Thursday, March 18, 2010
By the Way / Phillips Hog Wild: Forget Guns in Bars -- How About Guns Out in the Woods?
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 10:56 AM
How is it even possible in a state where everyone can carry a gun everywhere (except the State Capitol, of course) that we have a problem with feral hogs?
Can't we just let gun owners shoot feral hogs on sight and encourage them to go out and look for the animals once or twice a month?
It's costing the state $1,000 an hour to hunt these hogs and kill them. Gun owners, you would be doing your civic duty AND saving the state money if y'all went out there and did this instead.
It just boggles my mind that this is something we have to spend tax money on. Gun owners, you are completely dropping the ball here.
Comments (16)
Showing 1-16 of 16
Where are they? Not supposed to carry guns in parkland, and don't get caught on someone else's private property.
This post and the article referenced does not even mention their habitat or what to look for. All I so know is that it is safer to go at it from the air as they are a dangerous adversary.
reference from wilcoxwebworks.com:
"Again, hogs can be very dangerous! Their sharp tusks do not have to be more than an inch long to inflict serious harm to anything that challenges them. Dogs used to chase hogs are often cut and occasionally killed by large and vicious hogs. Extreme care must be taken when on the ground in the near vicinity of a group of hogs. "
Put Bernstein on the job.
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Once again, the Nashville Scene's apparent loathe for the 2nd Amendment of The United States.
This article is entirely misdirected if not irresponsible. Are you encouraging permit holders to take pot shots at feral hogs in the hopes of increased shooting accidents to further your case against permit holders?
While prescribed as "animal of nuisance" by the state (that means there is no season on them), you are limited to private land (your own or land hunted by permission) or state mandated Wildlife Management Areas. On the WMAs, most handguns are not permitted -only firearms that are legal for the hunting season that is open at the particular time.
The only possible handgun you could use on WMAs would be a .22 rimfire during squirrel or raccoon season. Hunting feral hogs with .22 rimfire is a dangerous proposition.
While you daydream about permit holders shooting up anything and everything that moves and seemingly encourage them to shoot every feral hog they see with no disregard for property, state boundaries or hunting regulations, much less the ethical and legal responsibilities of carrying a handgun in the fine state of Tennessee, over 500,000 armed citizens are walking the state at this very moment and are breaking no laws to speak of. All of this just so your liberal, half ass blog can scream "I told you so" when and where accidental shootings do occur and you can make increasingly pitiful attempts at arguments against the 2nd amendment masked in sarcasm.
Pathetic.
I say, put your money where you mouth is and take the entire staff of the Scene out feral hog hunting with .22 rimfire pistols. Since you are so concerned with the state spending $1,000 an hour, you can do some civic duty, practice fiscal responsibility and exercise a constitutional right.... The three very things that you are the most afraid of.
Feral Hogs have no bag limit and the season is open year round. Translation they are to be shot on sight. They are mostly south of 24 or in East Tennessee.
Every rssponsible land owner will kill as many as possible.
Eat More Pig,
Everyone knows they are biased. Everyone knows when it comes to guns, and now apparently hunting they are idiots. A quick visit to the TWRA website would have made this an entirely different story. No reason to get angry at there liberal bias, just throw out a few facts, call them on it ehwn they get something wrong, or don't comment.
Getting angry only makes their points, they can point at rants and say "look at the big bad gun owner".
Ms. Phillips I understand you have a pitbull. A common way to hunt pigs is to release a dog, usually a pitbull and allw the dog to chase the pig down and corner it. Then the hunter moves in and ties the hog and can take it homw and slaughter and butcher it in the normal way. So get together with your area pitbull owners and do your part, why does it rest soley on ths shoulders of gun owners?
W
Yes, and sign a pledge to support only Republicans, and join the NRA, and read only gun magazines.
Apparently so, W., apparently so. Either that or they're on to my secret identity as Jeff Woods!!!!!
Anyway, I wouldn't take a pistol to a pig hunt, nor would I put a ten year old dog with fucked up knees on a hunt. But that's just me.
And these comments just further solidify my belief that we don't actually have any hunters that read Pith. What kind of fool would leave it to a pit bull to chase down a pig? You have hounds for that. Once the hounds have the pig tracked down, you send the pit bulls in to subdue it. You might find a rare pit bull that you could keep on an animal's trail, but more than likely, you'd be stopping every twenty minutes and fishing them out of creeks where they stopped to splash.
But whatever. Everyone knows the commenters here have a notorious anti-pit bull bias. I wouldn't expect y'all to know better.
Ha, see? It's a joke. I am teasing you. You can tease me in return. It will be good fun. We will all have a laugh.
I hunt, I don't hunt pigs.
You may be right about the dog thing, I have only seen it done on TV.
I am used to Jeff Woods take on Guns. Also hunting pigs with a pistol is perfectly reasonable if done with a resonable caliber. I would need to look, but I think on private land there is no restriction.
All right, then, Milkman, tell me. Where can a gal find a deer skull in this area? Why is this such a hard thing to procure? I live in a rural part of the county. Deer eat my garden every year. I hear hunters in the hills shooting them all the time. Those skulls must be somewhere, but I am at a loss as to where I could go to get one.
And I feel kind of stupid about it, like the answer is blatantly obvious. But I'm asking anyway.
Aunt B.
1. Deer Processor: These are butchers for deer, there will be tons of them around during deer season look in locl hardware stores, grain stores, or gunstores for a name and number. They should be able to get you a deer skull contact them early in the season so they can find one.
2. Taxidermist: They can get you a deer skull, it will likely cost more money then a processor, you will need to find one anyway to bleach the skull unless you want to do that yourself.
3. A local hunter.
You can't find them in the woods, because hunters only field strip the game in the woods. The head is left on for transport.
If you want a skull mount, in other words a skull with antlers attached you will need to find a hunter that doesn't want his trophy and take it to a taxidermist or check E-Bay and craigslist.
Of course you could get one yourself the old fashion way with a rifle and a saturday in a tree stand.
Shoot, I don't need a deer stand. All I have to do is stand out behind the creek and say, "Oh, look at how nicely these vegetables are coming up" and that seems to bring them running.
That might work Aunt B.
Seriously though one reason they are not just chopped off in the woods and left to rot is that the size of antler matters. If the antler is under a certain size (In most states 3 inches, I never bothered to look at the law here) it is technically a antlerless deer and you need a special permit.
As a result you need to find one that someone doesn't want. So a processor would be your best bet as they probably have no use for all the extras they get.
"Gun owners, you would be doing your civic duty AND saving the state money if y'all went out there and did this instead."
Tell you what, you go out and round up all them pesky hogs and put them into a secure pen and then we'll come over and shoot them for ya.
Since you are so concerned with the state spending $1,000 an hour, you can do some civic duty, practice fiscal responsibility and exercise a constitutional right.... The three very things that you are the most afraid of.
I think I speak for all of us in saying the thing we fear most is going hunting with you.
I wouldn't take a pistol to a pig hunt
B., just so you know, I am stealing this phrase. I like it a lot.
My problem with hunting feral hogs with a pistol is distance. I can hit things at a fair distance with a rifle. With a pistol, I have to let them get a lot closer. And those pigs are mean...
Sandy, no kidding! I was trying to find a link yesterday to prove if an anecdote I learned in high school was true or not, but I couldn't. So, take this with a huge grain of salt.
But we were taught, in high school, in Illinois in the late 80s, early 90s that for much of the 19th century, Springfield was menaced by a pack of feral hogs. Decades these animals supposedly roamed the streets of the state capitol terrorizing, injuring, and occasionally killing people.
I forget what they finally did to eradicate them, but I remember just being stunned by it being a decades' long problem, even with the whole town trying to get rid of them.
Milkman, thanks for your guidance. I really appreciate it.
