Just heard on the NBC Nightly news that wild horses in drought stricken southwest Wyoming are being pushed by helicopter to feeding grounds to save them. Damn, why don't they just let nature take it's course on these feral animals?

Because they make money off of them. The honor farm breaks the animals and they auction them off.

For your information the BLM spends about $160,000 per day of our tax dollars, feeding these feral horses commonly refered to as Mustangs..

They should be shot, yeah the BLM and the horses...They literally destroy the range and cause the death of many deer, antelope and elk..A horse is the most destructive animal to range in the eco system...they eat all the way to the root.

Mustang Annie is responsible for this charade, another well meaning liberal idiot...

Amen, Ray, amen!

Yes! AMEN! The horses are not native, they are feral, domestic released and gone wild. Even in the beginning they were introduced, escaped from spanairds. They compete with native animals for water and food. They are a federally protected animal only becuase of bleeding hearts. But some good news. I was talking with a pipeline patrol pilot last week. He was flying west of Worland Wy. in the 15 mile area, it is a desert area south and east of Meeteetse and west of Worland. He swears he saw 5 wolves feeding on a horse carcass. He flew over three times to confirm it. That area is along way from Yellowstone and the mountians. The feds can stick thier horses and wolves "YOU KNOW WHERE"

What the hell are we to do? Now we got protected species eating protected species!!!

Damn!

For the first time, I am going to disagree with Ray Atkinson, a guy whose reputation I've respected for over 30 yrs.
I contend the feral burro is worse. They eat things a horse would starve on. And then pull the plant out by it's roots. They enter waterholes and drink whatever they find. Then they routinely relieve themselves in the water hole. Each burro eats 3 times the forage of a sheep or deer, and drinks 5 times the water of one. In the desert, water is the bottom line, not forage. Everytime you see a donkey, your looking at 5 less deer or sheep.
The great BLM spends up to $1200 just to capture one with a helicopter, in areas where even helicopters can't be used.
The burros are doing very well, BTW. Sophisticated aerial surveys indicate they inhabit some areas of the Lower Colorado River at densities of 7 per section. Far higher than any of the best populations of our desert deer and sheep. E

Ya those damn horses eat more then the tens of thousands of sheep and cattle run on BLM and state lands every year. If they did away with livestock grazing on public lands they wouldn't be feeding these blm horses during winter.

Then you have all the surface damage caused by coal,oil and methane in wyoming. Not to mention all the east and west coast idiots that keep developing subdivisions in big game winter range,but thats ok. Lets focus on a few hundred horses which are a drop in the bucket compared to the other factors mentioned above.

Whats really ironic is this thread was started by a texan. Texas the state thats went out of their way to import every species from bum fuck egypt and beyond and releases these animals so they can better compete with all the native species.

You can thank the bleeding heart cliff dwellers in NYC and the fat broads on daytime TV. Why don't they plant some of those wolves over there? According to some of the shrill post I've read in here, there wouldn't be any left after a couple of days.

[ 03-09-2003, 05:19: Message edited by: beemanbeme ]

Yeah but at least you can hunt what was imported in Texas! No endangerd species or protected stuff. And the Texan is on our side. At least not some bleeding heart, tree hugging, dick sucking, fudge packing, granola eating, limp wristed, sheep humping, dope smoking, BMW driving, pony tail wearing, liberal democrat!

There are alot more than a few hundred head of mustangs on BLM land . Take a look at this link ; the BLM even contracts to have water trucked into remote areas to keep hundreds of horses alive.

http://www.kbrhorse.net/news/cedmt01.html

Your tax dollars at work .

[ 03-09-2003, 18:31: Message edited by: sdgunslinger ]

Why not transplant some of those mustangs into Canada? After all, we gave you some wolves.

I have a use for some of those horses.

Actually, several different uses.

Daryl

Maybe we can get all the horses moved up close to Yellowstone. When the wolves start feeding on them regularly, the Mustang lovers will demand the eradication of these wolves that are preying on their beloved horses.

RMK: You should be thankful for those oil derricks, coal strip mines and gas wells in your state. You can't imagine how much more you would pay in taxes if you lived in a state with no energy resources! And perhaps you live in a different Wyoming than the one I have been familiar with for the last 40 years! Yeah a coal strip mine is an ugly sight but WE use the energy and we reap the harvests from that! And by the way I have not seen any significant permanent damage done by these three energy sources. In fact the land reclaimed over old coal beds is much preferable for wildlife than previous to the energy resource being harvested. The wild horses do not PAY the BLM like sheep and cattle ranchers do! Imagine again the revenue from that source and how much higher your taxes would be as well as your next Big Mac costing more!
The tax money wasted on these non native species and the harm they do to the native species is one reason I support severely limiting their numbers and not spending these huge amounts of tax dollars propogating the cute & cuddly LA and NYC favored animals. We in the west have to live ith them and the individual states should manage them and severely limit their numbers!
I take the opposite view of one of the previous posters - this is the first time I recall agreeing with Mr. Atkinson! Get rid of these pains in the asses (the wild horses and the burros) and enhance our native species! And, we should increase domestic energy recovery in Wyoming and every other state in our union! To heck with those Arabic people and their oil! I for one have had it with them!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Kudu 56. Why don'y you say how you really feel?
Seriously though, I lived in nevada during the heyday of Wild Horse Annie and her cadre of old ladies in tennis shoes. Some friends and I had a very lovely spot to hunt decent sized deer. Usually, in September we'd sneak on up there and scout around. Never had any problem filling out my tag, or my wife and kids filling their tags. Then they passed that abortion protecting wild horses and burros. The horses moved in and an area that always had deer now has literally no deer at all. That was over twenty years ago. I stay in contact with my hunting buddies up there, and from what they tell me, there are still no deer up there. The best thing they could do it make those critters a varmint animal with an all year round season and no limit. I'm sure there's a market for good horsehide. I mean holsters, and scabbards and such. You could sell the meat to dog food companies. How many here remember Dr. Ross dog food? So pure that it's fit for human comsumption, or so the commercials said.
Guess I just gave my age away.
Some of sure rejoiced when Wild Horse Annie kicked the bucket. Just wished that old bitch would've done 15 years sooner.
Paul B.

RMK,
I keep hoping that one of these days your going to say something that makes since..

My only take on your post is you don't care for Texans and just want to tell someone about it....It certainly has nothing to do with the thread and I doubt that any Texan gives a fat rats a$$ if some unknown, no name poster, from someplace in Wyoming who stalks the internet, holds malice against them for importing game and saving a species or at least makeing sure of its survival....

Well first off,the oil derricks and coal mines in wyoming produce a fraction of the income that they used to. The reason being,in the late 80's these industries lobbied and recieved lower taxes. All of this info was brought foward during the latest governor race. If coal was taxed like it was back in the 70's and 80's,you'd have 2 to 3 times the amount of taxes coming in. With as much export on resources as wyoming has,you should be pulling a royalty check like alaskans do. Instead you pay out the ass in taxes.

These mines used to allow hunting on their properties,then they totally banned hunting. Coal mining is one of a few industries that is held to any level of responsibility in reclamation.

The current methane boom is going to be paid for by the public. The companies doing the methane will claim bankruptcy and leave all the clean up to the western states. Most of the dipshits in favor of methane were land owners who thought they'd make a bundle off of it. The catch was most of these idiots didn't realize that they weren't entitled to any money,because they didn't hold the mineral rights to their own properties. Now these guys are all crying.

Say you do get rid of the wild horses,all that will happen is you'll have more room for cows and sheep on public lands and the wildlife will still suffer.

Then you got ray crying a fuckin' river again. I don't have anything against texas,its just funny that a texan would be worried about wild horses in some other state,when their own state is full of non native species.

The wild horse issue is kind of like the war on drugs,its a big joke. But ray kid of liked the war on drugs since he's pulling some bullshit pension off the goverment now. Right ray.

Looks like RMK's mommy finaly let him back online.

Brian.

I'll add that there is not and never was a single "wild" horse in the new world, including the United States. These horses are "feral" and thus should not be held in higher regard than native species. They should be rounded up and sold for whatever purpose the buyer sees fit or shot and left to feed the scavengers. If it weren't for the Hollywood created fantasies in so many people�s heads we'd still be doing this.

40 years ago you could round them up and sell them at the sale barn. Some ranchers made it through the winters on feral horse sales. It's a scam.

I will agree that the BLM is a model for mismanagement. There are too many horses out there I will concede also.

However there is a place for the wild horses on the range. I have owned some and they are surefooted and good mountain horses.

That being said...a couple of you are being hypocritical. Wyoming is what it is today due to the mineral industry...not an excess of wild horses. Most ranchers are good partners on their BLM leases...there are more than a few that arent. A lot of wildlife waters at those stock tanks not just horses. When the livestock grazes down and you are in the middle of a five year drought...it does not take a rocket scientist to see the result.

As to non native species...I dont hear you guys bitching about all those non native chinese ringnecked pheasants or german brown trout that should be eliminated.

AS to wolves eating horses...hey it saves on elk...let them do it if they are able.

swede

Atkinson

There could be a market for Mustang horses in Europe since they have some good lines. Mustang are light and strong compared to normal rideing horses. I don't think the Mustang would get all the legs and hoof problems that manny rideing horses are getting.

I know a gentlemen in Sweden that have been thinking about importing Mustangs for breeding.

If I should get any horses again it would be Mustangs.

/ JOHAN