# Hog war! Hog wash!



## treadwell (May 23, 2018)

Am I the only one that is a little upset about the article stating the Fed's wacked 400+ hogs on and around Di lane? I may have overlooked it, but did they just leave them to rot? My gawd, who on hear would love to have a year round  chance instead of just a few short weeks to kill a hog? I know I don't have to say this, but, please set me straight if I'm missing something. Education is key here. Thanks.


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## j_seph (May 23, 2018)

Hogs need to be gone, hunters alone cannot do it nor make a large impact. Imagine how long it would take for year long hog seasons to be able to take 400 hogs out. The population would continue to rise if hunters tried to do it. Taking 400 in a short time will for sure take some time before they can multiply to that number again. I agree that if they left them laying then it was waste. Could somehow be arranged to have those who wanted meat to show up shortly after hunt and go get em.


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## Mexican Squealer (May 23, 2018)

Hogs are pests and need to be eradicated by all means necessary. I hope they continue doing this all over the state! You are now educated.


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## NCHillbilly (May 23, 2018)

Feral hogs are one of the most destructive animals out there, and every one killed by whatever means is a good thing.


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## treadwell (May 23, 2018)

OK...... then allow hunting in addition to these type hunts. Im thinking a few thousand hunters signed up for the hunter/farmer hunts that, from what I heard, no farms became available. (I know the arguments as to why they didn't, and agree). But, to say they need aradicating and not allow a license purchasing citizen to hunt them too is not right in my opinion. So they only kill 50, that's 50 happy hunters. There has to be a way to meet in the middle.


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## j_seph (May 23, 2018)

treadwell said:


> OK...... then allow hunting in addition to these type hunts. Im thinking a few thousand hunters signed up for the hunter/farmer hunts that, from what I heard, no farms became available. (I know the arguments as to why they didn't, and agree). But, to say they need aradicating and not allow a license purchasing citizen to hunt them too is not right in my opinion. So they only kill 50, that's 50 happy hunters. There has to be a way to meet in the middle.


there are at least 231 days you can hunt hogs here, if you didn't get drawn on the 2 quota hunts then there are 225 days


Deer

Archery
Quality Buck & Antlerless: Sept. 9 -Oct. 11 s

Firearms
Q400 Quality Buck & Antlerless: Oct. 12-14 c | Oct. 26-28 c
Quality Buck & Antlerless: Nov. 9-11 c

Turkey

Q20 C Youth Hunt: Mar. 24-30 c
Q30 Mar. 31 – Apr. 6 c | Apr. 7-13 c
General Hunt: Apr. 14-May 15 s

Small Game & Furbearers

Aug 15-Sept 8, Oct 15-25, Oct 29-Nov 8, Nov 12-Dec 1, Dec 3-5, Dec. 7-8, Dec. 10-12, Dec. 14-15, Dec. 17-19, Dec. 21-26, Dec. 28-29, Dec. 31- Feb. 2, Feb. 4-6, Feb. 8-28 (except quail, see below) . Squirrel hunting area-wide during state season on dates open for small game. Other small game and furbearers on area South of Rocky Creek from Jan. 1-31. Rabbit, raccoon and woodcock hunting permitted South of Rocky Creek only Jan. 1-31. Rabbit hunting in designated areas only. Designated areas posted a check station.


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## C.Killmaster (May 23, 2018)

treadwell said:


> OK...... then allow hunting in addition to these type hunts. Im thinking a few thousand hunters signed up for the hunter/farmer hunts that, from what I heard, no farms became available. (I know the arguments as to why they didn't, and agree). But, to say they need aradicating and not allow a license purchasing citizen to hunt them too is not right in my opinion. So they only kill 50, that's 50 happy hunters. There has to be a way to meet in the middle.



The hog population has grown tremendously over the last 30 years throughout Georgia and it's done this despite having no closed season and no bag limits and day or night hunting on private land.  I think it's pretty clear that hunting alone will not solve the problem, hence the multi-faceted approach used on Di-Lane (public hunting, trapping, aerial gunning).


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## antharper (May 23, 2018)

C.Killmaster said:


> The hog population has grown tremendously over the last 30 years throughout Georgia and it's done this despite having no closed season and no bag limits and day or night hunting on private land.  I think it's pretty clear that hunting alone will not solve the problem, hence the multi-faceted approach used on Di-Lane (public hunting, trapping, aerial gunning).



I agree with this, I hunted Di-Lane several times the first few years it was open 20 something years ago and never seen a hog or any sign of them , never even seen any killed at the check station !


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## Todd E (May 23, 2018)

Hunters cannot eradicate hogs. 
Heli shooters can. 

Hunters aren't needed. Therefore.......

#educated


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## JustUs4All (May 23, 2018)

Posts no. 6 & 7 are highly educational.


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## treadwell (May 23, 2018)

....and that's what I asked for.....thanks for being nice.


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## C.Killmaster (May 23, 2018)

Todd E said:


> Hunters cannot eradicate hogs.
> Heli shooters can.
> 
> Hunters aren't needed. Therefore.......
> ...



No one said hunters aren't needed, it just takes a combination of methods.


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## Todd E (May 23, 2018)

I will rephrase......hunters aren't(weren't) needed for the efforts at Di-Lane. No tactic could produce the results that a heli shooter can(did), in that time frame. 

"Shortly after our conversation began, I realized my perspective of this aerial control effort as a “hog hunt” was inaccurate. These folks were all business. This was not a game where success was optional. Everyone was guarded during our conversation, but I was soon enlightened to separate hunts in Texas from their aerial operation. This wasn’t sport; it was another tool in the USDA and DNR’s arsenal to reduce feral swine populations. The goal here was to eliminate or minimize associated damage to agriculture and livestock, natural resources and native wildlife, including threatened and endangered species. Wild hogs will eat just about anything they encounter."


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## Buckman18 (May 23, 2018)

I’ve wondered why DNR doesn’t trap hogs on wma’s, especially in the winter with corn and cage traps? Perhaps they do, and I don’t know about it? Trap, kill, butcher, and take to the soup kitchen. Winter would be good when acorns start running out and the hogs double down on the plots.


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## shootemall (May 24, 2018)

I want to know how to get the job of being the guy who gets to shoot from the helicopter. If I had to take a pay cut to minimum wage to have a job like that, I'd homeschool the kids, buy a trailer on some affordable rural land, and love life as I went to work each day.


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## NCHillbilly (May 24, 2018)

In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park here where I live, they have full-time employees who kill and trap hogs. These are nearly purebred Russian boars here that got started when a bunch escaped from a game preserve back in the early 1900s. Since the program started, they have killed nearly 14,000 wild boars in the park, and they are still thick pretty much everywhere in it.


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## timetohunt (May 24, 2018)

DiLane is one of the major Quail hunting WMAs and they actually will run field trials with dogs there. They have feeders setup for the quail. Hogs are pretty destructive to any nests with eggs on the ground like quail and turkey. I would love to have had a chance to harvest some bacon there but I am totally for them eradicating them this way at that WMA.


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## C.Killmaster (May 24, 2018)

Buckman18 said:


> I’ve wondered why DNR doesn’t trap hogs on wma’s, especially in the winter with corn and cage traps? Perhaps they do, and I don’t know about it? Trap, kill, butcher, and take to the soup kitchen. Winter would be good when acorns start running out and the hogs double down on the plots.



We do trap, but we don't typically use many of the cage traps anymore.  We've been using more of the whole-sounder traps like the Jagerpro and Boar Buster because they are considerably more efficient and you don't leave trap-shy pigs on the landscape.  Feral hogs can't be donated, they are under the same regulations as domestic swine and have to be inspected alive before slaughter and after.


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## j_seph (May 24, 2018)

C.Killmaster said:


> We do trap, but we don't typically use many of the cage traps anymore.  We've been using more of the whole-sounder traps like the Jagerpro and Boar Buster because they are considerably more efficient and you don't leave trap-shy pigs on the landscape.  Feral hogs can't be donated, they are under the same regulations as domestic swine and have to be inspected alive before slaughter and after.


Even have to be inspected if they were used to feed the inmates?


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## Bobby Linton (May 24, 2018)

j_seph said:


> Even have to be inspected if they were used to feed the inmates?



I really like the way you think.  Never going to happen.


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## Jester896 (May 28, 2018)

j_seph said:


> Taking 400 in a short time will for sure take some time before they can multiply to that number again.



it would take 40 sows and 4 boars about 1 year to replace them


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## across the river (May 28, 2018)

j_seph said:


> Even have to be inspected if they were used to feed the inmates?



The government would let you eat un inspected meat and do without cable TV before they would the inmates.


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## tree cutter 08 (May 28, 2018)

Only good hog is a dead hog. I put them on same level as a yote.


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## ripplerider (May 28, 2018)

across the river said:


> The government would let you eat un inspected meat and do without cable TV before they would the inmates.



Heaven forbid us from doing without cable TV. Those inmates are someones son, grandson, or father. And a few of them are innocent believe it or not. That said, no-one inspects the wild hogs I eat but me.


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## transfixer (May 28, 2018)

Jester896 said:


> it would take 40 sows and 4 boars about 1 year to replace them



probably wouldn't take that long,  don't they have 6 to 8 each litter ?  and can have up to 3 litters a year I was told ?  

  If a sow only had 15 a year, 40 sows=600 piglets,  that's a lot of bacon !


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## hunterofopportunity (May 28, 2018)

A few years ago I had this same discussion with the warden at Wassau Island on a quota hunt after finding several dead hogs. They had brought in shooters the weeks before to protect  sea turtle nest. I was only mad about the waste of meat, and the fine I could get for failure to retrieve game.


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## Jester896 (May 28, 2018)

transfixer said:


> probably wouldn't take that long,  don't they have 6 to 8 each litter ?  and can have up to 3 litters a year I was told ?
> 
> If a sow only had 15 a year, 40 sows=600 piglets,  that's a lot of bacon !



i think my figures are with guilts, so that would be at a minimum I think...they slowly build up to the figures you gave.  I think the most we ever took out of one was 13 and closer to 300#.

You would think that as many trappers, shooters, and doggers that we have around here would put a serious dent in them...makes me wonder how big of an impact any of it has.


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## C.Killmaster (May 28, 2018)

Jester896 said:


> i think my figures are with guilts, so that would be at a minimum I think...they slowly build up to the figures you gave.  I think the most we ever took out of one was 13 and closer to 300#.
> 
> You would think that as many trappers, shooters, and doggers that we have around here would put a serious dent in them...makes me wonder how big of an impact any of it has.





hunterofopportunity said:


> A few years ago I had this same discussion with the warden at Wassau Island on a quota hunt after finding several dead hogs. They had brought in shooters the weeks before to protect  sea turtle nest. I was only mad about the waste of meat, and the fine I could get for failure to retrieve game.


Hogs are not game animals, that doesn’t apply to them.


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## Jester896 (May 28, 2018)

C.Killmaster said:


> Hogs are not game animals, that doesn’t apply to them.



not sure how that applies to my statement.


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## C.Killmaster (May 29, 2018)

Jester896 said:


> not sure how that applies to my statement.



Sorry, it didn't.  I must have accidently multi-quoted.


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## mlandrum (May 29, 2018)

Yotes are not game animals either, how are they thriving on DiaLane To have quail you must have good predator program for the  coons and fox , in other words that's what you did with the hog problem!! So let's get helicopters flying for yotes then we could have quail and rabbits  all over Georgia again?


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## NODAK (May 29, 2018)

*Hog Wars*

Some of the arguments on here are some of the same Insurance companies use to raise deer harvest limits. If a hog is not a game animal then how or why does the State say when they can be hunted. Any other managed animal that was shot and left is considered wanton waste.
Also, the average piglets to a litter is 8 and a sow can have 2.5 litters a year. Females from both litters can have a minimum of one litter within her first year.

The reasons to lessen the hog population can be used to lessen deer populations as well. It is government making rules and taking actions on public lands without public comment or knowledge. All other issues are mute.


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## NCHillbilly (May 29, 2018)

mlandrum said:


> Yotes are not game animals either, how are they thriving on DiaLane To have quail you must have good predator program for the  coons and fox , in other words that's what you did with the hog problem!! So let's get helicopters flying for yotes then we could have quail and rabbits  all over Georgia again?



The quail disappeared and the rabbits declined here long before coyotes became common. Habitat is 1000x more important than killing coyotes if you want quail and rabbits.


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## Bobby Linton (May 29, 2018)

No matter where you fall on the issue, the optics were poor.  I know from reading peoples posts that folks were looking forward to this spring WMA hog hunt.  When I saw the headline on gon I new it would upset some folks.  If you are still trying for your first hog, don't despair.  You will get plenty of opportunities. I'm sure the government will be just as successful with hog eradication as they were with Kudzu!


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## C.Killmaster (May 29, 2018)

NODAK said:


> Some of the arguments on here are some of the same Insurance companies use to raise deer harvest limits. If a hog is not a game animal then how or why does the State say when they can be hunted. Any other managed animal that was shot and left is considered wanton waste.
> Also, the average piglets to a litter is 8 and a sow can have 2.5 litters a year. Females from both litters can have a minimum of one litter within her first year.
> 
> The reasons to lessen the hog population can be used to lessen deer populations as well. It is government making rules and taking actions on public lands without public comment or knowledge. All other issues are mute.



They are considered incidental take on public land, there are no limitations to when you can hunt them on private land.  They aren't a game animal, but the state still has authority to regulate hunting on unprotected species and feral hogs.

No one tried to hide this, the government was interviewed for a GON article and every member of the public has opportunity to voice their comments every regulation cycle.

Drawing a comparison to deer is completely unfounded, deer are a native species and one that the government went to great lengths to restock.


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## kmckinnie (May 29, 2018)

NCHillbilly said:


> The quail disappeared and the rabbits declined here long before coyotes became common. Habitat is 1000x more important than killing coyotes if you want quail and rabbits.



I think ants play a big part in all ground bearing animals .
I’ve put out ant poison around the house on ant mounts & see more rabbits and quail now.


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## kmckinnie (May 29, 2018)

Wild pigs will eat anything it finds.


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## Buckman18 (May 29, 2018)

NODAK said:


> Some of the arguments on here are some of the same Insurance companies use to raise deer harvest limits. If a hog is not a game animal then how or why does the State say when they can be hunted. Any other managed animal that was shot and left is considered wanton waste.
> Also, the average piglets to a litter is 8 and a sow can have 2.5 litters a year. Females from both litters can have a minimum of one litter within her first year.
> 
> The reasons to lessen the hog population can be used to lessen deer populations as well. It is government making rules and taking actions on public lands without public comment or knowledge. All other issues are mute.



Fake News...


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## Jester896 (May 29, 2018)

C.Killmaster said:


> Sorry, it didn't.  I must have accidently multi-quoted.



whew...had me for a second tho


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## natureman (May 29, 2018)

They have destroyed my brother's crops year after year.  He shoots everyone he sees on his farm and goes everywhere with a rifle.  He feels he is only holding the population even and not making any inroads to better control.


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## C.Killmaster (May 29, 2018)

kmckinnie said:


> I think ants play a big part in all ground bearing animals .
> I’ve put out ant poison around the house on ant mounts & see more rabbits and quail now.



The science is on NCHillbilly's side.  Everyone wants a face on the culprit like coyotes or fireants, but the biggest issue is landscape level habitat change.  When so much of the southeast was cleared for agriculture and farming practices  were less commercialized and clean, we had a sea of habitat for quail and rabbits.  All the topsoil washed away and most sloping land was converted to pine stands and pasture.


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## kmckinnie (May 29, 2018)

C.Killmaster said:


> The science is on NCHillbilly's side.  Everyone wants a face on the culprit like coyotes or fireants, but the biggest issue is landscape level habitat change.  When so much of the southeast was cleared for agriculture and farming practices  were less commercialized and clean, we had a sea of habitat for quail and rabbits.  All the topsoil washed away and most sloping land was converted to pine stands and pasture.



True. 
Thanks.


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## Mark R (May 30, 2018)

Everybody has an opinion . I love huntin them pigs and good eatin too . Long live the porkers


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## NCHillbilly (May 30, 2018)

Mark R said:


> Everybody has an opinion . I love huntin them pigs and good eatin too . Long live the porkers



I love hunting and eating them too. That doesn't change the fact that they are probably the most destructive animal on this continent and will severely damage or wipe out some habitats and other species. They eat everything, including fawns and turkey eggs, and root up and destroy stuff 24/7.


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