Invasive species

[Doc]

I just finished an article in the Sunday paper that describes an event to try to trim down the infestation of Burmese pythons in the Everglades. They sponsored a contest which awards $1000 for the longest snake, and $1500 for the most pythons. Interesting how a small amount of money ($2500) will provide an incentive for people to go after this particular invasive species. It woukld never be enough to coax me out into the everglades to play with snakes mind you ..... lol. But apparently they are expecting there to be enough participants to make a dent in the population.

Of course that brought to mind our growing problem with one of our own invasive species, the wild boars that are taking up residence here. I wonder if some similar kind of "bounty system" could be implemented to encourage people to go after these critters? I don't know what the nuts & bolts of such a contest would be like, but it seems like something that maybe should be considered. This is better than a bounty system because you would only have two minor actual payouts instead of a chunk of money on each head. I know we have a law that prohibits state sponsored "bounties", but perhaps this kind of contest is different enough to not be considered a bounty. Or if that is really a problem, perhaps one of our private conservation clubs or coalition of clubs could take up the effort. $2500 ..... cheap enough for implementing a contest to help rid us of this potential environment scourge.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

They used to have one up North int he 90's for the largest Coyote of the season. I think it was like a new pick up if you got the first one over 60# or something. I recall they didn't really think that milestone in size was going to happen and then it did 2 years in a row. I think they quit it after that. So I think contests are fine. I have seen squirrel round ups each year too.

[growalot]

They do that here as well with the contest that's held every year don't they?...You know the one that gives all the local penny savers lots of money in bleeding heart ads.....

[Doewhacker]

A bounty for boars seems like a sure fire way to speed the spread of them by pressuring them.

[wooly]

I dunno about this one. One would think that once a population is already established, that controlling their #'s would be top priority. Short of eradication through whatever means, I think you would only be creating optimal conditions for the survivors of a species to flourish.

[G-Man]

Some farmers by me who have had big coyote problems put a bounty on coyotes, paying 60$ for everyone shot on their farm. not to menion the $ they get for the hide on top of it. got 37 coyotes shot off their farms in a week... money well spent they said! boars will end up the same way...

[Doc]

A bounty for boars seems like a sure fire way to speed the spread of them by pressuring them.

Yeah, I read where someone in the DEC was talking about how hunting would spread the hogs. And so, I immediately started wondering just how these Einsteins were proposing to slow or halt the spread. Are we supposed to just go out and pat them on the head and hope they all stay put and stop breeding? Maybe providing them with food so they don't leave the area ..... lol. I never heard the 2nd part of that brilliant statement that offers up what stops them if you dis-allow hunting. Basically what they were suggesting is to give up and let them reproduce. Oh and buy the way, the credibility of that statement was never backed up with regulations and laws to prohibit hunting them. In fact, they have publicly encouraged hunting by publicizing the fact that they are un-protected, unregulated and available for hunting with any hunting license. So I don't think they were putting a whole lot of stock in that particular statement.

One thing is for sure ...... a dead hog doesn't reproduce.

[Doewhacker]

Simple, if you see one shoot it. Guys have a hard enough time hunting deer and there are lots of them around, I can't see where pushing hogs into the county is a good idea.

[Elmo]

The south (Was it Louisiana or Alabama?) also implemented a state funded bounty on nutrias and I believe still does. They give a few bucks for every nutria tail turned in. It got a lot of kids to pick up a gun and go into the swamp to make themselves some money. Great way get kids into hunting.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Never heard of them....freaking Muskrat on steroids....11-20 pounds...wow

[Elmo]

They were imported from the Amazon and are now destroying farm land. I heard about them when I worked at the Bronx Zoo a long time ago. Met some other herpatologist from FL and they were telling us that's what they fed their gators since they had so many of them. We feed ours up here lab mice and chickens. Just pour a bucket of freshly euthanized mice into a pit with a couple of gators and let snack on them like popcorn.

This book is interesting if interested in invasive species. So many invasive species here in NY that I didn't even realize they were invasives to begin with.

http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Aliens-Adventures-Hunting-Invasive/dp/161212027X