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The scale of the problem - at least in some states - makes eradication impossible. Feral hogs have a gestation period of only 115 days and reach sexual maturity

The scale of the problem - at least in some states - makes eradication impossible. Feral hogs have a gestation period of only 115 days and reach sexual maturity in just 6 months. Texas has 4 million feral pigs. They need to kill 75 percent a year just to keep the population stabile. Texas already has 24/7, 365 open hunting (with dogs, traps, helicopters, etc) and it is not adequate.

leetcrew 6y ago
"hunting" almost seems like a euphemistic term when people are shooting machine guns and automatic shotguns out the side of a helicopter. I realize they are an invasive species and can't be allowed to multiply unchecked, but it makes me sad to think of fairly intelligent animals being slaughtered en masse, often with no intention of recovering the meat. I do understand they are quite dangerous and destructive creatures, but still...
- bigbubba 6y ago
  When it comes to hogs, it's a matter of extermination, not 'hunting'/sport. Pulling punches with notions of sportsmanship and respect for the animal totally misses the point. These aren't elk. Of course, even the extreme measures taken against hogs (explosives, machine guns, etc) seem to be doing little good.
  - leetcrew 6y ago
    it seems like we both agree that "hunting" is not quite the right word for what is going on. to be clear, I'm not saying extermination is morally wrong in this case; it's clearly necessary to protect the local ecosystem. what's tragic is that we created this problem in the first place, and it seems the only solution left is to kill as many of them as we can as efficiently as possible.
    - Balgair 6y ago
      It's curious. The US is a heavily militarized state, spending a lot of money on it's use of weapons. However, these weapons tend to be very expensive and hyper targetable. But just killing literal pigs, in the wild, with really no restrictions at all, and practically no need to track the kills or process them for food, is a nearly impossible task. Just pure, cheap, blunt weapons will do the job more than fine. But there just isn't enough, even with the massive spendings.
      - philwelch 6y ago
        I’m reminded of Australia’s unsuccessful war against emus: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War
- samatman 6y ago
  The term 'culling' is also in common use, and I can see where one would prefer it.

leetcrew 6y ago

"hunting" almost seems like a euphemistic term when people are shooting machine guns and automatic shotguns out the side of a helicopter. I realize they are an invasive species and can't be allowed to multiply unchecked, but it makes me sad to think of fairly intelligent animals being slaughtered en masse, often with no intention of recovering the meat. I do understand they are quite dangerous and destructive creatures, but still...

bigbubba 6y ago
When it comes to hogs, it's a matter of extermination, not 'hunting'/sport. Pulling punches with notions of sportsmanship and respect for the animal totally misses the point. These aren't elk. Of course, even the extreme measures taken against hogs (explosives, machine guns, etc) seem to be doing little good.
- leetcrew 6y ago
  it seems like we both agree that "hunting" is not quite the right word for what is going on. to be clear, I'm not saying extermination is morally wrong in this case; it's clearly necessary to protect the local ecosystem. what's tragic is that we created this problem in the first place, and it seems the only solution left is to kill as many of them as we can as efficiently as possible.
  - Balgair 6y ago
    It's curious. The US is a heavily militarized state, spending a lot of money on it's use of weapons. However, these weapons tend to be very expensive and hyper targetable. But just killing literal pigs, in the wild, with really no restrictions at all, and practically no need to track the kills or process them for food, is a nearly impossible task. Just pure, cheap, blunt weapons will do the job more than fine. But there just isn't enough, even with the massive spendings.
    - philwelch 6y ago
      I’m reminded of Australia’s unsuccessful war against emus: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War
samatman 6y ago
The term 'culling' is also in common use, and I can see where one would prefer it.