Message #389193

[magnuml]

 would like to put serious penalties on dog hunters or trappers for taking a hog alive, which is completely ignorant in my opinion.

JHY, This last comment really bothers me. I don't know anyone that has enough freezers to keep every hog they kill in. I don't know enough people that i could give and would take all the hogs we get. But i do know one of the first things i was taught when learning to hunt as a kid was " If you KILL it, You EAT it". In Florida we have Feral hog transport cards that you have to apply for and get with the state to be able to transport a feral Hog with in state lines to your property and kept in a pen for your own personal consumption. If you sell hogs they have to be in a pen with a concrete or wood floor and the department of AG has your info and can come and inspect your pen at any time. I had a warden come check us a few weeks back and the first thing he wanted to see was my feral swine card and paperwork because we had a hog Alive in the truck. If i had not had one i would not have had a good day. Is everyone going to comply, No. But will it help, Yes. If you are insinuating that people should just kill hogs and leave them without eating the meat or getting it to someone that will then that is just not responcible hunting to me and gives Hunters a bad name, invasive or not. I call those Trophy hunters, People that shoot a big buck and take the head and leave the meat because it is too much work, or they don't know how to skin a animal. A hog hunter who takes the head for the teeth because his excuse is Boar hogs taste bad. Bull number 2. They taste bad when you drive around for hours with him still intact and his guts in at 80+ degrees for everyone to see he is a big hunter. I see a inmature person looking for attention who does not know how to hunt!! Lets just teach our kids that it is ok to shoot or kill a animal that was put on this earth to eat and just leave it laying on the ground. I could and do understand a Farmer who is out tending his property and see's a pack of hogs ruining his land, killing calfs ect Shooting hogs and leaving them and hope others do not come back.. That is not hunting, that is protecting his property and his money. If you are out running dogs and are Hunting and don't have enough coolers and ice for the hogs you killed and the meat to be good for the ride home and taking the hogs home ALIVE is the only way to hunt responcibly how is that IGNORANT ? Should they turn them loose insted? That would help a lot, to the problem.. If less people caught hogs alive we would have a lot less hogs caught and removed in the country. I will admit i love catching them alive, That is my preferred way to hunt and have done so for 17 years. I have 2 in my Pen right now and 3 in 2 freezers. why should i be penalized for that? How am i being IGNORANT and a bad hunter ?