Special Ops, Pig Patrol: Commando Wannabes Stalk Porky

[onehandle]

Source: Wall Street Journal

Tactical Hog Control, started in 2009 by Texas ranchers Clark Osborne and Mr. Dreher, is among a handful of next-generation outfitters across the South offering a new style of hog hunting designed to appeal to hunters' inner commando. Each client on a nocturnal hunt with the two men suits up with roughly $40,000 of military-grade gear, including semiautomatic rifles like the DPMS AR-10. The men prowl bumpy pastures and farmland in off-road vehicles bristling with gun racks and infrared headlights.

The equipment, combined with many states' loose restrictions on hunting feral hogs, allows hunters to shoot a number of pigs in one outing.

"I believe every man in the U.S. has a tactical gene," said Rod Pinkston, an Army veteran and former Olympic sharp-shooting coach whose Jager Pro guide service conducts high-tech hog hunts in western Georgia. "They've always wanted to be a soldier, a SWAT team member. We're the closest thing to combat that these guys are ever going to experience."

Take, for example, Monty Bennett, chief executive of Dallas hotel owner Ashford Hospitality Trust. Mr. Bennett's 1,000-acre ranch in East Texas is dotted with motion sensors that, when triggered, send an alert to his home speaker system in an electronic voice: "Alert, Zone 2." He then hops into his Bad Boy Buggy, a monster, off-road golf cart powered by a silent electric engine.
























Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303365804576430162413408674.html

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[xchrom]

1. ...

:eyes:

[Glassunion]

2. Ohkee Dohkee

I've hunted these exact same animals... But holy crap, I think some of the hardware is a bit over the top.

That said, the feral hog population is way out of hand and sometimes drastic measures are needed.

[IrishAle]

3. feral hogs are vicious..

We lost a lot of pets and livestock due to attacks and broken limbs (horses). Hogs are one thing that its hard for me to be soft hearted about.

But reading the story and seeing the pics. Maybe some of those guys might want to volunteer for the service instead of putting down a couple of grand to play Pork Soldier.

They'll take you up to age 40 now.

[AndyTiedye]

8. The Hogs Don't Shoot Back

[expatriate2mex]

40. They don't, but if you come accross one they will charge you

and try their best to kill you. You do not have to provoke them.

Discovery channel had a program on feral hogs:

http://blogs.discovery.com/discovery-insider/2011/01/hogs-gone-wild.html

In many states, like arkansas, the wildlife officials are behind getting them "thinned" if not eliminated.

http://thecabin.net/news/2010-09-12/arkansas-wildlife-officials-want-wild-hogs-killed#.TlBNm6jRWcA

[Glassunion]

10. I do find it a bit silly myself.

Personally, I'm into conservation and with that comes population control. These pigs breed fast and are a menace to other livestock and produce.

The nice thing about them is that they are really tasty and generally, if you are on your own property, you are unlimited in how many you can hunt.

So once a year I visit a friend's farm and help him keep the population down. He does not mind them so much when their numbers are low. But every season they seem to breed 2x as much as the year before.

So, we take a few and I get a stocked freezer. It's basically free food, except I have to drive overnight to get it.

[Blue_Tires]

4. My "tactical gene" is easily fed by video games

must be something wrong with me...

[Bigmack]

31. My "tactical sense" was somewhat blunted...

.. by actually hunting somebody who could kill me right back.

Now I don't ever want to get all "tactical" ever again.

[Seedersandleechers]

5. I hope they use or donate the

meat for eating. Slow roasted whole hog above an outside pit?

[Condor30303]

30. Eating the hogs......

Really big feral hogs taste, and smell, horrible. The small ones are good. Hogs are a horrible destructive force in agriculture.

[expatriate2mex]

39. If you kill a wild hog when it's mad it will taste and smell

bad, if they are calm there is a big different and they are very tasty. Sounds funny but it's true.

[saras]

6. Even knowing how destructive feral pigs are, I want to arm them against these nutcases...

Maybe bigass suicide vests. If you can't hit me from 200 yards away, then you die with me. Fair?

[NickB79]

7. I don't give a damn what they kill them with, so long as they kill them

Feral hogs are DEVASTATING to local ecosystems.

[expatriate2mex]

12. Yep, these are getting out of control and DOES need to be done.

I keep thinking there should be a way to get the population down on feral hogs and feed some needy people though.

[Glassunion]

13. So...

That would be a "NO" to using Daisy Cutters?



*Scratches off list*



How about land mines?

[expatriate2mex]

35. I have no idea what you are going on about. unless you are insinuating

land mines can be bought in the us.....which they cannot. You can keep your daisy cutters also, I prefer a bow of 10mm pistol for feral hogs.

I personally don't care if you eat animals or not, the majority of us do.

[Glassunion]

45. I was joking. See post 2.

[RebelOne]

17. Well, why are you not out killing them? n/t

[Mojorabbit]

24. My husband uses his bow

No need for this ridiculous overkill with tactical gear. Good grief. Ferral hogs are tasty and I am happy to have a freezer full but really, what hunter worth his salt would not be embarrassed as hell to have photos like the ones posted above.

[expatriate2mex]

38. I agree with you on all accounts, it's overkill, feral hogs are tasty and I like bow hunting.nt

[Downwinder]

9. All that gear in Texas. In Hawaii they go out with a knife and a dog.

[tabasco]

11. Sick fucks. n/t

[Doremus]

14. Couldn't have said it better. nt

[RebelOne]

18. My thought exactly. I hate hunting whether it is a dangerous animal or a harmless deer. n/t

[AndyTiedye]

42. "Harmless Deer" Can Kick Butt Too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNGGbozilko

[ManiacJoe]

20. Feel free to explain your reasoning.

[tabasco]

26. Using military gear to hunt pigs.

Sick fucks don't want to hunt. They just want to kill. Like bear hunters using radio dog collars to "hunt" bears. Sick fucks, too.

[Ian David]

15. Pork Dawn

WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

25. Shouldn't that be PORKERINES?

[RebelOne]

16. Great white brave hunters.

Hunting with high-tech weapons that the pigs have no defense against.

[ManiacJoe]

19. Are you suggesting that is a problem?

With no natural predators, population control has to be achieved somehow.

[RebelOne]

21. That is a problem. I do not believe in killing living creatures.

Until I was laid off my job in 2010, I was a copy editor for outdoors magazines across the country. I would have to read and edit all the hunting articles. And they sickened me, especially when I had to edit the first-hand accounts by dumb hunters. I stayed at that job for 13 years and was sort of relieved when I was laid off.

[ManiacJoe]

22. That was definitely the wrong job for you.

If you are still unemployed, I hope you find something soon!

[RebelOne]

27. I am retired now. I do not need to work.

That was definitely the wrong job for me, but it was a job. The company was very good to me when they let me go with a very good severance package.

[expatriate2mex]

37. Exactly right. Feral pigs cause massive damage

and get out of hand quickly. Something HAS to be done unless there are volunteers to go adopt them ;and move them to your property. They are downright mean though, when I was a kid I had one come charging out of the woods and chase me to the house.

[expatriate2mex]

36. Why insert race into it? I am latino and latinos hunt wild hogs also,

I guess you would call us great brave brown hunters?

[santamargarita]

23. Which ones are the hogs?

[JoeyT]

28. The reason most states have such loose restrictions on hog hunting is because

there are few creatures more destructive than hogs. Other than humans, of course.

[Paladin]

29. Exhibit "A" As To Why I'm No Longer A Hunter Or Shooting Enthusiast.

The military wannabes and violent video game types are taking over, with predictable, stomach-turning results.....

[Lurks Often]

32. There are a lot of misinformed posts on this topic.

According to the Dept of Agriculture, feral or wild hogs caused $800 million dollars of damage in 2008.

Wild Hogs are intelligent and have no natural predators in the US that impact their populations to any significant degree other then man.
They can smell people up 7 miles away and when confronted can run at 30 mph for short distances.

They are considered an invasive species and found in 39 states. Many states require no license and have no limit on how many wild hogs can be killed. New York and Illinois, hardly bastions of raging conservatism, are among those states without limits.

Scientists have considered poisons and birth control, but haven't found a way to make sure that it only impacts the wild hogs and think that it'll be 5-10 years before those methods might be usable.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/A-Plague-of-Pigs-in-Texas.html?c=y&page=1

Based on what I have read, a person hunting hogs rarely gets a chance to fire 3 shots before the pigs have disappeared into the darkness and you can't get closer then a hundred yards, so night vision and scopes on the rifles are a necessity. Apparently you can't get close to or even find them most of the time in the daylight since they tend to retreat deep into the brush.

[Paladin]

34. Oh, Please.

Plenty of hogs are killed in the daylight on a regular basis, and you don't need to "fire 3 shots" to accomplish it. The guys in these pictures are utilizing assault-style rifles and hyped-up tech devices for their own geeky pleasure---sound game management practices and conscientious predator control don't even enter into the twerpy mind games they're playing. They ought to be embarrassed, but I doubt they're capable of it.

And wild hogs wouldn't have evolved into such a modern-day problem in places like Texas if ranchers hadn't implanted them back in the 50's and 60's as an enticement to get hunters to pay for the privilege of hunting them. What goes around.....

[Lurks Often]

43. Apparently you didn't read the article

This isn't about hunting for sport or food, this is about hunting to remove a destructive pest and killing as many of them as possible, much as if you were trying to remove termites from a house or get rid of rats.

The feral pig (or wild hog, whichever) is a problem in THIRTY NINE states, not just Texas and most of those states do not require a permit to hunt feral pigs or have a limit on how many you can kill.

It doesn't much matter who is at fault for the problem, it is now a matter of fixing it and since in 2008 the Dept of Agriculture stated that feral pigs had caused $800 million dollars in damage, much of it to crop lands, maybe something should be done?

The use of semi automatic rifles and night vision is to enable the hunter to see the feral pigs at night and get off more then one shot, in attempt to get several pigs at once, before they bolt into the brush. You did see that they are able to run 30 mph over short distances?

Your post shows that you don't have the faintest idea of the scope of the problem or how difficult it to hunt feral pigs. Since you can't be bothered to spent 15 minutes or so to do some basic research on your own before you spout off, you aren't worth listening to.

Edited for grammar

[Paladin]

44. We've Got Feral Pigs On My Family's Place In Texas.

I receive regular reports from relatives about the hogs' destructiveness and of ongoing efforts to control them. So kindly get out of my face about having no knowledge of this problem. Whatever control measures my family is considering, setting up a nighttime safari for a bunch of over-armed yahoos who have watched way too many "Rambo" movies isn't in the mix.

Ascribing any noble or constructive motives to such people is laughable. If anyone has any doubts about this, I invite you to visit the DU Guns forum, where the bizarre thinking of such gun-toting tacticalcrats is on daily display.....

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Condor30303]

41. Not always sport hunting...

It occurs to me that the OP was talking about somewhat strange sport hunting, and the tone of most of the comments are also geared to sport hunting.

There is a lot of Government sponsored or encouraged eradication hunting for feral hogs, which should be an indication of the scope of the problem.

These hogs are not harvested for meat, they are killed and left where they lay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR4Y_GVqFmE&feature=related

This discussion reminds me of something I always found interesting about Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. He was the champion of many creatures not pretty and potentially deadly, but he had no problem with the (humane) killing of destructive, invasive species.