jskin, I'm with you when it comes to ethical hunting.

Where do you draw the line on these comparisons? Comparing shooting an intruder to shooting a pig? Really??

I guess the next speeder I see on the highway I'll gut shoot. Afterall, he is a risk to my investment (my truck) and me and my family's health.

Where did all the common sense go?

Best line on here





Is that Steve's bird?

jskin, you can't really compare deer destroying the crops in Iowa to the pigs destroying the crops in Texas and other states. Deer also destroy crops in texas, but have you ever seen a crop field destroyed by pigs? If not look at the footing of the space capsule landing on the moon in the 60's. Its not that drastic, but they leave craters in the field that will destroy the soil and the crops for years to come. Deer will only destroy the crops where as pigs will destroy the crops and the soil. Try to drive farming equipment on fields that are cratered by pigs and tell us that deer in Iowa do the same. No way possible. They are not native to this country. How about killer bees? or any non-native animal or plant species. Should we take our time and eliminate these speicies with care? I love this land and all of its wildlife, but when a evasive species starts to over run our native speices, then we have to do everything in our power to eliminate them.

Lets say you have an 1000acre wheat field. You have pigs destroying the field on a regular basis. You decide to go out and try to take care of the problem. You get your semi auto rifle and high powered scope. Out at the field, you see 20-100 pigs destroying the field. You know what they are doing is costing you thousands of dollars just while you are watching. So you arm you rife, aim squeeze trigger and shoot one pig, the rest take off, next night same thing, next night, next next same thing happens. By that time theres no telling how much money you lost. Shooting one pig at a time because you cant line up a perfect shot for a kill on another, just wont do the trick. Shoot one, 20 or more will take its place very fast.
Spend money on nice equipment. Go out at night, find pigs, turn on night vision, find targets and blast away. Maybe one is a kill shot, but 5-10 wont be. The 5-10 wont die fast, but will be unable to feed or breed for ever. They will eventually die, but in the meantime, you can do that on a regular basis and see a difference of their population. shooting one at a time wont do the trick.

I think ethics should be instilled from one's earliest training as a hunter-this way ethical behaviour just "happens" without you having to think about it.

My dad and granddad accomplished that with my brother and I, to the extent I feel real physical revulsion when I see game wasted, or poached, or nongame wildlife senselessly slaughtered by slob hunters.

I also feel discomfort when I see folks express hatred toward any of our wildlife-rattlers, lions, coyotes, bobcats, birds of prey all have their place in the ecology of Texas. I have no problem with controlling them where necessary and LEGAL, but for God's sake don't waste them! Eat that rattler (or at least use the hide) and mount or tan that coyote or bobcat. They deserve that much respect.

That said-do what you want with the hogs and feral cats-they are aliens and have no constructive place in the Texas environment

Just get some lead in them at least, maybe they will die of lead poison if they run off.

Hate to disagree w/ you treebass but that's the best line. funny stuff right there.

I am 29 years old and took my first big game animal at 4 years old and have not stopped since. I agree with taking an ethical shot. On the other hand I have lived around farming towns my whole life and have seen first hand what they can do to a corn field, wheat field, or any other crop field. There is no way to control the hog population that is ethical. If enough people gripe about hunters not killing them ethically then people will stop letting hunters control them and just go back to poisoning them. I guess that is ethical.

If we don't shoot them then they will get poisoned like the yote bombs and then what kind of topic are we gonna have to rant about? It's population control there's nothing sadist about it, if you think it is then your soft and know nothing about farming and making a livng from something that grows in the ground.

First of all, I see both sides, nuisance...kill them all; and make a good shot and quick clean kill...

Second, ETHICS, is a personal choice, one person can't decide what's ethical for another. That's a little high and mighty to try to...

As for hogs, I do keep them all. I have wasted one that I shot and didn't clean and eat, but he was COVERED in ticks....so I decided to be safe rather than sorry.

Other than that, I do think that when you shoot one you should try to find someone that wants them.... there are probably people in your church, community, or town that would come get them for the meat. Find them, have their cell number, and try to do something with that meat rather than let it rot....that takes preparation and planning ahead.

That said, I'd rather kill one than let it reproduce....spoilage or not...

I can't afford enough bullets to do what I want to hogs

I agree but I pretty much go with, you do it your way I'll do it mine...

And again, when hogs get to be as much a problem as people SAY they are, They (farmers) will be begging us to come hunt them for FREE! In fact there will be a bounty on them if they get bad enough.

There is enough BS in this post to fill Walmart parking lot. Whether the animal is considered a varmit or not doesn't mean an ethical shot is negotiable. As a responsible hunter the animal should be harvested as quick and clean as possible.

Nobody expects every animal shot to die immediately but to intentionally wound an animal so you don't have to mess with it is unethical. You guys can justify it to yourselves all you want by protecting your investment or the land owners investment.

By the way if the land owner is truly trying to protect their investment and it is costing them so much money there are other more effective ways to control population. Other than telling the deer hunter to shoot every pig he sees.

+2 on that statement. Nothing wrong with killing them and letting them lay. It has become a situation in many areas were it is an eradication or extermination situation and no longer sport hunting. But one should never intentionally shoot one in such a way to purposly cause the animal to suffer.

sometimes the situation calls for one to run a long ways before it dies.

DOnt' know what you are calling BS on, since you didn't specify.... and I agreed do your best to make a clean shot....

but if you know really know of a more effective strategy to negate the effects of hog depridation, please let all of us stupid country hicks know what it is.... especially since the farmers, county, state and federal experts sure haven't found it.

Ok it seems all the people on here that were against my comments have one belief, "kill them all!" I'm not an ambassador for hogs and yes I uderstand that there is a place and time for extreme measures. My next point would be if yall feel this way then why is so much profit turned here in Texas for hog hunts. A nuisance like that should not command the respect for paid hunts. Think of all the ranches that offer hog hunts, I don't think they want them completely eradicated. Yall took a statement about ethics and respect and turned it into a platform for farmers rights, totally missing the point. I agree with sig on planning ahead, plenty of people would love to have the meat, just ask around.

Looks like you're just trying to start contraversy man. You've bashed 2 hunters on their posts and started something really stupid on this one. Maybe this forum isnt for you. If alls you want to do is get on here and whine about the way people shoot pigs then go get on oklahoma's hunting forum. You shoot them how you want and other people will shoot them how they want, do you think this conversation has changed anybody's opinion? Nope you're just getting a lot of people pissed at you. Congrats Drama Queen!!!

You know you are right man, this conversation is going nowhere. I guess we can agree to disagree. We will all hunt the way we want and that can't be changed! My goal in the original post was to get hunters feedback and as controversial as it was at least now I have more insight on Texas hunters.

I could not have said it better Rick .

Some people are out to make a buck off any resources they have. We will never offer hunts....deer, hog, turkey, etc, but we are just stingy like that. I will rarely keep/clean a woods hog, b/c of freezer space, but if they are shot at a reasonable time, I will call around to see if someone would like to come pick it/them up. To me it seems the best method to get pork in the freezer is to go cut a check to some 4H kid whose hog didn't make sale.

just don't use the shotgun approach on all of us...wait, wrong choice of words.

Hmmm, so if they need help with grasshoppers they will ask people to come out and flail the fields for free? Or we could let the government get involved and have a grasshopper bounty?

I seriously doubt the farmers allowing open hunting on land for hogs for several reasons: Some humans would do as much damage with four wheelers and 4x4 trucks; Some would shoot a lot more than hogs, and leave trash, and gates left open...; Some would file frivolous lawsuits over total BS; some would bring extra people that did not have permission to hunt, some would get on the wrong land and cause hard feelings with the farmers neighbors, and some would just generally be a pita...

But yeah, if the hogs get to be THAT bad of a problem, I'll expect to be begged to come shoot them...

After trading PM's with JSkin, I understand where he's coming from... we'll still disagree about the last final shot, but he and I will agree that sure, if possible we will make our best effort for a quick clean kill of anything we shoot at, and will do our best not to waste the game.... but I want them all shot ASAP too.

farmers and ranchers will never invite a bunch of boys from Dallas to hunt for free.

I can hunt hogs 7 days a week for free if I wanted to. Most rural guys will tell you the same thing. People all over will let you kill hogs for free if they trust you to be on their land.

Only people from metropolitan areas and yankees pay to kill pigs in texas.