Posted on 01/01/2011 2:49:31 PM PST by EveningStar
About 50 miles east of Waco, Texas, a 70-acre field is cratered with holes up to five feet wide and three feet deep. The roots below a huge oak tree shading a creek have been dug out and exposed. Grass has been trampled into paths. Where the grass has been stripped, saplings crowd out the pecan trees that provide food for deer, opossums and other wildlife. A farmer wanting to cut his hay could barely run a tractor through here. There’s no mistaking what has happened—this field has gone to the hogs.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
I have heard the young pigs are OK to eat (I am not going out on a limb and say they are good because I haven’t eaten one) but the big ones are bad tasting. I don’t know where you live but south Texas deer are not as good to eat as northern deer. In Texas you need to get a doe or young buck to eat. We have hunted in Michigan and the older bucks were good eating, in Texas not so good. We have eaten NM & CO elk and it was good, no bears ever UGH! Someone will probably be on here later and dispute that but some people will eat anything.
That’s just Congress on Christmas recess. It’ll stop when they go back to their pen in Washington.
You certainly are correct on all points. However, the only way to control the hogs is by methods of mass death. The onesy-twosy hunting is a farce. Recent documentaries on Russian boar hunting also show that over time, the hogs get so wary that the only good way of shooting a single boar is sniping by night using starlight scopes from a great distance down wind. Once the first shot is made, they all scatter. The hunt is over. These local hogs are no different. They catch-on real quick. So as you indicate, it’s a challenge, but one that has to be addressed sooner than later. Perhaps a bait that targets and sterilizes only the hogs combined with hunts.
Years ago my brother and a friend went boar hunting in Kentucky or Tennessee, don’t remember which exactly, anyway, my mother Carolina BBQ’d the meat he brought back, and it was as good as any like BBQ we had ever had- dang good.
**..no bears ever UGH!***
Arkansas bear make s real good summer sausage! Really good!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.