Posted on 05/23/2014 10:28:09 PM PDT by Olog-hai
The U.S. Agriculture Department is known for its army of statisticians packing yardsticks and calculators to measure wheat and count soybeans.
But the agency needs more firepower for another kind of rural reckoning and is gearing up with thermal imaging weapons.
In its crosshairs are aggressive feral hogs that can weigh more than 400 lbs (180 kg) and have been known to carry off newborn calves. They cause about $1.5 billion of damage every year to farm communities and fields, say department officials, and now there are worries they may help spread a deadly pig virus.
So the USDA wants to buy thermal scopes that snap onto high-powered rifles to kill the wild beasts. …
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
JAGER PRO™ Thermal Hog Hunting (5)- 22 Hogs in One Nigh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EymHKsaOpRg
Their night vision scopes run about $10,000 to $15,000 each.
Feral pigs? DC’s infested with them.
And the viruses thereof.
How stupid and wasteful of government funds.
Why not do what the state and federal governments of the past 200 years have done when some animal is making a mess of things. Put a bounty on the offending creature.
Wolf populations were easily curbed in the past by placing a bounty on the canine.
It is a lot cheaper to have willing civilian hunter spend their time hunting for feral hogs than to spend $20 million equipping and supplying government employees to hunt the piggies.
A generous bounty of $200 per head would net the government 100,000 dead swine. I seriously doubt that the government hunters could gun down anything close to that many for the price.
Fundamental transformation, dontcha know.
If anyone thinks that’s reason you are simply stupid. MPs for a pig hunt. Who are they trying to kid.
What’s next, drone hog hunts?
They are planning on hunting the elusive “long pig”... the one with the bitter taste and that clings to old but time tested things......
Wonder if PETA will spend as much time on this as they did wth Palin hunting wolves from a helicopter.
Ping!
First pigs, then people.
This is not a good idea.
I didn't need the fedgov or a fancy night vision scope to take the feral. Just an appetite.
/johnny
Good Grief! 12 men even with night vision will not make a dent in the hog population. We’ve been fighting back feral hog’s for the last 30 years here in Texas and we haven’t made a dent. They breed faster than we can take them out. We shoot on sight during the day, we hunt at night with spotlights. We trap and yes many Texas hunters are already equipped with IR and night vision scopes. There’s even a booming business of hunting hogs from helicopters. The wife and I did that just over a year ago using full auto M4’s, that was a blast! We got 122 hog’s that day and we were using Red Dot sights, 2000$ a day but we ate and drank well.
What I’m saying is it’s a war you can’t win! I carry a Panther Arms LR-308 daily in the truck and I’m all over the ranch and I manage to keep them somewhat under control. The most I ever got out of a sounder was 10 before they got away. Now if you’ll give me Claymores, A-10’s and a few Apaches equipped with 2.75’s and Hellfire’s I might could get rid of them, Oh and about 50 thousand pounds of soured corn.
They put up a full tactical response when the hogs hit our state boundary and pretty much stopped their entry. That being said, I’m going to plan a hunting trip to either OK or TX with my son before he graduates. Not sure I want to spend the money for a helicopter hunt but it sounds really fun.
I don’t do it but I have friends that charge 250.00 a day for all you can shoot hog hunts and have a steady stream of hunters waiting to get on. Helps keep the hog’s under control and they make a little money to boot. My passion is chasing Whitetail Buck’s with a bow but during the off season I go after Feral hog’s with my recurve’s and longbow’s, keeps me on my game.
DD let me know when your planning this and I can help you out. The Stasney Cook Ranch and the Nail Ranch, both north of Abilene TX are two of the best. Both have well over 100 square miles of ranch and their spot and stalk hunts. Y’all will see some great country and have a blast.
They are just following their instincts: the purpose of government is to grow government. They will have to create and hire more bureaucrats to keep statistics on hogs killed by these ‘new’ methods for starters - who knows how many more they will have to hire to keep track of the new hires?
How does the flavor of feral pig compare to that of the pork one buys in a supermarket? Also, what about the fat content? In the last few years domestic swine have been bred to be very lean and pork has lost a lot of its flavor. Also, to what extent is it legally permissible to sell pork derived from slaughtered feral hogs?
Most of the ferals I've seen have been very lean.
I don't know about the laws regarding selling feral hog, but I do know that it is done.
A lot of people trap them, feed them up on corn, and then send them to the slaughter house.
/johnny
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