Strategic removal??
100 dead hogs IS 100 dead hogs! No more, no less....
You guys are letting propaganda get in the way of common sense!
Now, before you get all huffy again. Just sit back a little while and think about it.....you are acting like hogs NEVER move, NEVER spread, ranges don't overlap, etc.
The EXACT same argument that YOU are making about no noticeable difference between the WMA land and the FS land can be made that the 'Capture the Sounder' theory is bogus as well.
One thing at a time. First, I'm not huffy. When I get huffy I don't post on here. I cool off and come back later.
100 dead hogs is NOT always equal to 100 dead hogs. Look at it like this. What is more effective? Scenario 1). If I kill 100 random pigs scattered over a 20,000 acre area. Scenario 2). If I remove 100 hogs from a single section of that 20,000 acres, monitor with cameras after removal, move to another 640 acre section and remove 100 more, continue to move outward as go, monitoring the areas we have already successfully trapped, and so on. Propaganda? Not so. That is common sense.
I use a lot of common sense and years of scientific information, research, and experiences to make good decisions. We are very strategic with our hog control. When I first got here and started trapping hogs we had random small traps over large areas, didn't use cameras, performed shooting operations near or at bait sites, and just really did some unintelligent stuff. I've learned a lot in three years. Now we are more strategic, using very large corral traps, monitoring with cameras, capturing entire sounders at a time, removing stubborn hogs that don't like traps with NV AFTER we have already trapped all their buddies, monitoring areas after removal, and having dang good success at it. We don't shoot hogs in areas we are trapping. I learned the hard way that is a surefire way to decrease success per amount of effort. Three dead hogs by random shooting is NOT the same as holding off for two weeks and catching 22 in one trap!
As for hog travel, dispersal, and movements....I understand hog movements.I understand them even better when they are not being harassed 12 months out of the year. That's all I'm saying about that.
Like Barry said, I understand you are very passionate about this sport, and your dogs. That's ok. I'm also passionate about our natural resources, and look at it from a much broader point of view. I don't narrow it down to what deer are doing to turkeys, or deer, or quail. I have to make decisions based on what the entirety of environmental, social, cultural, hydrological, etc impacts are by hogs. Looking at it from this perspective the threat they pose is real, it's here, and I am not interested in catering to ONE single group of recreational hunters over making decisions that benefit the wildlife and habitat that I love to manage for.
