Culling pigs from a chopper

Discussion in 'Turf and Surf Hunting and Fishing' started by Quigley_Sharps, May 15, 2011.


  1. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    >gov should loan out armed Predators to farmers to eleminate feral hogs. Drone with mini-pig missiles...now that would be cool. Mini-guns from choppers would be fun too.
    Anybody heard from Sniper66 lately?
     
  2. Minuteman

    Minuteman Chaplain Moderator Founding Member

    A friend of mine in West Texas told me they did a chopper cull last year in his county and, IIRC, killed over 4,000 of them in two days. He said the vultures looked like storm clouds.
     
  3. tacmotusn

    tacmotusn RIP 1/13/21

    Actually, you hit on my only objection to this practice. I hate to see good meat go to waste. Anytime one of these air kill hunts is being set up, there really should be a ground crew with adequate trucks to be picking up the carcasses. We have a local beast feast here in Gilchrist County that raises Thousands of dollars each year for charity. There are ways to make positive use of the meat. To do otherwise is wasteful. Yes I am fully aware that buzzards and various insects need to eat also. JMHO
     
  4. Falcon15

    Falcon15 Falco Peregrinus

    I agree with you on the waste of good meat stance. However, these feral hogs are a nuisance in Texas. The season is open year round, as long as you have a hunting license, and as a nuisance animal can be taken at any time. A little video about it:
    YouTube - Feral Hogs: The Pig Problem in Texas
     
  5. Minuteman

    Minuteman Chaplain Moderator Founding Member

    I agree that it is a waste of good meat but the sheer number of carcasses makes it financially impossible to arrange for any kind of disbursement of the meat. These rural counties don't have the resources even with state help to do much more than try to protect crop land. The carcasses are free for the taking and there is no season or limit on killing them so anyone is welcome to have them anytime they want.

    And these culls aren't just a thinning out of the herd, the feral hog problem in the South is HUGE, with tens of thousands of them destroying thousands of acres of farmland and becoming a danger to humans as well as livestock. These aerial culls are only a stop gap measure with only limited effect.
     
    Falcon15 likes this.
  6. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    I guess I'm not convinced that it would be economically viable to harvest the meat, whether for profit or charity. But I sure can see the advantage to the row crop farmer to hauling the carcasses out of the field to avoid damaging equipment. Where to pile them up for a maggot city is a different question entirely --

    Where's E.L.? Need a readout of FDA rules on wild critter meat in the marketplace.
     
  7. Falcon15

    Falcon15 Falco Peregrinus

    It is highly regulated by the FDA-
    FDA Food Code 2009

    So it is not truly viable to sell culled wild game meat, unless you have a processing plant that is inspected and regulated by the FDA. Even then it is cheaper to process farmed animals, because the animals in question are raised under controlled and inspected (yes, the FDA inspects commercial farms, as do local agencies - it is required for being licensed - ie taxed - have to feed the bureaucracy).
     
  8. tacmotusn

    tacmotusn RIP 1/13/21

    I can also legally harvest wild feral hogs here in Florida year round. They are not considered game animals except on state owned land. On private property they may be killed anytime, anyway, night or day. I have one location where they are such a nuisance, and so numerous that I may check in 24/7 x 365 days of the year, kill as many as I want, no size restrictions, and the only rule is, if you kill it, you haul it out (all of it). A couple canoes is ideal for egress at this location along with a minimum of 3 hunters. Snake boots optional, but recommended. Fast exciting action is almost 100 percent guaranteed.
    .
    On the subject of disposal of the meat. Many local small custom butchers with cold storage will process wild game for a very reasonable fee, or often for a percentage of the poundage of processed meat. They don't just take the choice cuts either.
     
  9. jim2

    jim2 Monkey+++

    That was some impressive shooting. I wonder what kind of load he was using? Any guesses?

    I need to find someone with a Gyrocopter and do the redneck version of this.
     
  10. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Looked like a SPS12 with an extended Tube Mag, and they likely were using 3" Mag shells, loaded with Buckshot, from the dust-up when the rounds hit. My opinion....... YMMV......
     
  11. Seawolf1090

    Seawolf1090 Retired Curmudgeonly IT Monkey Founding Member

    Youtube has other Pig-culling from helicopter videos, where they are using AR15 and AK47 rifles. Looks like great fun - I'd enjoy trying it! Here at our Florida hunting lease, we too can kill the pigs anytime, coyotes too.
     
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