of the native bird species have gone extinct there in just the last 100 years. For the same reasons.
American waterways...? Infested with zebra mussells, snakeheads, chinese carp, non-native aquatic plants that literally choke a lake to death.
Steve Irwin was really a hero to me....we were the same age too. As much as he loved all gods creatures....he was still objective about the need to control Non-native species. I agreed with him and still do.
It's really a tradjedy too. Its man-kind that in every case has caused these problems in the natural world.
 

Mandee

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I get that and don't dispute it. :cool: I just worry about what the article calls the 'bubba factor'.:tongue:

lol why are you worried? They said they WOULDN'T be sending "Bubba's" into helicopters to shoot the pigs. lol. Do you really want a drunk guy up there shooting at anything that moves? :tongue: I think it's a good thing that they're getting skilled professional hunters to do it.
 

MickeyLee

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hey! don't knock the Bubbba. he knows how to hunt. probably has been doing so to feed his family for several generations back. *grumbles* the hunters will use high power rifles. the kill will be quick and clean. back broke or through the lungs. more humane than watching a wild animal die of starvation or the effect of disease doing the thinning.

i doubt the meat will be left to rot. i betting a hunt schedule will be posted in local papers. expect an army of rednecks on ATVs out and about to process the meat.

even with a decade plus of vegan/vegetarian under my belt i can't say culling of the wild pig populations is a bad thing. take in account crop destruction, dwindling territory, being a non-native species, threat to food stocks to other critters, threat to indigenous species and all the rest.... something needs to be done. i'm sure strict quotas will be in place and the hunts will take place outside of breeding season.

ml

anyway. if you eat meat ya got no place complaining about hunting. bacon is not born in the refrigerated section of ya local super market.

to add the article lies. wild boar is fucking delicious. damn i miss pork :(

rednecks are prone to repeated themselves when cranky.
damn it the lpsg is going down for the count. NNOOOOOOO!!!
 
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Principessa

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lol why are you worried? They said they WOULDN'T be sending "Bubba's" into helicopters to shoot the pigs. lol. Do you really want a drunk guy up there shooting at anything that moves? :tongue: I think it's a good thing that they're getting skilled professional hunters to do it.
I know what the article says, but where there is a will there is a way. Some Bubba will be running trips out of his crop duster pretty soon. Mark my words.
 

MickeyLee

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I know what the article says, but where there is a will there is a way. Some Bubba will be running trips out of his crop duster pretty soon. Mark my words.
:mad:



ya know bubba is not synonymous with asshole?

people are a touch aware of licensing, quotas, tag hunts, etc?
they are aware of how much money for conservation is generated by the bubbas? i mean not all of the bubba's government check is spent on cheap beer, skoal and truck caps.

you know that without hunters keeping breeding numbers in check the die off rate from starvation or disease would turn most state park/WMA into dying fields? google wasting sickness and white tail.

ml
 
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midlifebear

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hey! don't knock the Bubbba. he knows how to hunt. probably has been doing so to feed his family for several generations back. *grumbles* the hunters will use high power rifles. the kill will be quick and clean. back broke or through the lungs. more humane than watching a wild animal die of starvation or the effect of disease doing the thinning.

i doubt the meat will be left to rot. i betting a hunt schedule will be posted in local papers. expect an army of rednecks on ATVs out and about to process the meat.

even with a decade plus of vegan/vegetarian under my belt i can't say culling of the wild pig populations is a bad thing. take in account crop destruction, dwindling territory, being a non-native species, threat to food stocks to other critters, threat to indigenous species and all the rest.... something needs to be done. i'm sure strict quotas will be in place and the hunts will take place outside of breeding season.

as far as the carcass. if the hunt schedules are published in a local paper there will be scores of rednecks on ATVs out to process the meat.

ml

anyway. if you eat meat ya got no place complaining about hunting. bacon is not born in the refrigerated section of ya local super market.

to add the article lies. wild boar is fucking delicious. damn i miss pork :(


Mickeylee: Send me a pm with a mailing address and I'll have a relative in Arkansas send you a jar of pickled squirrel meat! (I'm not joking. It's a staple with that arm of my odd family.) You don't have to eat it. It's just one of those wonders of southern folk food ways everyone should have around just for show.
 

MickeyLee

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Mickeylee: Send me a pm with a mailing address and I'll have a relative in Arkansas send you a jar of pickled squirrel meat! (I'm not joking. It's a staple with that arm of my odd family.) You don't have to eat it. It's just one of those wonders of southern folk food ways everyone should have around just for show.

we might be related.:eek:

ml
 

joyboytoy79

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:mad:



ya know bubba is not synonymous with asshole?

people are a touch aware of licensing, quotas, tag hunts, etc?
they are aware of how much money for conservation is generated by the bubbas? i mean not all of the bubba's government check is spent on cheap beer, skoal and truck caps.

you know that without hunters keeping breeding numbers in check the die off rate from starvation or disease would turn most state park/WMA into dying fields? google wasting sickness and white tail.

ml

I agree with some of what you say, but not most.

Firstly: wasting sickness in deer is caused by prions (mutated proteins) and has absolutely nothing to do with overpopulation.

Secondly: Anyone who knows anything about population control will tell you the worst thing to do is create a hunting season. When you "manage" a herd by culling only a small portion of it (usually) right before the lean season, you are actually encouraging a breeding boom in the fat season. Smaller population when times are hard means less competition and fatter sows in the spring. Fatter sows are more likely to carry large litters and the piglets are more likely to survive to adulthood. Do you see how this leads to more of a problem?

If you really want to control a population, introduce a predator. A constant predator. In the case of wild pigs, there is no predator up to the task, so the best option is to vie for extermination, not introduce a hunting season.
 
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MickeyLee

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joyboytoy79 - agree with you 100%. just don't think state agencies are going to opt of extermination or reintroduction of predators. there would be too much head butting and bickering with opposing groups.

so it's limited options with limited results.
ml
 

kalipygian

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Mickeylee: Send me a pm with a mailing address and I'll have a relative in Arkansas send you a jar of pickled squirrel meat! (I'm not joking. It's a staple with that arm of my odd family.) You don't have to eat it. It's just one of those wonders of southern folk food ways everyone should have around just for show.

It used to give the old folks something useful to do: sit out on the porch with a shotgun, and keep the pecan tree from being pre-harvested.
 

Principessa

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I agree with some of what you say, but not most.

Firstly: wasting sickness in deer is caused by prions (mutated proteins) and has absolutely nothing to do with overpopulation.

Secondly: Anyone who knows anything about population control will tell you the worst thing to do is create a hunting season. When you "manage" a herd by culling only a small portion of it (usually) right before the lean season, you are actually encouraging a breeding boom in the fat season. Smaller population when times are hard means less competition and fatter sows in the spring. Fatter sows are more likely to carry large litters and the piglets are more likely to survive to adulthood. Do you see how this leads to more of a problem?

If you really want to control a population, introduce a predator. A constant predator. In the case of wild pigs, there is no predator up to the task, so the best option is to vie for extermination, not introduce a hunting season.


What about panthers? Some brain donor thought it would be a good idea to re-introduce panthers to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. :rolleyes: As y'all know panthers are smart and can read signs and would never dream of venturing out of their designated area. :cool:
 

MASSIVEPKGO_CHUCK

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You know what really scares me; REDNECKS in a chopper with a shotgun loaded with buckshot pointed straight down at the boars. Do they not think that the buckshot won't boomerang back up at them from the updraft and do a dick cheney?
 
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Smartalk

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They have a life as well as we do, and have equal rights to live on this planet. Just because we plant tastey crops in their natural environment, they being hungry will do anything to get to food. Just like you or I, if we were that desperate. Typical of the human species, I am superiour and I have all the rights over nature. It is my right to dmagage and destroy the homeostasis of the planet so long as I AM HAPPY. It is our selfish attitude and behavour that has caused all thie imbalance in the world.

Before you quickly jump to answer particularly if my reply has touch a raw nerve, Just stop and think why have I reacted in this way to nothing but words on a screen in front of me. Who am I to disagree by doing so you have agreed with everything writen in this post
 

Deno

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Why not pay people to do this on the ground, collect the meat and give it to the needy, till you pay for the fuel for the aircraft you could be paying people.