Reconsider Wild Boar Hunting

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Originally Posted by Dythbringer

seabast,

I think Texas' problems isn't the fact they don't understand how to hunt them. This article (it is older mind you) really gives a closer look at the problem: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/scienc...no-ist=&page=1

Texas right now has open season on hogs and zero limit. Texans can also trap them and ship them to a state slaughterhouse for selling as an exotic meat. They can be shot en mass from a helicopter. I don't think the problem is how to hunt them. This animal is versatile in it's menu and habitat. It affects it's environment on a macro scale. It breeds like a rabbit. When fully grown it doesn't have any natural predators in Texas as it has amble means to defend itself (and sows will defend their young) if necessary. They are mainly nocturnal and can be as fast as a rabbit (boar and rabbit are approximately 30 mph) in bursts. Add into the equation that the states which neighbor Texas may not have as liberal rules when it comes to hog hunting and those hog will "reinforce" the Texas population. Moreso, some landowners are trying to make a dollar off hog hunting (kind of like some reports of landowners crying the elk are destroying their property in Bancroft but wanting to charge hunters to come onto their land to hunt) which means hunters will probably only hunt a few hogs.

I think what needs to happen is Texas and its neighbours need to come up with a plan much like Australia has for it's kangaroo problem. In Australia, there are government licensed hunters who get paid to shoot kangaroos (many do it as a side job) coupled with the fact that Australians can hunt kangaroos recreationally as well is a solid start to manage a population which is way out of control. Allow the professional hunters to bring their carcasses into the state approved slaughterhouses for export (as the professionals in Australia are allowed to do). Allow spotlighting and night shooting by the professionals (and only the professionals) for these animals. Have the professional hunters mainly target the sows and piglets (boars could be on a quota system) to reduce the breeding and feeding population as fast as possible as they are the ones who group up the most.

Dyth

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You might be right but I still can't understand why they are "somewhat" under control in Europe but not in the States?

I'll the link later night, the answer miht be there.
Thansk

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Originally Posted by Fox

Check out the part about the Americas, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_pig , there has got to be a mix in here of domestic released and something more wild released or escaped but nothing here is natural, that is for sure.

Here is another link on the Mulefoot pig, I have heard about people seeing both mulefoot tracks and standard cloven hoof tracks from groups of wild pigs, just goes to show the mix of genetics in there.

http://www.livestockconservancy.org/...ernal/mulefoot

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I beleive that too, not much purebred Eurasain anymore but at the start I think most were "Wild boar". You think halfbred should be eaisier to get ride of it though...

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Originally Posted by seabast

You might be right but I still can't understand why they are "somewhat" under control in Europe but not in the States?

I'll the link later night, the answer miht be there.
Thansk

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I know they do things way differently in Europe than we do here. For instance, in Germany, hunters are directly involved with managing animal populations. Areas are managed by the hunters themselves on a lease system and hunters are involved with making up a quota for the area (I think if the hunter doesn't live up to the quota they can lose their lease but I am not 100% certain). Hunters can sell within a 100km radius (in order to pay for their leases) and people buy the meat. Hunters are respected by the community (non-hunters) because of what they do. In order to be a hunter in Germany, it is an intensive process to obtain your hunting license (which includes topics like plants, other animals, etc as well as how to shoot). Germans understand how much damage wild boars can do and they have a solid way to manage the population (however, even in some areas in Germany, it isn't working as well as it should as hunter numbers start to drop).

Dyth

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Originally Posted by seabast

I beleive that too, not much purebred Eurasain anymore but at the start I think most were "Wild boar". You think halfbred should be eaisier to get ride of it though...

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Not with a pig, they are still so close to their origins it is crazy. Think about sheep? Without us the domestic sheep would be toast, they are so screwed up from breeding that they would not survive, same with the cow, a lot of the breeds are so that they cannot even safely naturally produce (Holstein is an example). Pigs are still very much what they were, just a little bigger in the belly.

The fact that they have so many babies makes them closer to that of rabbits and ask the Aussies about how hard it is to get rid of rabbits. They can potentially have 2 sets of babies in a year, that is 20+ young in one year, that is insane and very explosive.

I wonder if in Europe it has something to do with the population density and not as much habitat. I also have two friends that are eastern European and they both stated to me that in their respective countries they hunt like there is no tomorrow, so the poor little buggers don't stand a chance.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...th_equator.png

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Originally Posted by skeeter1

I wonder if in Europe it has something to do with the population density and not as much habitat.

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Germany is the size of New Brunswick with a population almost 3x the size of Canada....there isn't a lot of 'wild' places for the boar to hide.

A report from Texas A&M Agrilife Extension about the Texas feral hog (Aug 2012):

http://feralhogs.tamu.edu/files/2010...exasedited.pdf

Back then, at an estimate of 2.6 million feral hogs in the state, you are looking at a 66% population reduction (through different methods) to achieve 0% population growth. That is how prolific these animals are.

Europe is just like fish, 90% of the population are in 10% of the country.....

Canada, 99% of the population in 1% of the country.....

I just looked for some rough # for France:
- 2 millons boars, and going up....
- 600.000 kill/year
- 55 millions Euros damage (38 millions payed to farmers). All pay by hunter via cost of tags and licences....
- 24.000 car accidents.

So, not so much "under control" after all!