shooting hogs from helicopters

[muleman]

Dont know if this has been posted yet but check it out.

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/Bill_May_Let_Hunters_Shoot_fr

[cantexduck]

   I dont know how to feel about that bill.  I know of one landowner that flies his own place already. The LO is also from old money so that might help alittle.

[Furflys]

 I am with cantexduck. I also do not know what to think about this bill.

[elliscountyhog]

I dont like it!! Gonna make it too easy ( but it would be fun to do.) and make it even harder to get permission to hunt land.

[guns_up43]

While it might help out the landowners and agriculture.... kinda takes away from the fun!!!!!!!  I dont like it!!!  And up to 300 hogs killed in a day???  They're taken our hunts.... dang!!!!

[Russ]

I never heard of one Helo hunt being that successful unless it was Jay the pilot interviewed in the article. Jay is basically the Mr. Mason of the Wildlife Helicopter world, if he ain't for it it's a dam good reason it shouldn't good thru.

Far as effectiveness in thinning hogs, a Bell R22 and a Beretta Extrema 2 loaded with 3" OO buck is hard to beat

[jhy]

Gotta a buddy that does it down in Uvalde the weekend after deer season is over almost every year and they always talk of 300 + kills a day.  If you have that many hogs on your property and that is the most effective way to control them then I say do what you got to do  They are nuisance animals, not native wildlife.  However, I dont think that they should just leave them there for the coyotes to get fat on. Should at least feed the hungry. JMO

Joey

[Russ]

Gotta a buddy that does it down in Uvalde the weekend after deer season is over almost every year and they always talk of 300 + kills a day.  If you have that many hogs on your property and that is the most effective way to control them then I say do what you got to do  They are nuisance animals, not native wildlife.  However, I dont think that they should just leave them there for the coyotes to get fat on. Should at least feed the hungry. JMO

Joey

Problem is they're shooting them with buckshot from a helicopter. Head shots aren't the norm in that situation. Buddy of mine does it and the best way to aerial gun them is shoot them in the hips and move to the next. Trust me where alot of this is going on (South Texas) the food banks are plum full of deer/hog/nilgai meat from the regular season.

[jhy]

Sounds like they got a real problem, that dogs wont be able to help!  What is the terrain like down there on the dogs?

Joey

[uglydog]

I believe Helicopters can be useful in some areas, but with all things there are the negative aspects that are not brought fourth.

One property we hunt in Ft.Bend County had heard all the stories and that magic 300 number of hogs being killed. They paid the $800 dollars to have the helicopter fly the rice feilds, and suppsedly killed 40 hogs, the flushed the rest into the Maylo feild where they could not be shot, where they stayed and devastated the other farmer on the same property. My questions was wherea re the carcasses? the shooter reported 40 hogs killed however, barely any eveidence to prove it. Just because they are shot does not mean they are dead or are they going to die anytime soon before destroying more crops.
Thomas and I have killed and cleaned many hogs that had the proof of being shot and going on to live and reproduce for along time until they met the dogs. (One Boar a few years ago had 3 slugs in him back of neck and head). That $800 they spent on the chopper could have parked/camped me and my dogs on those feilds for several days and I would have provided proof of all the dead hogs.

I am not against the helicopters being used, like I said I believe it can be useful, not the answer but another method combined with dogs, trapping and baiting to kill, can produce more numbers for the burdened areas with hog overpopulations as a means of management. Hogs are smart and have learned to avoid the arial assault army, by dashing into the brush, just as they have learned to avoid traps and dogs. I do not feel that it is "sporting" at all, like the article mentioned. It is costly, and could cause alot of air traffic & confusion, not to mention your neighbors may feel different about being buzzed from the sky after a few attempts to rid the property of pork problems.

[Wmwendler]

I would'nt worry about the helo.  Its not all that it is cracked up to be, they been using them for years since I was a kid and it has'nt made a dent in the overall population. I was just talking about this with a land owner that uses the Chopper on his place on the Brazos North of Hempstead. He Said they ran the chopper last week and killed 60 the first day and 8 the next day.  I told him dad and I killed 25 last year with the dogs next to his place in my uncles crops with out even trying, and killed 34 in 3 nites of spot lighting with my Brother and Uncle.  I asked if he double checked thier coun't because I have known them to base thier count on the number of shots they took.  He wouldn't fess up just said he drug a bunch of them off, and would'nt tell me what it cost him total just told me it was 312 per hour.  Thats down from last year with the fuel prices I heard as high as 500+/hour during peak fuel prices.  The hogs get smart and learn to hide from the helo. The learn to stay off the places where they fly the helo.  The have to have permission to shoot over any neighboring property. 

I've hunted on a big ranch years ago behind a helo the supposed killed hundreds of hogs the week previous and there were only a "FEW" sows and pigs left that got smart so they wanted to clean them up with the dogs.  We cleaned up allright 17 hogs first one was a boar.  No dead hogs, no smell, no buzzards not even any bones.  We left plenty in the woods that day to boot.  The bayed nice though.  The helo must have taught them to squat like that.  I'd bet that 60% of the hogs they hit just get wounded and run off to root another day.  Let alone they ones they miss. 

I will challenge a helicopter any day.  Chopper hunts as long as they want, they can rack up as big a bill as I they want in two days.  BUT.....I have the next 2 months to hunt the place and get payed 8$ and hour pluss 2$ per hog and If I kill more hogs over 40 pounds than the helo does, the land owner gets the flying service on the house.  If the helicopter kills more hogs than I do then my service is on the house.  Think I could get any takers.   I'll even let the helo go first.

Waylon

[Dirtydog]

It aint HUNTING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just my opinion....

[Circle C]

DirtyDog,

    United we stand, divided we fall.... Ever thought of that?   It's true that hunters are their own worst enemy, and your recent posts about the helicopter hunting are a perfect example of that.

[uglydog]

The land owners that pay for helicopters don't care if you call it hunting or eradicating, they want the hogs mowed down in the large numbers because they are the ones with liveyhoods being destroyed.

Sporting it may not be, but that is no reason to loose your head with comments that may offend others.

[Dirtydog]

SORRY
Dont want to offend anyone. Just dont like the idea of all the wasted meat. There are to many hungary people & dogs out there that could use the protien. I love what TDHA is doing. I believe in doing everything you can to recover your game even if it is a neusence animal. I was taught HUNTING was about the whole experience not just killing. From the feild to the table (or dog bowl)...

[Silverton Boar Dogs]

I was offended by your posts. The farmers average loss to hogs, in my area, in a milo field is 20-30 %. That is no differant than someone taking 20-30% of your pay check every week.

It is very short sighted and selfish to think that those hogs are there only for us to take with dogs.

This is a huge problem for farmers and ranchers. They don't care anything about what happens to the meat or weather you have fun catching them, they need the pigs gone.

We need to stick together, it is damageing to all hunters to pick on one style.

I am looking into hooking up with the man that flys and shoots in my area to see if I can help.

Paul T

[Russ]

Yea I was going to say try selling that line to Farmers and see how far you get. Dead pig is dead pig, you want to go thru the trouble of every nasty boar make it to a table knock your socks off. I try to keep every sow we kill unless it's diseased or something is wrong with her.