Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire America's wild horses...solution ?

No sir. Duckwater, about 30 or 40 miles west and south of Ely.

"Fragile" is the watchword. It can take 100 years to undo what a small family group can do to a waterhole in 2-3 days.

Gotcha......Duckwater doesn't ring a bell but I know that there's no shortage of Mustangs in that part of NV either.

You folks have rifles. Take care of the problem. Don't brag. Don't answer any questions.

As purty as wild hogs in the south. And wreck as much real estate also.

Do like we do wolves. Five tags each, shoot them almost all year long.

Not wild. Feral.

My first thought was to feed them to all the street people in California. But they'd just schitt 'em all over the sidewalk,...so that's not the answer.

I'd rather have the wild horses than multiple piles of schitt on America's sidewalks.

I personally think they are not "wild" as they were not indigenous to North America for thousands of years until they brought over here by Europeans.

I would classify them as feral animals. Really no different than say domesticated cat or dogs being set free and allowed to survive out on their own.

And horses can over populate an area causing environmental damage and displace natural species (bighorns in this case) as there are no natural species (wolves, coyotes, grizzlies, etc.) to keep them in check. And there is no hunting season on them for that to help keep them in check either.

So I would prefer bighorns to feral horses.

Too bad horses don't grow antlers or horns... People would be filling out applications and swiping credit cards to hunt them in the states they exist, if they could measure'em or have something to hang on the wall.

No natural predators to speak of and they live a long time. I couldn't care less if they shot all the feral horses.

Congress, get some.

It always seemed strange to me. Why hogs gone feral are so hated they are trapped and killed without restraint. Then horses gone feral are loved so much they are protected.

Pay a bounty for their scalps, both ears attached.

Allow them to be rounded up and marketed to the French.

Remove all penalties for shooting feral horses.

Those are some pretty good looking horses in those photos. Not at all like the inbred awful looking things they bring in to Pauls Valley, OK. Shouldn’t be too hard to trap and castrate the males. I don’t believe they’ve worked too hard at eliminating them. They’re making too much money taking care of them. If they’re determined to keep them, at least turn some quality stallions out with the mares.

says the guy that's never been around wild horses....

Are you sure of that?

Berger’s or TSX?

They need population control by what ever means is necessary.

Oregon does a great job of holding horse numbers in check, and for the most part, our remaining horses only frequent sheep country if truly desperate for forage. The greatest competition is with cattle on public land grazing allotments.

We do have a need for sensible management, use, and disposal of horses. No kill plants anymore, so a guy can't make a few hundred from aged domestic stock via the chicken/pet food route. Now it's a significant expense to get rid of a horse.

We need to get back to the mindset that horses are stock as opposed to pets, as our government is spending millions to sustain unwanted animals.

There is sector of society that truly cherishes our wild stock. Cookie is out chasing deer right now with her cameras, and there are several pro photographers that work the same country. Their best selling images are pictures of well colored horses in expansive landscapes. They'll out sell a bighorn sheep image 10 to 1. The below linked Hollywood herd is actually managed for color by our local BLM district and has a sizable tourist following. The fight pictued below occurred within 30 yds of our truck.

Hollywood herd link.

Another link

They also have Facebook coverage, but I don't go there.

The Hollywood critters are habituated and will tolerate hikers within their midst. Cookie will get a few shots if passing through their midst, but is in no way a serious follower.


The scattered herds in the balance of Oregon, like those below, will clear the horizon as soon as one pokes his head over the ridgeline.



I have not seen horses here in Oregon attempt to hold or defend a given water hole from any other species or entity. Males vigorously defend their harem but do not fight or defend what one might consider a territory. If they remained within sight of a water source, they'd soon have the forage depleted and have to move to greener pastures. I have seen horses essentially play with stock and pronghorn at water by just taking a run at a group and seemingly finding it entertaining to scatter the group. Essentially kids play as opposed to harassment.