More of This!

I’m glad to see this!

The U.S. Agriculture Department is known for its army of statisticians packing yardsticks and calculators to measure wheat and count soybeans.

But the agency needs more firepower for another kind of rural reckoning and is gearing up with thermal imaging weapons.

In its crosshairs are aggressive feral hogs that can weigh more than 400 lbs (180 kg) and have been known to carry off newborn calves. They cause about $1.5 billion of damage every year to farm communities and fields, say department officials, and now there are worries they may help spread a deadly pig virus.

So the USDA wants to buy thermal scopes that snap onto high-powered rifles to kill the wild beasts.

“We’re going to get them, oh yes we are,” said Jason Wilking with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which has put out bids for 11 scopes since April 7.

The thermal scopes are part of a $20 million nationwide project to combat the feral swine, which have gobbled down apples in New York state, cleaned out cornfields in North Carolina, and even devoured bovine calves in Mississippi.

Still I’d rather see people just lifting hunting regulations on destructive invasive species. Let sportsmen and women kill the pests spending their own dime, and work hard to make the sport more accessible to new hunters. One of my bucket-list items is to go hog hunting in the Southern US. I like to eat pig products, they seem like an interesting species to hunt, and they cause a TON of damage so every one I kill I’m doing the country a little favor. Also hogs are a domesticated species brought over from Eastern Europe, so they are considered an invasive species, so wiping them out is NOT an environmental issue like say wiping out wolves or deer, Turkeys or moose.

It saddens me to see the .gov throwing regulations down on introduced and invasive species. Hell I just picked two that should be wiped out and looked up their regulations. Nutria and pythons.

In the freshwater fishery there are some lakes, streams, and rivers where it is a crime to live-release certain introduced species. Why is it these other species need permits and seasons when you can kill them? Just wipe them out and leave the regulations to the native populations!

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9 Responses to More of This!

  1. Pyrotek85 says:

    They’re regulated? I thought they weren’t.

  2. Let me know and I’ll see if I can find people who will take us out.

    Maybe the USDA, instead of buying the thermal sights themselves should help regular Americans to get them and join in the fight. They could even lean on the ATF to hurry along all those silencer approvals.

    “Uncle Sam wants YOU!
    To get an AR, thermal sights, and a silencer
    To WIPE OUT Huns Feral Pigs!”

    Maybe Obama could get Shepard Fairey to do us up a poster.

  3. Pingback: Because like Tam says... | An NC Gun Blog

  4. Firehand says:

    I think Texas is a ‘no season/no permit needed’ on feral pigs. Eastern TX is having huge problems with them.

    You can even legally hunt them from a helicopter. I think the pilots have to have a special permit(probably testing to make sure they know what the hell they’re doing), but none for the shooter.

    • Joethefatman™ (@joethefatman1) says:

      You need a hunting license. Other than that, and landowner permission, they are a nuisance that can be taken in just about anyway you want.

  5. Formynder says:

    http://www.huntwildpig.com/state-specifics/texas/

    You have to have a hunting license, but other than that there are no restrictions, you just have to have the permission of the property owner. You can trap ’em, shoot ’em, do whatever you want to get rid of ’em, basically.

  6. Pyrotek85 says:

    Yeah that’s what I had heard, basically it’s a free-for-all on them, as long as you’re not being reckless of course. I never heard of them being restricted, but maybe some states do?

    • Weerd Beard says:

      I’m pretty sure Texas has not requirements for hunting feral hogs. Still the problem is not isolated in Texas. I was a bit surprised they’re such a big problem in New York state, but I shouldn’t be as their native land is the cold forests and taiga of Siberia. I’m sure the “Progressives” in New York, as well as the many states between there and Texas don’t want people going out to shoot pigs unless they get their shilling!

  7. Tam says:

    In most of the South, they wouldn’t care if you hunted ’em with gun pods mounted on a helicopter. Knock yourself out. 🙂

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