06-22-2013, 06:28 PM
Rick...feral cows are also not gentle little Iowa bessies...Being from Illinois, I felt much as you...but hunting feral cattle is tough...It is hard to image how tough until you talk to Jack Jeffries about the work Hakalau Natural Reserve had to do to empty their 'ungulate free' areas from cattle (it had been range land & the previous owner had stated they had 'pretty much' empty the range of cattle...) well over 500 head have been taken down...
The initial thoughts by most were to allow open hunting, but hunters only got a small fraction of the cattle...pretty much the "easy pickins".. then to sharpshooter, with the idea of donating the meat...but the cost of removing even field dressed carcasses was very high -as most of the area is chuck full of steep gullies & flash wash areas... helicopters were the only thing to get the meat out...making a high price for a fairly tough meat good for grinding, at the price per pound of the most expensive filet on the menu.... after a few tries they chucked that idea & just felled them in place & left them (there were reasons to & not to do that, but the economics always ended up with how hard it is to move the carcasses...)
Study on Hakalau feral pig removal:
http://hilo.hawaii.edu/hcsu/documents/hc...nalpdf.pdf
One thing I have come to appreciate is some of my fellow classmates, younger surfer looking grad students, who will surprise you with their game pictures - rodeo & sharp shooting are very popular sports for both the males & females - & more than a few times I have been taken aback at the some of these students are taking down...and I have been on some of the game trails..many are sharp lava boulder paths for miles, weaving in & out of rough tangles forest & though deep gully washes & swamps...most are barely 4WD ATV. and some are by foot only....
Here is a link to a NYTimes article on pig hunting on Oahu, which I have heard is easier than here (added at least the pics are of easier trails):
http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/tra...l?emc=eta1&_r=1&
The initial thoughts by most were to allow open hunting, but hunters only got a small fraction of the cattle...pretty much the "easy pickins".. then to sharpshooter, with the idea of donating the meat...but the cost of removing even field dressed carcasses was very high -as most of the area is chuck full of steep gullies & flash wash areas... helicopters were the only thing to get the meat out...making a high price for a fairly tough meat good for grinding, at the price per pound of the most expensive filet on the menu.... after a few tries they chucked that idea & just felled them in place & left them (there were reasons to & not to do that, but the economics always ended up with how hard it is to move the carcasses...)
Study on Hakalau feral pig removal:
http://hilo.hawaii.edu/hcsu/documents/hc...nalpdf.pdf
One thing I have come to appreciate is some of my fellow classmates, younger surfer looking grad students, who will surprise you with their game pictures - rodeo & sharp shooting are very popular sports for both the males & females - & more than a few times I have been taken aback at the some of these students are taking down...and I have been on some of the game trails..many are sharp lava boulder paths for miles, weaving in & out of rough tangles forest & though deep gully washes & swamps...most are barely 4WD ATV. and some are by foot only....
Here is a link to a NYTimes article on pig hunting on Oahu, which I have heard is easier than here (added at least the pics are of easier trails):
http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/tra...l?emc=eta1&_r=1&