Tennessee agency traps hogs with text message system

6/18/2013

How many wildlife agents does it take to catch a wild hog? Only one under a new remote system used by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.


by RANDALL DICKERSON | Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)

How many wildlife agents does it take to catch a wild hog? Only one, under a new remote system used by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Richard Kirk, an agency program manager, said the new system alerts an on-call agent when there is movement under the trap. Cameras are set up with the trap and the agent can watch feral hogs by video, springing the trap by pushing a button on a computer or smartphone from miles away.

Agents set up a corral that is 35 feet in diameter and bait it with corn. When hogs wander close and set off a motion detector focused on the gate, an agent gets a text message. Then they can watch the video and drop the trap.

Kirk said the new technology can save a lot of staff time. Previously, four agents would study the feeding patterns of a group of feral hogs, set up the trap and then return early on the day they hoped to capture them. Now, they study the feeding patterns, place the trap and wait for a text message.

“This system allows one person at a computer at 2 a.m. to make the capture, versus four people spending three to four hours out there,'' Kirk said.

If I have heard/read correctly, there are some guys here in Texas already using a system like that.

The JagerPro guys in Georgia have offered this setup for some time. Here is a link to their web site: http://www.jagerpro.com

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
If I have heard/read correctly, there are some guys here in Texas already using a system like that.

Dang, I thought I had invented something that nobody else had.

I built a Deer trap, for Exotics, not native deer, operated with with an iphone from the house while watching the footage in real time from the trap on TV at the house.

First step was talking to the Game Wardens to demonstrate the trap. I had to go to the top level of TP&W to get permission to use it, since it could be used to capture Whitetail or Mule Deer (in the wrong hands).

I guess this saves me the money to hire an attorney to research if it has a patent.