Helicopters on hogs

[leonriverboy]

I've been hunting a large ranch lately and we have had great success 6 hunts 10 hogs 5 boars over 200lbs.     The land owner has trapped over 200 since January.  But about a week ago they killed 50 one day from a helicopter. I've hunted the place once since then and hunted all morning and only got a 70lb sow.  Just wondering what y'alls experience or success has been after a helicopter hunt?  And what do y'all think of helicopter hunting I'm general?  Don't get me wrong I am very greatfull to be able to hunt this ranch.

[Circle C]

I think from a landowners perspective, that hogs need to be hit from every angle possible. Dogs, traps, guns, helos....


From a dog hunters perspective, I wish there were no traps, guns, or helos

[Silverton Boar Dogs]

They run private choppers in my area to control hog numbers and the state boys get a little shooting done as well . We work with the landowners to kill hogs that are causing major crop damage. There are only 4 dog hunters in the 3 county's we hunt so  we can only have an impact on a very small part of the hog population. The choppers can be real affective in my area because the brush is not to thick and offers good visibility. We will hunt behind the choppers to pick off what they miss and then we probably will not go back on that ranch for a year. Farmers and ranchers here only care about one thing and that is dead hogs.

[boarwild]

well here is my take and i personally hunt both ways.  The helo is a good way to get a control of a large problem, but it does not get complete control at least in the thick brush we hunt in.  Also in my times of helo hunting i have helo'd one property about 5 times in the past year and killed about 1000 hogs.  Just recently we are getting permission to run dogs on this place and we are still catching pigs.  It's crazy but the last time i was on the ground during a helo hunt on this place you could tell the pigs knew what was coming as soon as they heard the blades and they knew how to hide in the brush undercarriage and they knew if they just stood still it would pass over.  I think with both you can get a really good control, but i am with Circle C wish helo hunting was never thought up but when land owners only give us one option we take what we get, and keep trying to get them to let us put dogs on the ground.  My area was hurt hard by some bad dog hunters and i am just recently getting permission on new land that was burned by dog hunters long ago.  It's the image that we as dog hunters need to get fixed and i think most of us are on the right track.  Hopefully one day farmers and ranchers will be looking for dog hunters instead of saving money to get a helo hunt on.  

[USHOG]

The hogs will learn to hit the woods quick when a helicopter is around. If the goal is to get rid of the hogs it probably works for a few weeks or even a month or so but the hogs will be back if the pressure is not kept on them. So it depends on how many helicopter hunts they do. I personally love the helicopter hunters it makes my job much easier.

I am part of a group that watches over a Co-Op of rice farmers. We use any and every method we can to keep the hogs out. The rice is there money and we protect it with any means we can

[charles]

 since th hogs are headin to cover when they hear the choppers comin, have yaw thought of investing in thermal scopes. FLIR is very expensive for acft but individual units aint to pricie. when we would do air assult raids in iraq and the ragheads would head for cover or buildings, we would switch to thermal on our 240b and be able to see them real well from the air to be able to guide the troops in from the lz.

[Bump]

I think flying a property is probably more productive short term....but obviously not the most finanially economical. I have several ranches that get flown yearly...I believe it kills many and then moves the hogs for a short period but they soon return from other areas. Unless there was constant pressure in a large area ( 10's of thousands of acres)....I dont see it really being detrimental to the population.

IMO for my general area....we will never hurt the population from dogging, trapping, shooting or flying once a year. Other areas may be different.

It doesnt seem to really effect me much.

[DoGgONit]

choppers fly at some of our places 2times now , the first time they didnt see any hogs .that night i caught 7 in one trap . the second time they killed a few down the road and we caught 3 with the dogs that night . just seems like alot of money if there not producing !!!

[machine73]

since th hogs are headin to cover when they hear the choppers comin, have yaw thought of investing in thermal scopes. FLIR is very expensive for acft but individual units aint to pricie. when we would do air assult raids in iraq and the ragheads would head for cover or buildings, we would switch to thermal on our 240b and be able to see them real well from the air to be able to guide the troops in from the lz.

Getting quality handheld oor weapon mounted IR is pretty pricey. A buddy of ushogs brought out a unit from the company he works for... what did he say it was.. like  $10,000? Thermal imaging equipment is really out of teh price range of most folks. Anyway, we could get some penetration of cover, but not too far in heavy crops or thick woods.

[charles]

 yes it is expensive to most folks standards but if the farmer/rancher has the money for acft pig control, it would stand to reason they could afford several ir units for weapons. thermal in more expensive than ir scopes and most ir units cost around 3-5k dependin on who u get them from. i used to work on helicopters in the army and for what it cost when the blades are turning is just as expensive as ir scopes for a full days worth of flying and hovering. i aint tryin to pick an argument but it was just my thoughts on the flir or thermal.