Would you buy a tag?

No I don't think I would enjoy shooting a horse. I'm more than happy to see tags sold and people buy them to do something about the feral horse problem.
 
Yep! Sign me up!

just like any other 4 legged animal in our state, they need to be managed. They are the only one that currently gets an exemption, but do more than their fair share of damage and destruction....

Well that and another pest that plagues our land... but that discussion is a hot button topic to some on here.
 
They've Been Thinning These Bastards Out in Perty Good Numbers Here as of Lately!

But Not Enough!

Yet!

Americans Might be Too Proud to Eat them!

But Canucks are Eating Fresh Steaks!
 
I've said for years I'd mount a majestic stallion if given the chance to hunt them. I'd definitely throw my name in the hat for that one!
 
I have two questions here, and I admit I’m ignorant in this area, so I apologize if they are dumb questions:

1- Are these horses of interest to people for adoption? It seems obvious that the answer is “not really” based upon how many sit in holding ranches. But why not?

2- Have any of the bleeding heart organizations that don’t like them being killed, and oppose them being rounded up ever given another solution to the problem?
 
While they need to be managed I could not shoot one, had to shoot a horse once. I will not ever do that again unless absolutely necessary.
 
I’ve eaten horse before and would again. But no one else around here would. Besides I’d have to buy 2 more freezers for meat that I couldn’t give away
 
Adoption programs have been implemented before, but with low participation overall.

There will always be "bleeding hearts", however, probably not at the same level as grizzlies as feral caballos are not a natural species that belong with deer, elk, and antelope.

It's a cultural stigma thing.
 
Yes, I would, and anyone interested in management should be onboard even if they don't want to shoot one themselves.

Zeke
 
No problem here if someone else wants to hunt them since they definitely need managed. I have no interest in hunting horse but wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet on an aggressive stallion. They can be real pricks as we have experienced.
 
tailchasers said:
No problem here if someone else wants to hunt them since they definitely need managed. I have no interest in hunting horse but wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet on an aggressive stallion. They can be real pricks as we have experienced.
Click to expand...

Yeah especially calling coyotes. We have ran into some aggressive horses out in the sage.
 
I was born and raised on a ranch and team roped and calf roped for several years so horses have always been a part of my life. I still ride and cowboy quite a bit and really enjoy horses. I've put down a couple of horses and a couple of mules. I put down one of my head horses that I roped on in high school and for several years afterward. That was a pretty tough deal.

With all that being said the wild horses are a different story and I'd be more than happy to whack a few of them. They're a real problem and are very detrimental to the habitat and especially waterholes. They need to be managed way better than they are.

I have a buddy that had a horse BBQ a few years ago and the meat was really good. Several people were a little reluctant to try it but once they did most enjoyed it.
 
I don't have any interest in a freezer full of horse meat even though I'm sure the meat is fine. I would have no problem with someone collecting a bunch of horse meat. They are terrible for the habitat. In some areas, they should be managed the same as coyotes.
 
Shed hunting out in the SW desert and in Nevada this spring I've seen first hand the damage they do to the range. I'd love to put a Slick Trick through a big black stallion! Pack out looks easy.....
20200603_220759.jpg
 
I was down on the SW two years ago, I was shocked at the amount of horses on that unit...
 
If you mixed good beef fat with horse meat and served burgers, no one would know the difference. I think Horse should be in the state hunting proclamations.You might not get horns or antlers out of the deal but you get a real pretty hide and no two the same in color. In order to draw an OIL Tag you must first draw a horse tag. This would also ease the strain of everyone hunting Deer and Elk. The Horse Tag will be a special tag, it is the only hunting tag that you will be able to gift to a friend or relative.You will also be able to party hunt with a Horse Tag. Let‘s say 5 people put in for a party hunt and all 5 draw, that means if one guy is sitting at a water hole by himself and a whole herd comes in, he is legal to herd shoot up to five animals by himself. Good luck out there!
 
Vanilla said:
I have two questions here, and I admit I’m ignorant in this area, so I apologize if they are dumb questions:

1- Are these horses of interest to people for adoption? It seems obvious that the answer is “not really” based upon how many sit in holding ranches. But why not?

2- Have any of the bleeding heart organizations that don’t like them being killed, and oppose them being rounded up ever given another solution to the problem?
Click to expand...
Nobody wants them. They are ugly and inbred. There is a reason the government is paying people a $1000 to take them. Not saying they can’t be good horses, but damn they ugly.
 
I would definitely buy a tag and be a huge supporter of the program. I've never tried horse meat, but I can't imagine it would be too different from elk or moose... I mean, aren't they just horses with antlers??? :geek:
 
Yep! Im in 100%
removing only 12k animals wont even make a dent. I also feel their numbers are low! id say 100k + or more feral horses in the west.
 
Giddyup said:
Nobody wants them. They are ugly and inbred. There is a reason the government is paying people a $1000 to take them. Not saying they can’t be good horses, but damn they ugly.
Click to expand...

That is interesting. I am not a horse guy, I don't really know anything about them. My naive and ignorant belief would have been that wild horses living off the land would be tougher and more desirable than others for certain tasks. Maybe not as a simple trail riding horse, but I'd think for packing, etc, they would be great options (once broke). But that belief appears to be way off. Learned something new today.
 
It wouldn't be a tough hunt, but if they decided to issue tags and let hunters help control the population, I'd want in. I spent all day Mon & Tues this week on Utah's southwest desert unit. I saw 5 antelope, 5 elk, 6 deer, and 85 wild horses. And I was careful not to count the same ones twice. The population has been out of control out there for years now.
 
Years ago my uncle had a job as a kid working at a slaughter house. Some times they would bring in so called wild horses for slaughter.

The better cuts were shipped back east to high end butcher shops, the rest was made into a meel for mink farms.

Any way my uncle pulled a foal out of a gut pile. That horse worked the ranch for 30+ years, was the smartest horse ever.

Several generations of her offspring also worked the ranch.

Here is my Dad on one of her offspring.

Tikka I hear you about the south west desert.
I spend some time out there and some areas are just depressing.

I am afraid logical solutions to most problems now days just don’t happen.

5B07F09F-5340-48C6-8E2F-DAE5E1B6DE92.jpeg
 
scandalousbob said:
It wouldn't be a tough hunt, but if they decided to issue tags and let hunters help control the population, I'd want in. I spent all day Mon & Tues this week on Utah's southwest desert unit. I saw 5 antelope, 5 elk, 6 deer, and 85 wild horses. And I was careful not to count the same ones twice. The population has been out of control out there for years now.
Click to expand...
Scandalous, even though you saw 85 horses out there I would have thought you would have seen at least that many Antelope in 2 days.

I saw 15 or 20 just going up the Minersville HYW this morning.

Do you have a SWD tag of some sort?
 
Yes, my wife and daughter both have SW Desert rifle deer tags and I've got a late rifle elk tag. We usually come in from the south end. The antelope I saw on Monday were just off the 8 mile road.
 
I have eaten horse meat more than once.
and it’s very good.
Funny many other country’s eat horse meat like we eat beef...
Yet they won’t drink milk or eat beef.
All in what you were raised with
 
Bound to be pushback. There’s a small fortune being made by hay growers with contracts to feed them when the roundups catch them.
 
GlassMaster said:
I would definitely buy a tag and be a huge supporter of the program. I've never tried horse meat, but I can't imagine it would be too different from elk or moose... I mean, aren't they just horses with antlers??? :geek:
Click to expand...

Horse meat is kind of sweet. The fat and marbling is yellow kind of like a chicken. That can throw some people off.


Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
 
So what I can see from this post is exactly I what thought, there’s a positive income for DWR/BLM... vs. paying for this evasive species...

how do we as sportsman make it happen? Because it can be done, it just needs momentum look at what’s happened this past week in America...???
 
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The two herds of wild mustangs I spent time with were completely different. Up in NW Colorado (unit 2) they are cagey as hell. Much more so than the antelope, at least in my opinion. Also big stout fellows with long manes and tails. I can't possibly imagine that one would be easy to "domesticate".

In Az (near Heber) they are completely docile and accustomed to people. Some of them are scrawny rez pony looking things, that look like they would follow you home if you had a grain bucket. And they are everywhere, as are the posters explaining that they are protected and not to be disturbed. The fact that they don't have info like that for game animals says everything about the priorities.

Until the woofs get established, I'm afraid they might need to be "managed".
 
An invasive species with large detrimental impacts on native wildlife and the landscape. I'm not the guy to pull the trigger on them, but I fully support widespread culling.

I don't think people should complain about ranchers grazing on public lands while feral horses and burros go nearly completely unchecked.
 
I have shot my fair share of horses....

to euthanize them (I am a vet).

But as stated above, my wife would divorce me if I “hunted” a horse.
 
As an interested my side note:

you can shoot a horse and leave it lay for the buzzards, eagles, and varmints.
But if you euthanize one with an IV, you have to bury it (federal law) so no birds or critters die from eating it.
 
I think the general public would have a hard time accepting sport hunting. Maybe a better way would be to have organized cull hunts with volunteers, salvage the meat and donate that to animal shelters across the country. No doubt a lot of shelters would not accept it on principle though. They probably want cats and dogs to be vegan.
 
txhunter58 said:
As an interested my side note:

you can shoot a horse and leave it lay for the buzzards, eagles, and varmints.
But if you euthanize one with an IV, you have to bury it (federal law) so no birds or critters die from eating it.
Click to expand...
I can say from experience, a backhoe sure comes in handy for that hole. I'm glad I'm not in the horse business any more.
 
Vanilla said:
That is interesting. I am not a horse guy, I don't really know anything about them. My naive and ignorant belief would have been that wild horses living off the land would be tougher and more desirable than others for certain tasks. Maybe not as a simple trail riding horse, but I'd think for packing, etc, they would be great options (once broke). But that belief appears to be way off. Learned something new today.
Click to expand...

I’ve owned a couple of mustangs. Just like any other horse they have their quirks. But for hunting they make a lot of sense. Mine never needed shoeing so they never threw a shoe on a hunt. Seemed more surefooted than most other horses. Didn’t seem as spooky (except for the one time the hot air ballon went over us and hit the burner).

I see 100s while chukar hunting in Nevada every year and agree they need to be managed. They are very destructive during dry years when there isn’t much feed, or water.

personally, I have no desire to shoot a horse, or eat one. But I would not have a problem if others did as a management tool.
But I disagree with the “get rid of all of em” crowd.

And there are some beautiful horses out there. The notion they are inbred is ignorance. They are hardier than most horses living in a stall, getting fed hay with minimal exercise.

The desert is a harsh land with extreme temperature swings from summer to winter.
280C8A6C-C176-4D63-9E67-DB22F02FCAA9.jpeg
 
That one on the top left of the picture looks like a mule. I guess a donkey snuck in and got to one of the mares while the studs weren't watching.
 
Regarding invasive, non native species....
-Carp. They want them exterminated.
-Starlings. They want exterminated.
-Euro doves. They want exterminated.
-Noxious weeds. They want exterminated.
-phragmites. Massive efforts to eliminate that stuff.
-Raccoons. They want exterminated.
-Other foreign species of fish in managed waters-exterminated.
-Quagga mussels. They want Exterminated.
-Wild hogs. They want exterminated.
-Any other feral sheep, bison or livestock. They want exterminated.

that’s just a sample. Why are horses the only ones that get a free pass? They are just as destructive or more so than many other species on that list.
 
roadrunner said:
Adoption programs have been implemented before, but with low participation overall.

There will always be "bleeding hearts", however, probably not at the same level as grizzlies as feral caballos are not a natural species that belong with deer, elk, and antelope.

It's a cultural stigma thing.
Click to expand...
RR is right, there's even a series about some cowboys who broke them n trained them,I forgot the name of it. I'm a horse guy ,have been my whole life, I would not spend the time ,spend the money it takes to salvage one of these guys. The best thing that came from the mustang is the quarter horse.
I'd say I'd buy a tag, but wouldn't want the meat.
 
My uncle was a vet(erinarian) and occasionaly had a road kill steer in his freezer. Also had road kill horse once and horse isn't half bad.
 
Many wild horses are fine specimens of horse flesh. Just like people, some are better proportioned (more beautiful) than others. My wife loves seeing them (pretty), but we know the damage they do and they need to be managed.

It is quite hard to break and train an older mustang. It is hard to get the "wild" out of an adult mustang. The colts are more easily broken and trained. Once a mustang reaches middle aged, he will never be adopted and trained. It is just too much work / cost for the reward.

If anybody has ever owned horses, you know the initial cost (buying the horse) is a small part of the overall expense. Why take the risk on a mustang when decent you horses aren't really that expensive?

Bill
 
I’ve broken 7 mustangs. Four were two year old colts and three were over five. It’s work but it can be done. They make excellent ranch horses. A neighbor has an 11 year old gelding he rides four or five days a week. One of the best horses I’ve seen outside an arena at holding calves on a rope. For lots and lots of years ranchers and “mustangers” would gather mustangs and keep a few colts to break or sell. Then the BLM decided that they should manage wild horses. So they outlawed catching mustangs by private individuals and started the “roundups”. That typical federal ineptitude started us down the trail to where we are now. Liberal animal rights groups have sued countless times and even got legislation passed criminalizing horses going to slaughter. So now the ranges are overstocked and feedlots are packed with unwanted horses. It’s a joke. It’s mismanagement on a scale that is hard to believe. Horses are suffering, wildlife is being effected and the resources like grass and water are being hammered. I love horses. I care more for Horses I’ve known than the majority of people I’ve known. Mustangs have a place if they are managed right. But what’s happening now is criminal by both federal land managers and the bleeding hearts who think horses are Disney movie characters. If you put 500 goldfish in a aquarium made for 2 fish you’d soon have the same mess the rangelands of the west have now. But what would I know?
 
I'll take two. I've eaten zebra and burro, great. But would be selective and take only young ones.

If you send me to heaven and there is nothing to test my mettle, send me to Hell so I can hunt the Devil.
 
Horse steak I ate in Mexico. Tastes really good! I would definitely do my part if they gave tags. Would feed the neighborhood. Just tell em it’s cow because they wouldn’t know the difference.

48B6C188-6F67-4982-86E8-9C17F5D95DAA.jpeg
 
Vanilla said:
I have two questions here, and I admit I’m ignorant in this area, so I apologize if they are dumb questions:

1- Are these horses of interest to people for adoption? It seems obvious that the answer is “not really” based upon how many sit in holding ranches. But why not?

2- Have any of the bleeding heart organizations that don’t like them being killed, and oppose them being rounded up ever given another solution to the problem?
Click to expand...


Feral horses are weird. They are a bit smaller than most would think. I believe just because of forage.

Another is the issue of not knowing a blood line. If you have a guy that is born and bred quarter horses, its unlikely he will want a range mutt.

Look up Madelyn Pickens. She wants to turn a very large swath of Nevada unit 105 into a horse sanctuary.

What a mess that is.
 
mevertsen said:
Feral horses are weird. They are a bit smaller than most would think. I believe just because of forage.

Another is the issue of not knowing a blood line. If you have a guy that is born and bred quarter horses, its unlikely he will want a range mutt.

Look up Madelyn Pickens. She wants to turn a very large swath of Nevada unit 105 into a horse sanctuary.

What a mess that is.
Click to expand...


Size does have to do with less quality feed , but mostly from genetics. You're absolutely right though. I wouldn't want a mustang . The time and money you spend breaking one would seem like a HUGE Waste when I could have been training and feeding a good horse.
 
deerkiller said:
Regarding invasive, non native species....
-Carp. They want them exterminated.
-Starlings. They want exterminated.
-Euro doves. They want exterminated.
-Noxious weeds. They want exterminated.
-phragmites. Massive efforts to eliminate that stuff.
-Raccoons. They want exterminated.
-Other foreign species of fish in managed waters-exterminated.
-Quagga mussels. They want Exterminated.
-Wild hogs. They want exterminated.
-Any other feral sheep, bison or livestock. They want exterminated.

that’s just a sample. Why are horses the only ones that get a free pass? They are just as destructive or more so than many other species on that list.
Click to expand...
..pheasants
 
1911 said:
..pheasants
Click to expand...
Are one of the few that they can’t get enough of. Turkeys, chukars and lots of fish are in the same situation. However when turkeys start causing problems, they kill the hell out of them. Horses are still the only ones that have huge negative impacts on other wildlife and habitat, yet they are untouchable
 
I'd buy a tag if it was for Black Beauty or Trigger. They're probably to blame for most of the preservation of the wild horse to begin with. :)
 
Tikka said:
So what I can see from this post is exactly I what thought, there’s a positive income for DWR/BLM... vs. paying for this evasive species...

how do we as sportsman make it happen? Because it can be done, it just needs momentum look at what’s happened this past week in America...???
Click to expand...

well, the wild horse and burro act strictly forbids hunting of wild horses in the US so it would literally take reversing an act of Congress in order to make it happen
 
deerkiller said:
Are one of the few that they can’t get enough of. Turkeys, chukars and lots of fish are in the same situation. However when turkeys start causing problems, they kill the hell out of them. Horses are still the only ones that have huge negative impacts on other wildlife and habitat, yet they are untouchable
Click to expand...

True. Also graffiti on the landscape becomes protected once it’s ancient. In a thousand years every overpass in LA will be federally protected.
 

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