Hunters heading out for the opening weekend of Wisconsin’s gun deer season should keep an eye out for feral pigs — and shoot if they see one. That’s the message of the state Department of Natural Resources in a recent release.
The state doesn’t have a confirmed, free-ranging feral pig population. DNR biologist Liz Tanner said the state wants to keep it that way.
“If they become established in an area, they can be incredibly difficult to remove and just cause a ton of damage,” Tanner said. “And so everyone’s pretty vigilant about keeping them off the landscape.”
Wild herds of feral pigs have become a huge problem in Texas and many southeastern states, including Mississippi and Alabama. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which recently launched a $75 million eradication program, estimates the damage they do at $2 billion per year, mostly to farmers’ crops but also to property.
Tanner said they’re also predators of white-tailed deer and ground-nesting bird species.
In Wisconsin, biologists in 2005 tracked a herd of some 130 feral pigs in Crawford County, which is in the southwestern part of the state. But hunters hit the area hard, and Tanner said scientists consider that population likely eradicated, with no confirmed sightings in more than five years.
Leave it to gun toting citizens to get done what DNR pontificate about.
k:
Do you dispute the rationale for harvesting the feral pigs, or is this just another opportunity to take a cheap shot at a governmental agency? Perhaps you could cite some of the pontificating.
Nord,
No. Just noting how Patriots with guns can solve problems, the government can’t.
In Arizona, we have had a feral pig problem along the Colorado River by Lake Havasu. The State and Federal government has tried to rid of the pigs instead of allowing hunters to harvest the pigs.
The problem has gotten worse instead of better.
Yep, let the government screw things up.
From a tree stand just south of the MI line.
So you two would rather that the “government” should spend taxpayer $$ to eliminate a serious problem rather than allow a hunter to harvest some great tasting wild meat? In every other instance you fully support private action. Hypocrites.
Nord,
Just celebrating how Patriots with guns can solve problems the pontificating professors at DNR just talk about.
I support abolishing the DNR, not making it more incompetent like you suggest.
Le Roi, your lacking of reading comprehension just amazes me.
SHUT UP already. Bambi can HEAR you whacking away at your phone.
Sheesh.
1). No, he can’t.
2). I don’t care about Bambi. His Grampa, perhaps.
OK, then, smartass, how many did you take today?
HINT: Only the ones who didn’t hear you whacking away on your phone.
No dud, nobody, deer or otherwise, heard anything as my device makes no sound. And I hunt for quality not quantity. Probably far too complex a concept for you to grasp.
“Quality, not quantity”–the watchword of the guy who can’t hit the target.
Anytime you want to do some target shooting let me know. Centerfire, rim fire, clay, long arms or handgun. Any or all. You choose. Bring your A game.