Feral Hogs are getting out of hand

[Chief Grey Bear]

I didn't know wrench had a brother

[ozark trout fisher]

Here's my best understanding as to why the MDC (and other agencies) want to eliminate hog hunting.

1. As pointed out previously, the traps used by the MDC and the Feds are far more successful in terms of population control than hunting. Active hunting causes the population to become more scattered and thus harder to efficiently trap. 

2. This is the big one: the status of feral hogs as a "game species" in the mind of many hunters can cause major problems. You have multiple cases of folks releasing hogs specifically to increase the population to improve later hunting opportunities. This doesn't sound like a real thing, but unfortunately it is.  Release a hog now, be able to hunt its (to use strict scientific terminology) 5 bajillion babies in a few years. The terrestrial and decidedly more dangerous equivalent of stocking pike in a western trout stream.

I haven't either the time of the inclination to argue the larger debate here. That is just the issue as I best understand it. 
 

I've personally heard too many stories about the rather exciting variety of diseases that feral hogs carry to ever consider eating them. I don't know which if any are communicable to humans, but I can't see how that would be something I could enjoy. 

[MOPanfisher]

The feral hogs I have eaten were delicious.  Most were smoked and as good of eating as I ever had.  like most meat it is in the preparation. 

[Al Agnew]

Not only does hunting scatter the hogs, but it also makes the survivors almost impossible to kill; hogs are SMART critters and learn fast and well.  I have no patience with a few things...guys that make no effort to figure out who is responsible for various policies and just knee jerk blames MDC for stuff that isn't their responsibility, guys that make no effort to actually find out WHY MDC makes various policy decisions, and guys that think that taking the sales tax money from MDC would be a good thing because it would make them somehow more responsive to whatever your pet peeve is with them.  Get it through your head, dumping the sales tax means cutting MDC's budget by a whopping 60 percent!  How do you think you'd be able to operate your business or household if your wages were cut by that amount?  Oh, and one more thing...MDC isn't always right, no agency is.  But if you're going to question one of their decisions, you better have some good reasons to think their science is wrong.  Their science has shown that it's far more efficient and effective to remove hogs by trapping, and that hunting them is counterproductive.

(And yes, Chief, I have what I think are some decent reasons to think that some of their decisions on stream smallmouth are wrong, before you jump on me about it

[Quillback]

AGFC's thinking on hogs mirrors MDC.  Therefore, there is no hog hunting allowed on state wildlife management areas.

[Terrierman]

1 hour ago, Quillback said:

AGFC's thinking on hogs mirrors MDC.  Therefore, there is no hog hunting allowed on state wildlife management areas.

Well then AGFC and MDC are clearly co-conspirators.

[Quillback]

A vast right wing conspiracy.

[Chief Grey Bear]

10 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

Not only does hunting scatter the hogs, but it also makes the survivors almost impossible to kill; hogs are SMART critters and learn fast and well.  I have no patience with a few things...guys that make no effort to figure out who is responsible for various policies and just knee jerk blames MDC for stuff that isn't their responsibility, guys that make no effort to actually find out WHY MDC makes various policy decisions, and guys that think that taking the sales tax money from MDC would be a good thing because it would make them somehow more responsive to whatever your pet peeve is with them.  Get it through your head, dumping the sales tax means cutting MDC's budget by a whopping 60 percent!  How do you think you'd be able to operate your business or household if your wages were cut by that amount?  Oh, and one more thing...MDC isn't always right, no agency is.  But if you're going to question one of their decisions, you better have some good reasons to think their science is wrong.  Their science has shown that it's far more efficient and effective to remove hogs by trapping, and that hunting them is counterproductive.

(And yes, Chief, I have what I think are some decent reasons to think that some of their decisions on stream smallmouth are wrong, before you jump on me about it

Oh trust me, there are some things they do that leaves me shaking my head. One of them is the managent practice at Shawnee Trail. It was a vast track of native prairie land. Many years ago it was decided to manage it for Dove hunting. Extremely large tracts of it were plowed up and planted with row crops. What few prairie chickens that were left in this area have over the last few decades of disappeared. and there is now in areas that have not been plowed lots of it with a vegetation taking over. I know of one that research scientist from the department that flew over the area with the then current director and was also expressing his displeasure her with how it was being managed. That director was completely uninterested and the talk of this area was quickly squelched. 

On many occasion I have expressed my displeasure with this practice. Finally somebody has come to their senses. They are now going to eliminate a lot of the row crops being grown there turn it back to past year and graze cattle on a rotation basis. That will mimic back to the times of when the bison wrong the prairies. This is definitely a move in the right direction finally. But I've also heard is going to take 15 years to fully implement. I didn't like that part but at least we are headed in the right direction. 

And I don't necessarily disagree with you about smallmouth regulations. I would like to see something a little more restrictive state wide. I still think the 4 fish under and one fish over 15 on all black bass combined on streams is the best route. 

But I also understand their position on it. The science backs up that there are healthy populations of fish over 15 of all three species in all streams. 

But back to the point of this discussion. You can hunt all the hogs you want on private property. The NDC manages less than 2% of the total acreage in the state of Missouri. If taking out that 2% is a burden on your hunting then I don't know what to tell you. 

[ramman123]

On 11/7/2016 at 9:11 PM, Al Agnew said:

Not only does hunting scatter the hogs, but it also makes the survivors almost impossible to kill; hogs are SMART critters and learn fast and well.  I have no patience with a few things...guys that make no effort to figure out who is responsible for various policies and just knee jerk blames MDC for stuff that isn't their responsibility, guys that make no effort to actually find out WHY MDC makes various policy decisions, and guys that think that taking the sales tax money from MDC would be a good thing because it would make them somehow more responsive to whatever your pet peeve is with them.  Get it through your head, dumping the sales tax means cutting MDC's budget by a whopping 60 percent!  How do you think you'd be able to operate your business or household if your wages were cut by that amount?  Oh, and one more thing...MDC isn't always right, no agency is.  But if you're going to question one of their decisions, you better have some good reasons to think their science is wrong.  Their science has shown that it's far more efficient and effective to remove hogs by trapping, and that hunting them is counterproductive.

(And yes, Chief, I have what I think are some decent reasons to think that some of their decisions on stream smallmouth are wrong, before you jump on me about it

I have to totally disagree with u about this because if you look at studies in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma trapping doesnt work

ok so if ur such a conservationist then y are u agreeing that it is ok for them to be trapped and killed and left to Rot instead that meat could be used to feed people that truly need it. Code of Ethics you kill u eat not waste, try to prove me that they are hazardous to eat. If you dont believe they are good then come eat dinner with me some time and ill make boar for you.

[ramman123]

i have had breakfast sausage, and burger, and roast all from Boar yes its gamey tasting but better than the processed meat at the store