Hogs by helicopter.....

Yeah, hogs tend to bed down during the day. So, with a chopper, you use the same technique as when using one to help round up cattle. Swoop down toward an oak motte and rear back and accelerate. The wind blast brings out cows, hogs, deer, turkeys, javelina and Lord knows what all.

During a cattle roundup, attendant cowboys on horseback have been known to enthusiastically and optimistically rope a buck, which gives a whole new meaning to "rodeo". The problem is that of retrieving the rope. :D

But hog hunters then have hogs to shoot.

It's not just crop damage. The new tollway in central Texas is having problems with the conflict of cars vs. hogs. The route is through an area of high hog population. Hitting a hog of 200 or 300 pounds is much like hitting a boulder.
 
The notion of hogs being "released" into the wild got me to do a little historical study sometime back, in part because of stories my father recounted to me of raising pigs in east Texas. The practice he described was one I found documented back to Jamestown and universally practiced across the US. It is the practice of free-ranging the livestock. My father would turn out the hogs in the morning and in the evening have to rustle them up from the bottoms and bring them back home. Not all came home. Sometimes, he would end up with neighbor pigs and vice versa. The pigs didn't care whose home they went to. All they knew is that they were going to get slopped at the end of the day, hence their willingness to return home.
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DNS...My Grandfather and Great Grandfather would earmark their pigs and turn em loose in the bottoms....Everyone did....U had your own mark....This was from the early 1900's to late 40's....
 
DNS...My Grandfather and Great Grandfather would earmark their pigs and turn em loose in the bottoms....Everyone did....U had your own mark....This was from the early 1900's to late 40's....
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That makes sense. I never asked Pop how he knew his hogs from his neighbors' hogs, but they did and every so often would return them to their rightful owners.

I will see him on Friday and try to remember to ask him how they marked their hogs. It will probably be like you said for your folks.

They are a BIG problem in places, but you shouldn't pass global judgment on them for what they are in you state.
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Even in states where hogs are considered to be game animals, they are noted as being problematic. That they haven't gotten as bad yet where you are is only a matter of luck and convenience. Nobody has managed to be able to control feral hogs anywhere in the country.

Where are you, BTW? What state?
 
good 'ol boring Indiana:rolleyes:

Brian, the comment was two separate things. My apologies, I should of worded that better. One was ground hogs. The friend's with the orchard have deer problems form the adjacent wildlife refuge. He hates deer, wishes they could all (ever single one in the state) be shot on sight and left to rot. I don't agree, I'd wager you don't either. But they hurt their livelihood, so he does. But he shouldn't go around lambasting people like some do with the hogs, that they need wiped out nation wide.

My point with the ground hogs was, they may not matter to some people at all. Feral Hogs are the pure evil Hitler of the animal world to a lot of people...and to them, ground hogs don't even compare, they'er a non issue....thy'er "non invasive"....recreational hunting. Tell that to my uncle that raises race horses. He's in an all out war with them, kills every one, every time he sees one. Lost a $19,000 animal to them. They breed like rabbits, they are out of control on his farm. Not saying you guys don't need all of them wiped out in your neck of the woods if it's that bad, but saying every single one, in ever state needs exterminated...well I don't agree.
 
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Helicopters are very expensive to buy and operate. I can also guarantee you that their insurance is outrageous engaging in this activity. You will pay for it. I am for eradicating these vermin by any means possible. If you don't agree, you definitely don't own a ranch in Texas. I've always had the fantasy of setting up a claymore next to a corn feeder and sitting in the stand with a video camera:D
 
I got a hoot of a post from a lady who asserted that I and my fellow Americans should be accepting of the pigs, embrace them as part of the community. There's something called, like, the Society for the Protection of the Feral Pig. They have a picture of an old lady on a village lane, bending down to say hello to a pig that was passing by. I kid you not.

Anyway, I'm going to throw in one of my hog videos, cos we could use some levity at this point... Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t3Evwl85_U&list=FLSPoP-2fcByuFzbMxkYvdrQ&index=18
 
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Here in Texas hogs do produce a high price when it comes to destruction. Even though billions of taxpayers dollars I'm sure one day soon we'll have to get pigs tags too. It's all about how much money the State and Goverment can make extra from us and help out with the problem at the same time.
 
I like hog hunting but I have a problem with indiscriminate shooting and letting them rot. I harvest as many as I can eat each year but usually won't waste any unless they're big and smelly. Helicopter hunting looks like a good time and a good way to attempt to control the population, it's just not for me. It's working well on at least a few big cattle stations in Australia so it ought to work here in TX as well.
 
justplainpossum...good video....Just a taste of what we are dealin with.....


I like hog hunting but I have a problem with indiscriminate shooting and letting them rot.
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No problem as far as I'm concerned...They are out of control and are not even supposed to be here in the first place.....The coyotes and buzzards gotta eat too....(although I eat or give away all I can)
 
quote;

The Nuge and Pigman killed over 450 pigs in 2 and a half days....This was on the ranch I hunt a part of....note: They were killed and the meat was donated to feed the hungry....Thats a lot of pork....

What kind of processing plant do you have that can handle that many hogs that quickly and in a short period of time? I notice in the picture where they are piled up in the back of the truck that due to the lack of blood on the end gate yhat they aren't field dressed and allowed to cool out as soon as possible. They must be some prime pork chops.
You got 450 hogs, and they average yield is 50 # of meat. That means you have 22,500 # of meat. 11-1/4 ton of meat. That take and awful big cooler to keep it in or a lot of food shelves. And say the processing costs a modest 20 cents a pound. That amounts to $4500.00. Who pays that bill?
Because they are wild hogs, what kind of parasites do they carry. When any thing gets over populated parasites become prevailant
I would have to think that a lot of these carcasses hoprfully end up in dog food plants, rendering and fertilizer plants and not the land fill.
And if that is the case this kind of practice will give the hunting community a black eye. Kind of like a whore house, its there but its not advertised.
 
Lucas, you're huntin' boogers. Whatever was done with the hogs had to be done in accordance with Texas laws and regulations. Deer, hogs, whatever: It's reasonably well controlled. Must be, since I've never read of any health problems in the many years that Texas has had game donations to charity.
 
Because they are wild hogs, what kind of parasites do they carry. When any thing gets over populated parasites become prevailant.
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Hogs actually carry very little if anything that isn't present in all the other wildlife being consumed by hunters and present in your family pets. There is all the concern about how hogs spread disease, which is as true as people spreading disease, deer, rabbits, squirrels, ducks, geese, bison, moose, elk, goats, cattle, etc.

That take and awful big cooler to keep it in or a lot of food shelves.
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Yep. You know how many hogs and deer come into processors during deer season alone? The place where we do our hogs is large enough to drive a fork lift around inside to handle the volume, but mostly just hand trucks are used.

Problems are limited, as Art noted, because food shelters and such take proper care in the proper preparation of wild game so as to assume that parasites are dealt with appropriately. Parasites (of all types) are in the wild and domestic animal communities regardless of population size. We may consider the hog population to be "overpopulated" because they don't belong and they are doing damage, but they are not necessarily biologically overpopulated yet so as to be suffering from their numbers. They still have plenty of room for expansion. Keep in mind that hogs can live in groups of hundreds in the wild (Old World) without being "overpopulated" in the biological sense.
 
What kind of processing plant do you have that can handle that many hogs that quickly and in a short period of time?
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There is actually a processing plant right down the road with huge coolers....

U can always ask The pigman and Ted any questions....They have websites....They ain't shy....hahaaa;)

As for me and my huntin..my feet are on the ground....:D
 
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And say the processing costs a modest 20 cents a pound. That amounts to $4500.00. Who pays that bill?
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It usually ends up being taken care of in one of two ways:
1. The hunter pays a reduced rate for processing - essentially the base 'cost' for the work. Or, one of the various meat donation charities will cover the cost (at a reduced rate, of course).

Or, more commonly-
2. The processor just eats the cost. Many of them simply do the work and donate the packaging materials, because they want to help people when there's plenty of "extra" meat laying around. Others do it because they can claim it as a charitable donation. Some people do it for both reasons.


One of the game and livestock processors near me just had a post on his website in December showing that he handled 135 big game animals, 17 livestock (cows, sheep, pigs, etc), and almost 2,000 birds last year - all part of one of the various types of "Hunters for the Hungry" programs. All together, he "lost" just under $30,000 by donating the time and materials, because he doesn't take shortcuts (like saw-cutting big game) like some other processors do for donated animals.

He maintains one rule about donations:
If there's room in my cooler, bring it in and fill out the paperwork.

He can't stop people from killing animals they have no intention of eating. He can, however, donate a little time and material to make sure that meat gets put to good use.
 
Thanks for the explanation FrankenMauser. I'm glad to hear that the animal isn't being wasted, that makes the story a whole lot easier to swallow.
 
This is so "Cool":cool: It reminds me of some "Good Times", (Door Gunner, '66 V.N., but we used M-60's).

I remember reading that the Fed did the same thing to the elk (?) in Yellow Stone (mid 60's), but they used M-1 carbines and just left them laying where they fell.
 
publius said:
Helicopters are very expensive to buy and operate. I can also guarantee you that their insurance is outrageous engaging in this activity. You will pay for it. I am for eradicating these vermin by any means possible. If you don't agree, you definitely don't own a ranch in Texas. I've always had the fantasy of setting up a claymore next to a corn feeder and sitting in the stand with a video camera:D
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Lol, I have dreamed about getting my hands on a claymore for the exact same purpose :o
 
It definitely sounds like the helicopter method is effective, even if expensive.

As for me and my huntin..my feet are on the ground....
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I hear you Keg! I have a problem trusting my life to something that must beat the air into submission to stay airborne. Rotorheads I know describe it as flying a million parts, all trying desperately to get away from each other! Now, if you want to take an AC-130 up for it, I'm all ears! You could even fit a large number of shooters on the ramp of my beloved C-17, but the leads will be huge...:cool:

There is a group of retired Army AMU folks in GA called Jager Pro I've followed for a while. They have 3 guides hunting most days during most of the year, at night, using R-25s and thermal scopes, taking out groups of folks for 8 hours of night hunting. They don't have a lot of days open on the calendar, they have become that popular. They are getting nowhere close to 450 in 2 days.

They are, however, perfecting the use of traps in very innovative ways, focusing on catching entire sounders at once. That's the most effective and efficient way I've seen it done without an aircraft!
 
retire

I keep telling the gang, for a retirement gig for me, no party, no gifts, no cheesy dinner with people half your age you do not recognize.

Send me to TX for a helo hunt.
 
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