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27th November 09, 06:03 PM
#1
In Texas, its becoming an industry.. wild game hunts.. people have opened their ranches, game.. I have seen African Antelope, deer of a multitude of species, elk, buffalo (bison), ect.. LOL.. with the ferral hogs.. farmers, in the past have encouraged hunters to come in a help control the population.. now I am actually seeing farmers charging hunters to come in and take hogs.. even when they are still a nuisence.. just another way of cashing in, on those who wll spend mony to shoot animals...
I feel with proper management, the animals can be returned to the wild, or managed properties, and still provide a source of income for the continued management and the local economy. Everyone wins.. if they approach it with a realistic goal, and proper management
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
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27th November 09, 06:07 PM
#2
 Originally Posted by peacekeeper83
... Everyone wins.. if they approach it with a realistic goal, and proper management..
Hear hear!
Last edited by English Bloke; 27th November 09 at 06:13 PM.
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28th November 09, 08:13 AM
#3
To get things back on track, please refer to the website on "Hogzilla". Some Pig!!!!!
By Choice, not by Birth
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28th November 09, 11:18 AM
#4
Jock and Phil,
I appreciate your perspectives, even if hogs are only a small part of the question. What I find significant and sad is the extent to which Scots descendants in North America are in a similar situation. First, they have the pigs to deal with. Second, all up and down the coast of South Carolina, in the North Carolina mountains, and in much of New England, the great great grandchildren of Scots immigrants are either leaving the land or making a living by managing it for rich people from Away. Of course, the blind hog does occasionally find his own acorn and now and then, an industrious local lad owns a large tract and enjoys it himself.
We all are victims and beneficiaries of modern life. The internet makes many rural lives more bearable and profitable even as it makes formerly scarce goods less expensive and more available. I am not much of a craftsman, but I would rather sell online a (theoretical) sgian dhu or sporran I had made, rather than having to haul it to some mercantilist big city dealer, or wait for a traveler to find it and me off the beaten path.
If we have reached the stage where the low prices we demand for woven goods can't be reconciled with the wages we need to work in a mill, then let us Thank God there is another place far away where that is not the case- and that such a place has shipping links to us. And let's have a little sausage with our breakfast.
Some take the high road and some take the low road. Who's in the gutter? MacLowlife
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7th December 09, 12:55 PM
#5
I do hope those wild boars take off in Scotland. They should, if there's anything for them to eat. Like others have said, down here in Texas, they have become quite a nuisance. But I've never hunted anything near as fun as wild hogs. Ours are supposedly the result of cross-breeding between Russian boars and some other breeds. They can indeed get very large. The biggest I've seen was probably around 400 lbs, although most of the ones I shoot are in the 120-150 lb. range. This is the perfect eating size:

(I hope that picture doesn't offend anyone)
The really big boars smell terrible and their meat is too gamey to eat, in my opinion. The younger boars and the sows make for the best meat. I'd say that wild hog meat and deer meat comprise the mainstay of my diet, with hog meat being my favorite. I can hardly eat commercially-raised pork any more because it has no flavor.
I do all my hog hunting on foot, usually with a helper who drives them out of the thick brush we have down here. He drives them my direction with me laying in wait. Sometimes dozens of them will come crashing out of the brush, and it's quite a thrill. I've come very close to being ripped to shreds by large boars with mean tushes, which I suppose is half the 'sport' of it.
At any rate, I do hope that the wild boars in Scotland thrive and the folks there get to enjoy hunting them again. In a responsible and managed manner, of course. Although I will say, if they take off there like they have in the US, they'll be fighting to keep their numbers manageable. A sow can breed several times a year, with 8 or more piglets per litter. And then the young ones are in breeding age within a few months.
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7th December 09, 01:25 PM
#6
i think folks are missing the point of this thread somewhat its about the reintroduction of a species that actually will help manage a landscape thats been somewhat destroyed by hunting
not encourage a free for all hunt to shoot the first one they see
on that note id like the mods to close this topic please
cheers
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7th December 09, 02:32 PM
#7
not encourage a free for all hunt to shoot the first one they see
I don't think anyone is suggesting a 'free for all'. Responsible management practices should be encouraged.
But they will HAVE to be hunted to keep their numbers in check. That's what those of us in the US are dealing with. They reproduce too quickly and will drive out other species if they are not kept in check by hunting.
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8th December 09, 02:38 AM
#8
As is always the case, this thread has digressed into matters quite separate from the original post which was the re-introduction of wild boar into areas of the Scottish Highlands. At the risk of becoming “boaring” can I just re-iterate that the purpose is not to provide a new source of fresh meat but to try to redress an ecological imbalance. Whether this will succeed without also re-introducing predators for the wild boar remains to be seen and it may indeed be necessary to have some form of culling to maintain a healthy population as wolves are not likely to be welcomed by the inhabitants of the Highlands.
The Highlands were once heavily forested and the landscape of rugged mountains and barren glens which seem so evocative of the place nowadays are, in fact, the result of centuries of de-forestation to feed the demand for timber which, once it was exhausted, led to the mining and use of coal instead. Sadly this period also coincided with the discovery by many landowners that sheep were much more lucrative than people. The only problem was that sheep like to nibble saplings as do the deer which wealthy landowners encouraged to provide sport for themselves and their privileged guests. The result is that the forests never managed to regenerate themselves and we are left with the barren, depopulated wilderness that is Scotland today. With no future in a land where vast swathes were controlled by (largely) unsympathetic landowners the populace had little choice but to gravitate to the urban centres or to emigrate overseas in vast numbers, haemorrhaging much of Scotland’s real treasure – its people.
Initiatives such as this are only now beginning to nibble at the edges of this age-old problem that has blighted Scotland and, limited as they are, perhaps one day we will see a Scotland returned to its true glory and one that is for all of its people, not a privileged few.
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8th December 09, 03:45 AM
#9
I wish this introduction initiative of wild boar no ill and I have no doubts that they will do well. I have to say though, that these shy and secretive animals will almost certainly have the last laugh on us mere humans!With the vast tracts of commercial forestry that abound in Scotland plus the large areas of scrub and natural forest that exist, those very wild boar will have no problem whatsoever.Whether they will need to be controlled in the future is any one's guess, but I suspect the answer will be yes,particularly where there is arable land nearby.From my experience, once they have established themselves,they will be impossible to get rid of, even if we wanted to, and in many areas of Scotland that will not matter one bit. As a sporting asset they can only benefit the highlands and I have no major concerns about the well being of the environment, although the ground nesting birds could,almost certainly will actually,suffer. Time will tell!
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9th December 09, 03:36 AM
#10
 Originally Posted by Jock Scot
From my experience, once they have established themselves,they will be impossible to get rid of, even if we wanted to
I agree that once introduced (which I too am in favour of), they are likely to be tenacious. Which leads me to wonder how on earth our allegedly more primitive ancestors managed to destroy whole populations of indigenous species? Scotland used to have the European Elk, wolf, brown bear, wild boar, beaver and lynx, birds of prey like the sea eagle and red kite and so on. Most of these were made extinct before guns even existed. I realise that landscape change was the main driver but even so it is an impressive feat to make so much extinct when we with our better technology and an even greater paucity of natural habitat can't even control grey squirrels!
Last edited by thanmuwa; 9th December 09 at 03:37 AM.
Reason: addition
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