Oklahoma Feral Swine Control
Hogs
Despite the summer heat we still have plenty of brave souls that are willing to come out and help Oklahoma farmers and ranchers by eliminating a few more feral hogs.
Here's Hunter, Matt and Clay from Missouri with three hogs they shot yesterday evening. Congratulations gentlemen!
Here's Johnny from Missouri with a real hoss of a hog. Congratulations on both the big boar and your upcoming nuptials Johnny!
In case you can't appreciate the tusks on that boar, here's a closer look.
Here's how you relax and watch a show in Oklahoma. While the city folks are packing into theaters, we're setting in the shade with a drink and some popcorn, watching our buddy process his hog. :)
They are troopers for hunting in this heat !
Matt and Cheryl you too
Good job to all those hunters
I used to not like the cold much, but that Oklahoma heat has made me realize there is worse!
Great hogs, your hardcore!
Thanks for the comments Rob, Mike and Mike. I have to admit that these guys and gals are a hard core bunch of hunters. They predicted a "cold front" for Oklahoma last week so I got pretty excited...until I discovered that their idea of cold isn't the same as mine. It only got up to 95 degrees :)
Here's Ryne from Missouri with a nice Oklahoma hog that filled his cooler for the trip home.
And Ryne wasn't the only one bringing home the bacon! Here's his wife Lauren with a nice hog she killed with that pretty pink bow. Congratulations to both of you, and thanks for coming down to Shiloh to procure some pork. We appreciate y'all!
I still need to make a return trip out there. Congrats to all.
Are you sure those photos were taken in Oklahoma? Nowhere did I see a Mason jar full o'shine! :)
Bruce, if you're talking about sunshine, we have plenty of that in Oklahoma.
-Cheryl
Matt & Cheryl,
Not to bring up sore subjects, but any updates on the legislation efforts you've been facing? Hopefully by now, flooding and fences have become less of a concern! What kind of timeline does there seem to be? Our whole family is looking forward to coming down to see you on Christmas break!
The Fultons
Dave- we're still fighting but fortunately we've been contacted by several newspapers and television stations for interviews. We are finally getting the opportunity to educate the public a bit about what's really happening. The farmers and ranchers want feral hogs gone, but what they don't realize is that the Licensed Sporting Facilities are killing more hogs than all other methods combined! Unfortunately however, we are fighting the Oklahoma Farm Bureau and the Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture on this. The Ag Secretary has state on more than one occasion that he'd "personally like to see every hunting facility shut down". Being an appointed official, we don't even have the ability to vote him out of office. Our governor likes to hunt so we believe she doesn't even know what her own appointed official is trying to do!
At least we're not fixing flood gaps now! We did however spend a week in 100+ weather putting new siding and a fresh coat of paint on the smaller cabin. While working in the floods, I promised I wouldn't complain about the heat and drought once it got here....so I won't say any more about that...lol! Looking forward to seeing y'all again in December.
While working on that eave above the porch I got so hot that my eyeballs were sweating! By the way, if you work out in this oppressive heat, make sure to save your pickle juice after you finish a jar of dill pickles. It works like a charm when you get dehydrated!
Here's a pic of cabin 2 getting a new facelift.
Now back to some pig killin'! Here's young Ethan from Oklahoma with his first ever wild hog. Congratulations Ethan! It was nice meeting you and your dad.
And here's Ethan's dad, Kirk with a nice hamp-colored hog that he shot.
This is Matt from Missouri with the big boar he shot. You guys are some real troopers! The heat index was over 110 degrees while these guys were hunting, which in my opinion is just plain unbearable! They still stuck with it and got a few hogs to slip up and walk in front of them despite the heat.
Good job and thanks again for coming back down here to kill some more Oklahoma hogs! We sure do appreciate you all.
Matt's hog is a toad. No tusks but that thing looks like a trey easy. Way to go.
The latest Napper interview about Oklahoma hog hunting.
http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/Feral-hog-hunt-facility-fears-government-takeover-322460292.html
Thanks Matt & Cheryl for being the voice of reason. No offense Matt, but I think Cheryl stole the show!
Thanks for sharing that link Mike. They spent over two hours interviewing both Matt and I, and then edited it down to the 10 or 15 seconds you saw. Believe me, we had a WHOLE lot more to say about the issue. What really bothers us though, is that the segment did nothing to clear up the public misperception that we are importing hogs into the state. This is an illegal activity that us license holders have been fighting for many years. There will always be criminals who refuse to get licensed whom will continue to break the laws, but we keep getting lumped in with them.
This is all a part of a national hog eradication program that the USDA is pushing. According to several Ag Dept. Employees, the day is coming where there will be no more hog hunting in the United States, as that is their ultimate goal. :(
Oh great they want to leave it up to the government to control? I think we all know what they are capable of controlling, not too much
ethan was sure happy whith his hog! I was sure glad to see him happy
Sorry for taking so long to update. We've been making some exciting changes and progress here in Oklahoma lately and I'll share more of that with you all later. Right now though, I'd like to post a few more pics. This first one is of Karl from Illinois with a big wooly hog he shot. Congratulations Karl!
Next is Joe from Oklahoma with a nice fat slick sow he took.
And this is Jeff from Ohio with another toad of a hog. Congratulations guys! It was good seeing you all again and getting to host your hunt.
Exciting changes can't wait for the update, only 114 days until I return to Shiloh!! Hopefully there are a couple of live hunts before then:)
KSBOW, I'll be doing a live hunt in Feb. Might do one in October if I can get with Matt about open dates.
114 days will fly bye when a Shiloh hunt is on the agenda.
We're still fighting tooth and nail Pat. The bill was defeated in March 58-42 but the bill's author called for a reconsideration (something we didn't know they could do). Almost immediately, the Oklahoma Pork Council, and the Oklahoma Farm Bureau with their lawyers and lobbyists descended upon every Representative that voted in our favor and threatened them with pulling their endorsements if they didn't reverse their votes. So with that, the bill will come up for a re-vote next March. In the meantime, our Secretary of Agriculture has told two different people that he has the authority to pass the new changes with or without the passage of the house bill, and if he had his way he would "shut down every hunting ranch in the state".
The Dept. Of Ag claims that their goal is to reduce the number of feral swine in the state. Unlike northern states that either breed or import wild hogs for hunting, we trap these animals out of the wild from within our own state, put them inside a fenced, state-inspected and licensed facility to be killed. Not only have we reduced the number of feral swine in the state, but injected money into the economy while doing so.
In 2014 the Ag Dept killed just over 3,000 hogs utilizing helicopters at a cost of $1.2 to the taxpayers. The Licensed Sporting Facilities killed over 30,000 hogs while bringing roughly $7.2 million into the state from out-of-state hunters.
We have been working to educate not only legislators but the farmers and ranchers in the state who have been lied to and believe we are both breeding and importing hogs, rather than removing them from the wild. I wish we had more encouraging news to report, but all we can do in the meantime is keep fighting. The good news is that this has helped unite many hog hunters in the state and through the Oklahoma Feral Swine Control Association we are raising money to help pay for lawyers and a lobbyist .
anything we can do to help from afar?
We will let you know Fuzzy. Right now we are just speaking to as many groups and organizations as possible, trying to educate the public on how we operate. If anybody would like to make a donation to the OFSCA, you can do so at any licensed sporting facility, just make sure the check is made out to the OFSCA for tax and bookkeeping purposes. We will likely have another letter writing campaign to our Agriculture board and perhaps the Governor soon. I will keep you all posted. Right now, we sure do appreciate y'all's prayers!
