Originally Posted by
rogerstv
Those tagged and/or trained to lead the sounder to the trap are called judas pigs.
A local gets paid to harvest them. How feasible is it for an outsider to find a landowner with a hog problem and gain access to shoot them? Trust issues? Liability ?? I get the reluctance to tell every tom, dick, and harry "come onto my property and shoot them".
I ask because hog hunting is on my bucket list. I've been researching it for several years. Seems the only option for me at a reasonable cost is to hunt public land. But, I wonder what a night or two in a local drinking establishment in an area with a high hog population might uncover. Maybe a "come on out!".
I have no desire to pay an outfitter $500+ when I can pay an IL farmer about 50 cents per pound and "hunt" in a 10 by 10 pen.
The whole deal is just difficult for me to wrap my mind around. Southern USA has a hog problem. Hunters are willing to help alleviate the problem. But, landowners/government unwilling to make it possible. Seems like a CRP/WIHA/WIAH.... solution may help.
They have kind of s schizophrenic approach to the whole thing here also. I live right next to a national forest, county administers part of it. The County advertised in the newspaper for help with the Wild Boar problem. County wants you to pay a fee to hunt them. The overseer of this section of forest sends the hunters out to where the Hogs aren't and makes them come back for multiple hunts, each time with a new fee. I told him if he needs help with the Hogs I'm game, but I'm not playing his stupid games. Just tell me which age group of Hogs you want shot and I'll call you when I have my Hog.
My lease has Hogs periodically, a thirty mile drive one way. The lease is a lot less headache than trying to deal with the government.
There are Hogs within a half hour walk from my front door. One government entity says there are way to many of them and they need to be thinned out. Another government entity wants to milk as much cash as possible out of them and they play stupid games. Another government entity pays crop damage.
The farmers bordering the Forest are going nuts, I have no idea how much the county is paying out in crop damage claims. Must be a lot from some of the mess I've seen. Three or four different government agencies or departments working at cross purposes, who never seem to talk to each other.
I print up letters with a photograph, a copy of my personal liability insurance and a couple of references and short note saying what I'd like to hunt. Pop them in some farmers mailbox while I'm out driving around. I also get referrals from farmers on occasion.
A couple of places nobody ever thinks of asking are Golf Courses and Cemeteries.