Posted on 02/19/2009 1:33:54 PM PST by redk
MERTZON, Texas (AP) — Millions of wild pigs weighing up to 300 pounds have been tearing up crops, trampling fences and eating just about anything in their path in Texas. But now they had better watch their hairy backs.
A state lawmaker is proposing to allow ordinary Texans with rifles and shotguns to shoot the voracious, tusked animals from helicopters.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
> In my old age I prefer pyrotechnics.
LOL! Pyrotechnics is good fun!
Ever tried the Kiwi sobriety test? You can win bets with this!
You need a broomstick, three ping-pong balls, and some scotch tape. And a flat patch of grass...
Scotch tape the ping-pong balls around one end of the broomstick.
Then, to run the test, stand in the middle of the flat grass and grab the other end of the broomstick with both hands. Hold the broomstick up over your head, with your arms straight. Sorta like Luke Skywalker. Tilt your head back and stare up at the ping-pong balls...
Now spin round-and-round in a very tight circle — clock-wise or counter-clockwise, it doesn’t matter. As fast as you can manage. Try for seven times, tho’ the first couple times you might only manage three.
Whatever you do, keep your eyes firmly on the ping-pong balls. Do not look away, and keep your head tilted back...
One-two-three-four-five-six-seven. Then stop spinning and stand in place with your feet together.
Place the stick across the ground about 2 ft in front of you. Now, hop once, see if you can jump across the stick...
Best to do a dry run-thru, slowly and sober, first by way of practise so you get the hang of it.
and not in the midst of wild pigs
This-is-not-a-biker-thread ping!
> and not in the midst of wild pigs
LOL! You’ve obviously heard stories about my drinking mates...
Wow.....riding a hog while shooting wild hogs....can it possibly get *any* wilder than that?
[sure beats that weird “ski and shoot” Olympics thing]
The northern Coast. anything north of SF is good hunting for the pigs, they are everwhere. I live over on the west side, no pigs here but millions of turkeys!
And you should see what we do with watermelons and water jugs.
Whatever buddy. I have hunted my entire life and have seldom met folks like you. I also never thought I would see the day that someone would defend a dangerous pest such as a wild boar. The Boar’s are an invasive species and we would be better off without them. Can’t you understand the people and the Gov. want to get rid of as many of them as possible. Unfortunately, the things breed like rabbits so it’s near impossible.
This isn’t meant to be sport. This is folks trying to get rid of an invasive and damaging species - Not a thing wrong with it.
> Whatever buddy. I have hunted my entire life and have seldom met folks like you.
Pleased to introduce myself, then.
Shooting firearms out of moving vehicles (helicopters or trucks, it doesn’t really matter) at animals isn’t called “hunting” in my books.
It’s called “dangerously playing with guns” or “unsafe discharge of firearms”, and it is an excellent way for people to get hurt or killed in the bush.
And it gives people like PETA lots of excuse and plenty of dramatic, gruesome footage to use against hunters. It gives hunting a really bad image.
> I also never thought I would see the day that someone would defend a dangerous pest such as a wild boar.
Sure, wild boar are dangerous: so are moose, so are bears. So is just about anything worth hunting. But who has the gun, who has the dogs, who has the Bowie knife — you or the wild boar? These hunting tools even equation out somewhat.
That is why hunting is a sport, a noble pastime.
As to wild boars being pests, that may well be: they can take over if they have no natural predator, and that happens if they have been artificially introduced to an area and are not naturally occurring. In which case they may need to be exterminated.
We do the same thing here with rabbits and with possums. We use 1080 poison for that. And if there are only a few of them around, we’ll use .22s.
But that’s not hunting: that’s pest control.
Given that wild boar is delicious food, much nicer than domestic pork, I don’t know why some entrepreneur doesn’t just round up the herd cowboy-style and drive them into a cattle pen for market. Restaurants worldwide would probably pay top dollar for wild boar.
That isn’t “hunting” either, but it will probably not give much gruesome footage to PETA either.
Something similar happens here in New Zealand with wild horses in the Kaimanawa Ranges. Some get adopted out, and some go to market as pet food.
> The Boar’s are an invasive species and we would be better off without them. Can’t you understand the people and the Gov. want to get rid of as many of them as possible. Unfortunately, the things breed like rabbits so it’s near impossible.
They would be much like possums and rabbits here, both of which are introduced species. It was a serious mistake for these species to be introduced to our islands, and they are both at the stage where irradicating them will be next to impossible without using something drastic like a custom-built disease.
Sure, I can understand the need for that to happen, as well as it to happen to your wild boars. I support that. That’s pest control.
But it isn’t hunting, and it shouldn’t be sold as hunting, or described as hunting.
Every easter in Otago they have an Easter Bunny Shoot. Otago is in South Island, with grasslands and foothills much like North Dakota. The rabbits have taken over. So, over the Easter Weekend people gather in Otago from all over the country, and kill rabbits over the weekend. Thousands of them.
It’s not hunting, but it is fun.
You certainly do waste a lot of breathe to argue whether this should be called hunting, extermination, pest control, or whatever. How about Hog-holocaust. Either way, it still is fun (and tasty too) and I doubt Texans realy give a damn about what others think about it.
Whatever.
OK! Where do we sign up?
Hog hunting ping!
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