Pig kill

Redmt

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Joined
Feb 12, 2021
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San Antonio Valley California
This kinda bugs me, a lot. One of my neighbors organized a pig kill this morning. It was perfectly legal and I can't disagree with the reason behind it. He has acres of hay fields to cut, bale and winter feed his cattle. It was cut and baled a few weeks ago. He then turns cattle on it to finish it off. The pigs moved in also last week. I'll estimate 50+ of them. Boars, momma's and babies. They went in about daylight this morning with 4-5 shooters and shot them all. They went back out a bit later and killed all the babies that came back to the dead mothers. They then picked them all up and threw them in a pit. I fully understand why but damn. I'm pretty sure they all went to waste.
 
Does California reimburse landowners for pig damage like some other states do for deer/elk/predator damage?

Depending on the size of the little ones, killing them might have been the most humane choice.
 
Does California reimburse landowners for pig damage like some other states do for deer/elk/predator damage?

Depending on the size of the little ones, killing them might have been the most humane choice.
Hell no! CA charges to shoot them. Starting the first there's no more tags needed. You have to buy a validation tag and report at end of year.
 
Sorry I am old school. You kill it you it for sport and you eat it.

Got no problem with hunting pigs, in fact I want to do it someday. But babies is a question for me.
 
On our property you shoot til you run out of pigs or bullets, whichever comes first. No consideration is given to size, age, or sex. It’s hard for many to understand, but in places where we deal with them and the problems they bring they just fall into a different category of ethics. We use what we can, but just can’t use them all, and leaving them alone to multiply because we can’t use them simply isn’t an option. It’s a hard pill to swallow sometimes but I’ve fed the buzzards with them more than a few times now. I was in a small 20 acre corn field today that was probably close to 50% destroyed from pigs. Live and let live isn’t really an option.
 
Sorry I am old school. You kill it you it for sport and you eat it.

Got no problem with hunting pigs, in fact I want to do it someday. But babies is a question for me.
I'm with you in kill/eat for sport. I love hunting pigs because it's fun and they taste great. I'm not in the position of defending my livelihood against them so it is harder to take seeing an all out slaughter.
 
I know a citrus farming family that gets depradation permits every year for pigs in their orange groves. I'm not sure about reimbursement of any kind, but I know there was no limit and they were allowed to shoot them at night which we can't legally do when hunting them with a tag.
 
On our property you shoot til you run out of pigs or bullets, whichever comes first. No consideration is given to size, age, or sex. It’s hard for many to understand, but in places where we deal with them and the problems they bring they just fall into a different category of ethics. We use what we can, but just can’t use them all, and leaving them alone to multiply because we can’t use them simply isn’t an option. It’s a hard pill to swallow sometimes but I’ve fed the buzzards with them more than a few times now. I was in a small 20 acre corn field today that was probably close to 50% destroyed from pigs. Live and let live isn’t really an option.
Same on our lease. I been dealing with them pigs for 40 years. First in Florida and now in Alabama. Those ruts are tough on Ag equipment and vegetable crops.

I understand some people like to hunt them for sport and meat but in the end they are a prolific ,invasive and destructive pest.

I might add I have ate all 300 or so of those pigs I have killed over the years. But I wouldn't blame a farmer or land manager for exterminating them or at least trying.
 
I consider it two different types of hunts. In California we usually eat them especially the medium sized ones. In some areas land owners urge us not to shoot wet sows. I only take one tag. A successful hunt is one pig each.

When I go with my friends in Texas we kill more of them, we shoot them at night, and we usually don’t eat them. We use helicopters, we use traps and we kill wet sows and babies. These are extermination hunts. Still fun but different
 
I like to hunt them for freezer filler. I would have really liked to get in on the shoot and select a couple for pork. I'll also bet that there would have been a few guys here that would have liked to get in on it. On the down side of bringing in outsiders is that there's other ranch houses around and you really have to be aware of where they are.
 
I like to hunt them for freezer filler. I would have really liked to get in on the shoot and select a couple for pork. I'll also bet that there would have been a few guys here that would have liked to get in on it. On the down side of bringing in outsiders is that there's other ranch houses around and you really have to be aware of where they are.
Maybe they will invite you if you go talk to them.
 
Maybe they will invite you if you go talk to them.
I think I would have liked to get in on it to retain some of the meat but not just to kill pigs. I can go pig hunting anytime I want. There's a couple ranchers that beg me to kill pigs. I have a walk in freezer that is full now. I can't justify killing another right now. Besides my wife threatened me with bodily harm if I bring in another right now. We just finished processing the last one yesterday.
 
I think I would have liked to get in on it to retain some of the meat but not just to kill pigs. I can go pig hunting anytime I want. There's a couple ranchers that beg me to kill pigs. I have a walk in freezer that is full now. I can't justify killing another right now. Besides my wife threatened me with bodily harm if I bring in another right now. We just finished processing the last one yesterday.
LOL.
 
I find it interesting as we go down some of these side roads. What’s the difference between a pig and a gopher? Very few people worry about people going and shooting gophers and not eating them. To me they are both vermin, one just tastes better.

Same with trapping. Perfectly fine to trap mice and rats, but a bobcat is a beautiful creature, that can’t be humane.

With that said I have a hard time shooting a pig and not taking the meat. It’s not because I’m concerned with the pig, it’s just that I don’t like to waste recourses.
 
I find it interesting as we go down some of these side roads. What’s the difference between a pig and a gopher? Very few people worry about people going and shooting gophers and not eating them. To me they are both vermin, one just tastes better.

Same with trapping. Perfectly fine to trap mice and rats, but a bobcat is a beautiful creature, that can’t be humane.

With that said I have a hard time shooting a pig and not taking the meat. It’s not because I’m concerned with the pig, it’s just that I don’t like to waste recourses.
Exactly. You nailed it on the head. I hate waste for the purpose of enjoyment. Even the ground squirrels feed the buzzards and our breeding pair of Bald Eagles.
 
FYI- the feds are shooting hogs from a helicopter across the river from us. They aren’t landing and recovering the hogs. They let them lay.
 

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