Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Don’t Shoot Feral Hogs in Missouri

Big business here to hunt the damn things. People pay good money to kill the sorry bastards. Took this three weeks ago. Killed 4 of them plus caught one in a cage trap.

You just know so much that isn't so.

But please continue..

No, no they aren’t. No one gives a damn about them except to cuss them these days.

we had wild hogs back when i was a sprout,, domestic stock that had went feral from the free range days and had been holding out for 20-30 years,, when I was 10-12 yrs old the last ones were killed,, and now these russians hogs have been introduced,, they have thousands of acres of oaks and creeks and lakes,, they wont be killed out around here unless a virus gets em,, MDC wont,, hunters wont either,, too many deep hollows with water,,

That's good news, but isolated islands are not comparable to the continental infestation.

The screw worm and med fly are more to the point. If there is a biological trick that can be applied without collateral damage, I'm all for it. But it seems to me that the government paying for trapping or shooting is not the best plan. It does smack of the nanny state problem of being both cause and effect. At any rate, I can see it is a frustrating situation - kind of like what we have here with people planting their favorite invasive fish.

hanco, that's a classy pig rifle you got there. - T.S.

Previously being a wildlife specialist (govt. hunter if you will).. I have contemplated this very thing. Many times.

I really tend to agree with you to a point.

I had a hard time swallowing those people like a very few sheep ranchers getting govt. help with predator problems they would be better served forming an association and taking care of the problem themselves. It wouldn't cost ranchers much to hire a trapper/hunter to concentrate on THEIR operations exclusively.

I know. I used to get called every time a certain rancher even found an coyote turd that was months old... If I would have spent 10 hours a day on that ranch, they still would have bitched.

You kill the predators around that ranch, and it benefits that particular ranch too.

But certain things cause so much damage, like the feral hogs, that the economic impacts are so large, that the losses are ultimately passed on to consumers... Like you and I, and everyone else.

USDA had a chance to eradicate the fire ants when they were still in a relatively small area... But everyone thought it would have been too expensive to do so..

Now fire ants cause 10's of millions of $$ in damage. Wonder what we should have done, if we could go back 50 years or so and evaluated cost compared to what we know now.

Some of that is entitlement. Some is needed.

Throwing the baby out with the bathwater isn't going to help anyone.

Good points.

The key is getting the best bang for the buck.

Nothing so far has been in the least bit effective, unless large concentrations of efforts and resources are piled into one area. Then the area has to be maintained.

Obama didn't do us any favors by gutting the USDA Aphis programs. He damn near de-funded them... due to the nature of politics, and anti-hunting/killing, save the predators BS he was fully onboard with.

I doubt Trump is building those departments back either.

some kind or type of bio-engineered control technology is needed.

there's pros & cons, but we gotta do something, right?

sure there's money to be made in the "disease."

but overall we need to control the problem.

right now hogs are a problem.

hogs are a money-maker.

which is it on average?

Thank you, I’m a newcomer to 99’s. I bought that rifle from Fireball2. That little rifle will shoot sub inch groups at a hundred. I hit the two little pigs on the run. One dumb pig came back a little later. Four other 99’s have infiltrated my gunsafe.

Rockinbar is correct, most places can’t shoot enough to make a dent unless you shoot em by the tens or hundreds from a helicopter.

Trapping can buy you some time, how much depends on your neighbors.

The abundance of hogs here has to be seen to be believed, even inside the city limits. Even in areas without feeders. This place floods, nobody can build along the creeks, which is where you find the hogs.

Don't know about all this , I don't have the faith in my local game managers that some of you do. I shoot every hog that I get into my sights. At the least it sure makes me feel that I'm doing a part to help with the problem. I have heard other hunters in my area say they only shoot them when it's a good time to. They are scared of spooking the deer etc. , etc. I have killed deer 5 minutes behind killing a hog . The way I see it , every sow I kill is one less that will be dropping more., but I ain't particular with what it is . A dead hog is a good hog.

Me too

I don't *feel* discouraged, so I guess it's OK.

I have a personal stake in this and knowledge first hand. Having a farm in Lawrence /Dade county MO. I have personal caught people turning hogs loose. I sometime regret not killing the SOB on the spot . I hate the city hunters wanting to hunt the hogs almost as bad. I shot and let lay or drag off if in a bad area to let lay everyone I see. My local problem is only minor compared to some areas . I coming MDC for trying to do all it can .

You're correct in that the @ssholes turnin hogs loose is the problem.

So make *that* illegal, insteada tellin everbody else not to shoot em on sight, which used ta be the rule.

Used to be no license, no size restrictions and no limit.

No doubt the governor's nephew, or somebody high up in MDC, is a "certified" hog eradicator.

Understand what your saying kind of agree. But if its illegal to hunt hogs as such the "want" for pigs will lower and some of the releasing will lower ( hopefully)
No easy fix or answer.

There's logic on both ides, but I always try ta err on the side of freedom.

This also exposes a bigger issue, that MDC can ban somethin on "their" land that isn't in the wildlife code.

I don't like *that*, either.

Yeah, and DEC banned the use of the pesticides they use and now we are overrun with rodents.