No I guess I interpreted your pedestal comment directed at me, and honestly I didn't think it was right.

BTW, you have never heard me say that hogs have not been moved.
And, that fact had nothing to do with my reference to the past.

My point was that you stated that individuals who had ever been involved were personally liable and should lose hunting rights and not have any allowable input.

HOWEVER....... I do get very weary, and quite defensive, when people perpetually single out hog-doggers as the sole source of the transplanting act.

That is FAR from the Truth!

Where did I say that? I said people who moved hogs should be responsible

In your reply to my question:


You said:



But, you already knew that!

P.S. - I did not see any Statute of Limitations mentioned or implied.

Personally, I think the Transplant Concept is pushed more as an excuse for failure in eradication attempts than as a Reality in MOST cases.

In your dreams.

You have made it obvious that hog dogging is a recreational sport. Where is the desire or motivation for hog control in a recreational sport?

Let's try it this way.

Danny, do you think there would be a need for hog control businesses if people had not moved hogs around?

I recently read an article printed on 4/28/16 in the Los Angeles Times. The subject of the article was the appearance of wild hogs in San Diego County. The first hogs were seen in 2011. Sometime around 2013, the biologists and experts determined that the hog population there was at least 1000, with some estimates as high as 3 to 5 thousand. Programs were implemented to reduce and/or eliminate the hogs. In April, the experts declared the population under control, with possibly as many as 8 hogs still at large. The programs they implemented removed approximately 150 hogs over a 3 year period.

When I searched this morning to find this article, I had to sort through a whole lot of other pre 2013 articles predicting a doomsday outcome from feral hog takeover there before I finally found the one article stating the actual outcome.

I totally understand that wild hogs are a nuisance to a lot of people and do a lot of damage. I also understand that a lot of people overestimate and exaggerate the hog population as well.

Read my "jackass" statement again carefully. If a someone releases hogs adjacent to my property and said hogs destroy my property and that jackass then comes and asks me for permission to hunt my property, jackass is the nicest thing I will call him.

But, if the shoe fits, wear it. If it doesn't, you have no reason to get mad.

Let's look at it this way. Is it okay for a fun activity to serve more than one purpose/goal?


Hog dogging for fun==recreation and also==removal of feral hogs==preservation of habitat and possibly some groceries. Hogs removed is a byproduct of the fun.

Bowfishing for fun==removal of rough fish (even invasives exotic carp)==preservation of habitat and possibly a few groceries if a catfish happens to swim shallow. Rough fish removed is a byproduct of the fun.

Bushhogging for fun=run over some chines privet, some chinese tallow, kudzu, and turn a fire ant bed to dust and give them something to do the rest of the day, maybe even mince up an unlucky armadillo=preserving a little habitat while keeping your field clean==several positive things!

It is okay and good for an activity to serve different positive purposes!

When we discusss and use absolutes like "always" and "never", it normally indicates somebody not willing to listen because they already know it all or at minimum portray that they do.

And just for one more analogy...related to hog control businesses needed due to hogs being moved...would we need forestry businesses to control cogongrass, privet, popcorn, and kudzu, if they had never been introduced? Would we need bounty hunters if criminals didn't jump bail? Of course not!!!
It's the American way to start a business when we see an opportunity...we seize it! Be thankful you can do it but quit beating the horse...it's dead!!

In my dreams, I have never charged a landowner for catching their hogs And everywhere that iv hunted that has had a " professional " to trap for them said we caught more hogs with dogs than the Trappers.

And yes, I've eradicated the hog on just as many properties as you have...NONE

NO DOUBT about that. A sounder of 25 pigs can do a TON of damage.

Well why don't you show us some numbers and locations then. Ya'll dog guys don't ever have any problem asking me about my business practices. Tell us about ya'lls catch info.

And, in turn, you have made it very obvious that you are running a for-profit business.
So, where is the desire to eliminate the source of income for said business?

I had much rather give up a hobby than lose my butt in a business venture that employs myself and 2 family members. But, we all have different Values and Ideals, right?

I had 232 last year and Danny had 340 - 350, We did hunt together some so I'd say we caught 50 together, I'll just take 80 off, Ok, That 500 + for us, JJ Garris had in the 250 range, Casey and Jim had in the 200 range, Justin E. 200+, Chase S 200+,That's 1300 to 1400 with just this little group, The list goes on and on.
And keep in mine that we get to hunt 5 months out of the year and usually it's 1, maybe 2 days a week

There's no doubt that hog hunters catch more hogs with dogs than trappers do with traps.

And I know you like %, So ill stay on the low side with this.

We'll say that's 1% of the hunters state wide, This little group killed 1% of total number killed in the state, That would be in the 130,000 - 140,000 killed state wide....

SO I GUESS YOU WAS CLOSE WHEN YOU SAID EARLIER THAT IT WAS 110,000 killed last year, Dang old Hog Dog hunters got a big % of that total

Danny,

Yes, I run a for-profit business.

The day I have every landowner in Alabama as a client, I will answer that question. Until then, I have plenty of pigs to kill without having to worry about running out.

I wonder where you are getting this "Lose my butt" idea? The business is growing so fast I am researching retiring within the year and doing it full time. So, you can stop worrying about the profitability of my business. LOL

Don,

To back up your statement, you need to break those numbers down by property so you can prove that you caught more than the "professional" trapper did. You also need to provide numbers on how many hunters were used to catch those hogs.

Example, Hog dogger A caught 250 hogs on property A, he hunted that property 32 times over the 5 months and had an average of 4 hunters assist him on those hunts.

Yes these clients purchased the traps.

Last year, SF caught 225, RP caught 210, PP caught 167, AA caught 132, AD caught 122, RW caught 105, and TR caught 91. And they will probably catch a lot of hogs again this year.

And they did so without having to let a single person on their property. Three of my clients have caught so many off of their property they are now loaning/sharing the traps with their neighbors so they can catch their pigs.

I had another client catch 146 in the first 8 weeks he trapped this year already.

Last year I had 23 clients report some (NOT ALL) of their catches to me. They reported 1,893 hogs caught.