MO Feral Hog Update

[Terrierman]

1 hour ago, jdmidwest said:

The young gilts make good eating.  Why just drag them off to rot?

Slaughter and handling don't meet standards for human consumption is what I've read.  How the deer "Share the Harvest Program" gets around that is a pure mystery to me.

[MOstreamer]

This was the topic on the latest Driftwood Outdoors podcast.  Pretty interesting discussion.  

https://driftwoodoutdoors.com/podcasts/2022/02/ep-127-the-truth-about-feral-hogs-in-missouri/

[Johnsfolly]

3 hours ago, Terrierman said:

Slaughter and handling don't meet standards for human consumption is what I've read.  How the deer "Share the Harvest Program" gets around that is a pure mystery to me.

The share the harvest program uses professional processors handling the deer meat. Deer don't carry the number of potential diseases like trichinosis that feral hogs can carry. That may be the differences.  Thoigh I have seen aerial hog hunts in TX and hear that they do process the hogs. 

[MoCarp]

Interesting, if you are a hog farmer the last thing you want is thousands of pounds of free pork suppressing prices…the hogs can and do spread sickness to domestic livestock….Ironically no one says anything about the CWD study with monkeys…ran ten years….and yes they caught it……

[skeeter]

18 hours ago, Smalliebigs said:

They are absolutely thick as thieves in Reynolds County at our place. My neighbors hunt and shoot a ton. The problem down there is the woods are just too dense and the terrain is not walking friendly. The pigs can hide oh so easy but, they definitely will come out to food plots over and over even if you hunt them. There are some very entertaining ways to hunt them as well, which I have been getting into more as the fishing declines down here.

I'm still trying to find out how long a landowner has to wait for a MDC trapping team to arrive after making a complaint through channels. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

8 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

The share the harvest program uses professional processors handling the deer meat. Deer don't carry the number of potential diseases like trichinosis that feral hogs can carry. That may be the differences.  Thoigh I have seen aerial hog hunts in TX and hear that they do process the hogs. 

The show with pigman and nugent was wild.   They offer helicopter hunts for the public now too.  

[tjm]

 Once they stop selling pigs in local auctions the numbers being "stocked" into public land decreases dramatically because the supply is reduced and the prohibition of hog hunting on MDC land would have also been a deterrent to hunter "stockings" because even if successful the access is gone.  I bet that aerial gunning is a lot of fun but given the tiny brain and small heavily shielded heart, I wonder if they kill any? I have read numerous accounts of western aerial gunning for coyotes that observers said did nothing to reduce the numbers, regardless of kill claims. Moving targets and unstable moving shooting platform, any hit on an egg sized target would seem accidental to me.

[Dutch]

Do you think they would try for head shots or just body shots?  Do you know what weapons they use?

[Johnsfolly]

3 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

The show with pigman and nugent was wild.   They offer helicopter hunts for the public now too.  

I would be interested but the hanging out of the helicopter would be a challenge to get over. Also need the right guns and ammo. No bolt actions. Way too slow.

[MOPanfisher]

Last I looked a helicopter hunt in Texas was a minimum of $2K.  That was several years ago.