Feral Pigs Trapped and Sold to Canned Hunts

[As usual, no mention that the feral pigs situation is the result of humans introducing them onto game farms for hunting to begin with. Instead they blame the pigs.]…

Oklahoma weekend hunting news:

Feral hog hunting is becoming big business in Okla. The hogs continue
to overrun Okla. and they can be found in all 77 counties.
An Okla. hunter states that he would feel uncomfortable about shooting
a whitetail deer behind a high fence. But he has no ethical dilemma about
feral hogs. “All of them should be blindfolded and executed for crimes
against nature.”

The feral hogs have caused millions of dollars in property damage across
the state and can spread disease. The Okla. state Dept. of Agriculture
has cautioned hunters to wear gloves when cleaning feral hogs and to
cook the meat thoroughly.

There have been pastures uprooted by wild hogs and they frequently
destroy golf courses and ravage corn and hay fields. A pack of wild pigs
have even toppled the headstones of a rural cemetery. [Oh my.]

They have become such a menace that Okla. has even legalized hog
hunting from helicopters.

Wild pigs are good for one thing. They are fun to hunt a/w the owners
of a wild hog hunting company. The Okla. residents, both avid big game bow hunters, were looking to satisfy their hunting appetite when the big game season closed and so
they started hog hunting in Okla.
One of the co-owners states “What we enjoyed most about it was you
can do it year-round.”

They had so much fun hunting hogs that they decided to open their
hog hunting business.
The co-owner states “We were looking for ways to get involved in
the hunting business for several years because that is what we love to
do. It is our passion.”

They bought 120 acres in Okla. and put a fence around it. They are
now building a clubhouse so their customers will have something to do
between morning and evening hunts.

They buy feral hogs from Okla. trappers and keep around 300 on the
grounds. This number insures a good chance of success, but still feels
like a hunt. The co-owner of the business added “There are so many pigs in the
southern half of our state, we literally have people beating our door down
trying to sell pigs.”

They persuaded a friend, who used to chase hogs with them on his
visits to Okla., to give up guiding for bear, elk, and mountain lions in
Idaho and move to Okla. to manage the business.
The guide added that wild hogs are not the most difficult animal he has
ever hunted, but they are more challenging than most people think because
they are a lot smarter than people think they are.

He added “They are a lot harder to kill, especially for a bow hunter.
It is just the way God made them. They are a tough animal.” [Meaning, they suffer longer than most animals these psychos like to kill…]524958_3325028303604_654533903_n

Reward Offered For the Shooting of Oklahoma Deer Hunter

From the weekend OKC hunting news:

The Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife Conservation is offering up to $500 for information in the shooting of a deer hunter in Cherokee County last weekend.

The agency is offering the reward thru its Operation Game Thief program and the Okla. Game Warden’s Association is also offering a $500 reward.

A Tulsa deer hunter was shot in the arm on Nov. 29th near Welling in Cherokee County. It was assumed by another deer hunter. The hunter was heading back to his truck after a day of deer hunting when he heard a shot. Before he could call to a shooter, a second shot hit him in his arm.
His father, who was hunting nearby, heard the shot and took his son to a hospital in Tahlequah, where he was airlifted to a Tulsa hospital. The injury will require six months of physical therapy to recover. The Cherokee County’s Sheriff’s Dept. said a red, four-door Dodge truck was seen in the area at the time of the shooting.

There have been at least two hunting-deaths this deer gun season from tree stand falls.
A deer hunter in Cherokee County died last weekend after falling from a tree stand and getting tangled in his harness.

Another hunter in Pottawatomie County died from a head injury after falling while installing a tree stand before deer gun season opened.                                                                                                                Over the last 20 years Okla, has averaged about two hunting-related fatalities each year a/w the Okla. Dept. of Wildlife.
The coordinator added “Some years we will have none. People are getting a lot better about not shooting each other, but tree stand injuries are increasing.”

[Those entering the woods during hunting season are advised to Watch for Falling Hunters!]

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Deer Hunters Would Freak if They Saw a Wolf

Despite news that wolves are starting to spread out to other states, after their re-introduction to the Tri-state area of the Northern Rockies, wolves are still extinct in most of their former range in the continental U.S. Yet, it seems there’s no shortage of deer; in fact ungulate populations have been booming since the near continent-wide extermination of wolves and other predators that left the lower 48 in ecological turmoil.

Take Oklahoma for example. According to their “local OKC weekend hunting news”:

Oklahoma’s gun season opens Saturday. The rut is expected to be going  strong across the state in the coming days. State wildlife biologists in Okla. expect the peak of the rut in most areas of the state to happen sometime before Saturday’s opening. 

Barring any major weather events that keeps hunters at home,  Saturday will be the biggest deer hunting day of the year.  More deer are taken on the opening day of gun season than on any other. The rut, the mating season of deer, is triggered primarily by moon phases. However, the rutting activity that hunters see has more to do with the weather.

The first time Oklahoma hunters checked in 100,000 deer for all  seasons combined was 13 years ago.  Since then, there have been only three years that Oklahoma’s deer harvest has not exceeded 100,000.

Wildlife biologists estimate deer hunters take about 10 percent

Photo by Jim Robertson

Photo by Jim Robertson

of the deer population during hunting seasons. This gives Oklahoma an estimated deer population about one million.

Approximately one million deer in a state as small as Oklahoma. And exactly ZERO wolves. 100,000 deer killed during hunting season, and it’s not even a dent in the deer population. Natural processes have been ousted and ignored–hunters there would freak if they if they saw a wolf. I can just hear their screams of, “Those wolves are going to eat all our game…” It’s the same story that’s going on across the country. Hunters don’t want healthy deer or elk populations, they want a surplus to justify their “harvests.”

The Upside of Government Shutdown: Hunting Closures

From: Oklahoma Outdoor News

Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

The government shutdown is causing headaches for Oklahoma outdoorsmen.In addition to campgrounds being closed on areas controlled by the US Army Corps of Engineers and popular destinations like the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge and the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, popular deer hunts are also being canceled.[!!]

This weekend’s youth deer hunts on the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge are canceled because of the shutdown. There were 24 youth hunts which has been scheduled this weekend and another 39 scheduled in two weeks.[How many deer does that equate to?]

Other youth deer hunts which scheduled in the upcoming weeks at federally controlled wildlife refuges are in jeopardy. Bow hunters are not allowed on the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, which was open to buck hunting once again this year. (Boo fucking hoo!]

A spokesman for the Okla. Dept. of Wildlife Conservation said the agency has received numerous calls asking about the controlled hunts. Hunters will be notified if their hunts have been canceled.

The popular archery deer hunts at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, however, are expected to go on as planned. [That’s too bad.] The first of six weekend hunts are scheduled next weekend in McAlester.

The Dept. spokesman states “From what we’ve been told, everything here is in good shape. Now they could call us Monday and tell us to shut it down.”

Hunters, campers and anglers will feel the pain of a long shutdown. For Okla. trout fishermen, less rainbow trout will be swimming in the Lower Illinois River in the future if the shutdown continues.

State wildlife officials normally add hatchery-raised rainbow trout to the Lower Illinois River near Gore, Ok. once per week. However every week the agency had been getting those trout from a federal fish hatchery. That will now stop, and trout from the state’s commercial provider only will be added to the river every week until the federal furloughs end.