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Old May 27, 2009, 10:08 PM   #1
Swampghost
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Funny thing about hunting varmints.

I'm hanging out in the gunshop and some noob shows up with a 'yote problem.

He figures that a shotgun is 'The weapon' and is grilling the owners son. I AM listening. The son gives me the look and I try to come to the rescue plus a little fun hunting. The noob is a property manager for some ag. prop. out west of town and I doubt if he's ever held a BB gun.

I tell him that I'd be happy to come out there a few days a week to help him with his problem and he asks me how much would I be willing to pay?

I'm finding this all around. Hogs are destroying my wifes garden, 'yotes threating livestock. You offer to help out and they expect you to pay on top of your expenses.

All that I have to do now is find a concrete guy that really enjoys his job and convince him to pay me for my new driveway!
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Old May 27, 2009, 10:13 PM   #2
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yeah swamp thing....

Folks are pretty strange how they think sometimes?? He should be paying YOU to come take care of the problem, not the other way around

I hope a 'yote bites him on the rrr's
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Old May 27, 2009, 10:29 PM   #3
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Just walk away! there are plenty of people around here that will let you hunt for free to take care of there problems. Around here you can kill hogs till you are blue in the face Coyotes! All year round!
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Old May 27, 2009, 10:43 PM   #4
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Hogs I can sell.

What do you do with 'yote's? They're fairly new here. I know that the hides will sell but I'm guessing winter hides. Here they're probably pretty scraggly due to the heat like everything else. I'm thinking recycled by turkey buzzard, Lord knows that we have enough of them.
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Old May 27, 2009, 11:14 PM   #5
impact
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Around here if you can sell a coyote pelt! sell it. For the most part let the buzzards eat. There are more coyotes around here than there are house dogs. Go to the woods just before sunset. set and listen. There are coyotes every where. There are in no short supply. The problem is they are smart. when there are people around they get to be like a ghost. these dogs know how to survive!
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Old May 28, 2009, 12:53 AM   #6
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If folks that do varmint/vermin control in florida would be able to get together with our ducks in a row it would look similar to...
Yotes, 50 bucks an hour and 50 bucks per yote...
Hogs, 250 bucks per trap initial and 40-50 per month for bait fee with a 250 dollar fee for huge hogs over 200 pounds and 50-100 for those over 20 pounds but under 200 for trappers. For hog doggers it would be 50-100 per hour (depends on references backing your reputation) and a similar per hog fee. Shooters should expect a very low per hour fee as it is not so productive but same per hog fee...
Armadillos doing land damage warrant a 25-50 per hour (so long as you kill several per trip) with 10 bucks each animal bounty...
To legally sell a live hog it MUST be seen by a vet and inoculated. To sell dead swine you must be licenced meat processor/dealer in florida.
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Old May 28, 2009, 01:45 AM   #7
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Wish I could find the exact quote, but somewhere on the forums someone posted something along the lines of the following on a discussion about hog hunting.
They say that Texas is overrun with a plague of feral hogs.
They say they're a big problem.
They say they're tearing up property and hurting the natural wildlife.
They say they'll let you hunt them for $300 a day.
I say: "Good luck with your problem!"
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Old May 28, 2009, 02:17 AM   #8
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How true, amen.
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Old May 28, 2009, 05:08 AM   #9
SKULLANDCROSSBONES65
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G'day. It already costs me a small fortune to shoot, even just to get to the property. I would consider paying, if I was not providing a value for my service. The properties I shoot on appreciate the 'pest control' that I am able to do. I have never been told not to come back, I have however been told not at the moment (due to farming activities etc).
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Old May 28, 2009, 11:16 AM   #10
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Yep, I think it's kinda ironic.
"Them (hogs/squirrels/deer/turkeys) is causing' so much damage, I would give anything to get rid of 'em."
"I'll take care of that for you."
"That'll cost ya $500."
"No thanks."
"How come nobody will help me with my (hog/squirrels/deer/turkey) problems???"

I saw the same thing with hogs and squirrels eating grain in CA, elk and deer eating alfalfa in ID, rockchuck eating mint and alfalfa in OR, squirrels eating nuts in CA and OR, deer and elk in grain in WA. They want it both ways, and you can't always have it both ways. You either get to charge and you suffer the damage, or you get rid of the damage but you don't get to charge.
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Old May 28, 2009, 11:45 AM   #11
Art Eatman
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Before hogs became such a problem in Texas, "any time" hunting for them was a fun deal for a lot of hunters--who were willing to pay for access. This tended to spoil landowners as the hog populations and areal coverage increased.

Now, hogs have become a serious problem, but to a great extent neither the landowners nor many of the hunters have recognized the changing marketplace forces.

Apparently there are still enough would-be hog hunters around who are willing to pay, such that there's not yet enough impetus among landowners to change their views about charging to hunt.
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Old May 28, 2009, 12:00 PM   #12
Daryl
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Arizona is something like 87% public land, open year round to hunting for animals that are in season.

Feral animals are ALWAYS in season here.

We have hog farms, same as most states, and they lose a few hogs now and then.

Arizona has NO hog problems though, because people consider them "free meat", and shoot them as they see them.

If Texas didn't want the hogs, they'd allow access to people who wanted to shoot them, and wouldn't charge for the access. As it stands, they want the hogs, because they want the money that hog hunting generates.

In my mind, it's just about as simple as that.



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Old May 28, 2009, 12:03 PM   #13
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Heck, I would pay for some guys with air rifles to come to my yard and take care of the squirrel problem. I don't live in the city limits but the parish frowns on discharging firearms inside the gated subdivision. So do the neighbors. I really don't want to spend $200+ on a good air rifle. I just counted 16 of the little bastids on the patio.
I have several friends that have property in the Toledo Bend area. I get invited to hog hunt on a regular basis. There are 2 kind of land owners in the South/South east. Those with hogs destroying property and those that just haven't seen the evidence yet. You will have them. Growing up in south Louisiana and hunting in the Atchafalaya and Mississippi river basins, it was rare to come upon wild hogs. They were wary coots. Today, their evidence is everywhere and so is the damage they inflict.
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Old May 28, 2009, 11:33 PM   #14
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Quote:
Heck, I would pay for some guys with air rifles to come to my yard and take care of the squirrel problem.
Tempting, VERY tempting. I'm trying to decide if I'm up for a 5 hour round trip to shoot squirrels. Not that I'd let you pay, of course.
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Old May 28, 2009, 11:59 PM   #15
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Quote:
Now, hogs have become a serious problem, but to a great extent neither the landowners nor many of the hunters have recognized the changing marketplace forces.

Apparently there are still enough would-be hog hunters around who are willing to pay, such that there's not yet enough impetus among landowners to change their views about charging to hunt.
Even the TPWD is regulating a feral pig season on public land. I believe it ran from close of Whitetail season to mid March. Forgive me for being to lazy to grab my book and confirm.

I have carte blanche on my wife's family plot. I've been asked to take the breed/nursing sows first and "every other damn pig after that". The hayfield looses 10-20% each cutting to rooting. The tank is a wreck. Even the improved roads are constantly being unimproved. Deer season had them nocturnal. Trappin' will probably be the next step
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Old May 29, 2009, 12:28 AM   #16
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I can't find any information indicating that there's a season on feral hogs on public lands in TX. They did recently change the classification of feral hogs from a "nongame species" to an "exotic animal" but that doesn't appear to have done anything to create a season for them.

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, there's not much on the TPWD website about exotic animals
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Old May 29, 2009, 12:36 AM   #17
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The way it works in florida is wide open on private land. On the WMA's is per each. few still allow dogs year around. Some still allow hog dogs during general gun but not all... For gunning it is pretty much no limit for hogs during gen. gun season...
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Old May 29, 2009, 10:01 AM   #18
Art Eatman
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Just off the cuff, there's not a lot of public land in Texas. I'm just guessing, but if there are now some sort of seasonal controls on them, it's more a game-warden manpower issue due to tight budgets than regulation as such.

TP&WD gets all in a swivet over donations of private lands to the agency. "What are we gonna do with it? How do we manage it? Ohmigod, the budget!"

The agency is required by law to manage its lands, but the legislature controls the budget.
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Old May 29, 2009, 11:00 AM   #19
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Hey Art, It sure sucks when it is easier to have a wing in a hospital or a girls gym locker room built with your money than a few food plots and game management bucks slipped into your local public WMA huh? Yer about old enuff to just scratch yer head wonder how we got to this point...
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Old May 30, 2009, 08:38 AM   #20
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Quote:
I can't find any information indicating that there's a season on feral hogs on public lands in TX.
I don't have a scanner and the info is in the 08-09 "Public Hunting Lands MAP BOOKLET" which may not be available via internet. The 07-08 was at one time since I used it as a basis to plan our hunt. The 08-09 may be released or may become released soon.

14 WMAs in the Eastern Region
Feral Hogs: (no bag limit) - Different methods depending on the WMA (typical ones are...no trapping or use of dogs, or; No baiting allowed, some note no method restrictions, but I would get clarification before I used dogs or bait).
Archery and Muzzleloader Only Season: Mar 1 - 31
General Season: April 1 - 30. All legal means

So, in short TX has granted public land hunters on these 14 WMAs the opportunity to hunt hogs for 2 months during the year *if* we use both seasons (I don't Arc/Muzz hunt).
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Old May 30, 2009, 10:53 AM   #21
Art Eatman
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hogdogs, wuz I to go to head-scratching when I see guvmint-stoopid, I'd be bald.

People who say there's no such thing as a perpetual motion machine just haven't paid attention to government idiocy.

"Government does not exist for the benefit of the governed." -- Robert A. Heinlein

Okay, enough politics. My bad.
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Old May 30, 2009, 02:16 PM   #22
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fisherman66,

Thank you for posting the information. That's very interesting indeed. The only conclusion one can draw is that apparently the TPWD doesn't feel that hogs are much of a problem on public land.

I poked around some more on TPWD's website and found the information. The problem is you can only get information on one county/area at a time.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild...able_contents/
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Old May 30, 2009, 02:55 PM   #23
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No problem John. I feel like a bone head, but after a little deeper digging I have found some WMAs have MUCH longer seasons on feral hogs.

Sam Houston Nat For..

general season; Sept27-Jan4 and then Jan 15-Mar15 (total of about 6 months)

I would speculate that it won't take more than a decade to get them reclassified as an invasive species with no "game" or "exotic" status.
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Old May 30, 2009, 03:15 PM   #24
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As a state of fla listed nuisance trapper, I see the public/private land issue first hand. In Daytona most of my clients were not farmers, it was HOA's for subdivisions. Most of the problem areas abutted state forest lands and most were "wild life sanctuary" so no hunting was ever allowed on them. These feral hogs ran a route utilizing the swamps and woods in full protection to enter yards and devastate folks landscapes and cause mayhem chargin' folks in pj's as they went after the mornin' paper (I don't feel sorry for them as they wanted to live with nature) to the point a side arm was carried out by several folks.
I was limited to trapping for the most part. I did get tired of pickin' at the population with no reduction since I wasn't routinely trapping the large breeder hogs. I would sneak the dogs in on some occasions and some locations if I felt I could get it done real close to the starting point.
Florida does realize the feral hogs are bad even for the swamps and woods but still treat them as game on state lands...
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Old May 30, 2009, 09:05 PM   #25
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Quote:
...after a little deeper digging I have found some WMAs have MUCH longer seasons on feral hogs.
I obviously didn't look at them all, but it looks like in my general area (NorthEast, TX) a month, maybe two, is pretty common so your initial characterization seems quite accurate. Like you, I'm surprised that there's any limit at all.

Very interesting information, I'm glad you posted.
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