Just a quick note on pigs in California.

As many of your will remember they didn't start requiring pig tags in Calif until recently. First you got 10 tags for like 5 dollars then it went to 5 for 10 now..well lets not!

Here is the issue. California used the pigs tag revenue to talley how many pigs were being killed every year to make sure they didn't get over populated again like the early 80s. Then they ramped it up to start paying for trsearch. Next thing you know they really ramp it up and use the revenue to remove pigs, or cull them, from certain areas of the State.

I just do not like it!

Feral Pig Eradication Begins on Santa Cruz Island - You think they started ; ) to save the endangered island fox and nine rare plants from extinction . WHY not open some Federal Parks etc.. up to Hunting ?

I believe the pig tags started in 1991. The line from the DFG was that the tags would just be used for information to document populations and that the cost would remain around $1 each to pay for transcribing the data.

They started at about $5 for 5 tags. The price kept sneaking up until it was about $8 for 5 tags. This past year it shot to $15 for 1 tag for no particular reason. (Our guide license fees went up 100% at the same time!!!!)

It's not much money in the grand picture of our hunting hobbies but it's become a HUGE pet peeve of mine. We get NOTHING for the money. By DFG's own statistics around 94% of the pigs taken every year are taken on PRIVATE land. The DFG doesn't do much if anything to help manage hunters or the pigs.

They've been promising for YEARS to make the 2 day nonresident license legal for pig hunting but they can't seem to get it done. I guess it's just an inadvertent mistake that they make non-resident hunters buy a full year license and pay 90% more than the 2 day license. I'm sure they'll get around to it one of these centuries... Not that I'm bitter about it.

As with many government organizations, it's like dealing with a third world country if you try to get anything done with them.

Okay, I need to take a deep breath.

Kyler

The money is being used to remove pigs from areas near S.F, Monterey, and the Channel Islands. Rumor has it hey are paying huge moneys to the Institute for Wildlife Studies [ http://www.iws.org/ ]to remove feral pigs and they are contracting to NZ for hunters...just rumors in the Wildlife Biology world. I think it is owed to the public to justify these increases. There is no reason other than they cane, or they have legitimate reasons that we need to know since it is a public resource. Below are some of the published studies of the Institute.

Control of feral pigs (Sus scrofa) on Santa Catalina Island, California, USA. Peter T. Schuyler, David K. Garcelon and Stanley Escover. Presented at IUCN conference on control of island invasive species, New Zealand. (2001)

Control of feral goats (Capra hircus) on Santa Catalina Island, California, USA. Peter T. Schuyler, David K. Garcelon and Stanely Escover. Presented at IUCN conference on control of island invasive species, New Zealand. (2001)

Feral animal removal on the California Channel Islands. David Garcelon, Kate Faulkner, Jan Larson and Peter Schuyler. Presented at the 15th annual meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology, Hilo, Hawaii. 29 July - 1 August, 2001.

Approaches to removal of feral pigs (Sus Scrofa) from Island Ecosystems. David K. Garcelon and Kevin Ryan. Presented at the annual meeting of the Western Section of the Wildlife Society, Irvine CA, February 2003.

Techniques and approaches for removal of feral pigs from island and mainland ecosystems. David K. Garcelon, Kevin Ryan, Blake McCann. Presented at the 21st Vertebrate Pest Conference, Visalia, CA. 1–4 March 2004.

I used to see positions available for 'removal' of pigs on these project islands. The pay was poor but they used firearms, traps, etc to catch the pigs and remove them. This was supported by California.

quote:

Originally posted by Kyler Hamann:
I believe the pig tags started in 1991. The line from the DFG was that the tags would just be used for information to document populations and that the cost would remain around $1 each to pay for transcribing the data.

They started at about $5 for 5 tags. The price kept sneaking up until it was about $8 for 5 tags. This past year it shot to $15 for 1 tag for no particular reason. (Our guide license fees went up 100% at the same time!!!!)

It's not much money in the grand picture of our hunting hobbies but it's become a HUGE pet peeve of mine. We get NOTHING for the money. By DFG's own statistics around 94% of the pigs taken every year are taken on PRIVATE land. The DFG doesn't do much if anything to help manage hunters or the pigs.

They've been promising for YEARS to make the 2 day nonresident license legal for pig hunting but they can't seem to get it done. I guess it's just an inadvertent mistake that they make non-resident hunters buy a full year license and pay 90% more than the 2 day license. I'm sure they'll get around to it one of these centuries... Not that I'm bitter about it.

As with many government organizations, it's like dealing with a third world country if you try to get anything done with them.

Okay, I need to take a deep breath.

Kyler

I agree with you 1000%.The DF&G has done nothing in this state but play Kiss _ss to the rich and to blazes with the adverage hunter. In the last 45yrs Calif has gone from the top of the list of the top 3 states for deer populations and pheasants to down to the bottom. All there third rate biologist couldn,t help pigs propagate.They do it on there own. Leave it to them the whole state will and is becomeing a PLM play ground. Private Land Management and the F&G are just there puppets at hunters expense! van

It's no rumor; it's been widely reported in the press.

They're paying $5 million to a New Zealand outfit to remove--lots of helicopter hunting, I guess--the pigs from Santa Cruz Island.

flaco

Flaco is correct as to who they are using on Santa Cruz Island.

Pig tags have gone up 300% this past year for no good reason. They saw an easy way to bring in more money and used it. Pig hunting is becoming the number one hunting sport in Kali Land, and easy money for the state coffers.

I agree with each of you ; to a point. Yes the DFG is not doing enough for the average hunters like us. However their hands are also tied as hunting here in Kali Land,is not controled by them; but by the county supervisors in each county. The DFG can only do what they approve. The first step to improve hunting here is to take control away from the county supervisors and give it to the DFG.. (don't see that happing in this state)

quote:

They're paying $5 million to a New Zealand outfit to remove--lots of helicopter hunting, I guess--the pigs from Santa Cruz Island.

Y'all need to do some serious ass kickin' out there in CA. Why do the above when a couple of boys from Georgia would do it for Beer? Ya got some serious mental health issues in your puzzle palace boys...

You think that’s bad?!?!?! We outlawed cougar/mtn lion hunting so the Game Wardens and Government Hunters would have to ramp up their programs and now take more than the hunters did previously. Remember something about California. There are a lot of rural good old boys and men making a living in the mountains, but the vote is controlled in the state by just a few cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Diego.

Now that I have said that, did I mention I am a private Wildlife Biologist? Seriously!