I HATE wild horses!!

[NeverStopHuntin]

I've got an archery antelope tag that starts aug 15. I'm pretty excited about it.

Last thursday i went out and built a blind on a water hole that we have hunted several times before. I left my trail cam hoping for the best.

Yesterday we went out to do a little scouting. Seen a ton of bucks, several of them nice ones and one really big one.

I hiked into my blind and pulled the camera. It has just over 1700 pictures on it. I figured that there would be a ton of pictures because there are wild horses and birds that also drink at this water. As i was going through the pictures it made me sick to see how many horses are hitting and the lack of antelope hitting it. It is a small tank and the horses are capable of drinking it dry

I knew there were a bunch of horses out there but i had no idea it was this bad. What really sucks is the lack of antelope!

We have hunted this place many many times with friends and family. It is usually very high activity with antelope hitting it every 2-4 hours. In the entire 10 days that the camera was out there antelope only came to the water 6 times.

I have a couple pictures where a group of horses are drinking and there is an antelope in the distance. The antelope never comes in to drink, just stands there for a minute and leaves.


The other thing that is weird is there are 6 very lage salt blocks not far from the water. I have never seen livestock in this area and there is no indication that another hunter is planning on hunting this water hole. Someone went to A LOT of effort to get those huge heavy blocks into that water hole. It is about a 3/4 mile hike up over a steep rocky ridge. I'm not sure what they weigh but i'd guess between 40-50 pounds. I'm thinking it is either a horse lover or someone plans on running livestock in there sometime soon. I just can't picture a hunter packing that many mineral blocks into a spot for a hunt. I'm not sure how long they last but i would think one of those huge blocks would be an overkill.

Anyways i just wanted to vent a little.

I'll be going back out tuesday and building some new blinds and setting some new cameras. There are plenty of other places to go.


Here are a few of the hundreds of pics

This antelope never came in to drink

This antelope never came in to drink either

This is what the tank looks like when its almost full

And this is what it looks like after the horses have had their way with it.

 

[HillbillyNnevada]

I'm not a fan of wild horses myself. I had a tag on the Sheldon here in NV a few years back and it was ridiculous how many horses were out there.

 

[REDDOG]

+2 to that. Ironicly it was that very same unit that got me hateing them 033,032,035 Nevada is a joke.(I used to think it was cool to see a few in the Bookcliffs)

as you are learning, they will take over a tank and spend the whole day by it, nothing will come in to water with them around. there is one good little spring i know of in the Jacksons that has some tree's around for shade, when one group of horses leave another grou replaces them, all the while you will see antelope and deer on the fringe watching, waiting. they piss me off!

those blocks were probly hualed in by mule for cattle.cattle associations hire mule packers to do it.

 

[Rem308]

Horses have to drink to !

 

[Shoottillthedustclears]

Wild horses are like wild dogs, and should all be shot. they are no good for nothing. Dont get me wrong, horses are great, i have a few my self, i team rope and ride all the time, but they are bad news. A WILD HORSES are in the same class as coyotes and wolves with me. killem all

 

[maddglasser]

We have the same problem here in the AZ desert with burros. They are not native to here but they are protected. Why can we hunt shrinking numbers of sheep, but can't hunt overpopulating numbers of burros?

 

[newbeestl]

They're not native right? There should be open season on them year round then.

 

[CAelknuts]

Wild horses and burros do need to be managed. I would not want to see them eliminated, as I do enjoy seeing them occasionally, BUT the current situation is way out of control and something needs to be done. While some might want to take the situation entirely into their own hands, there is probably a felony attached to that somewhere if you aren't careful. I'd advocate getting a lot more involved in the political process, and work to initiate scientifically based management upon wild horses and burros.

It would be very tough to institute in our current political climate, but it does need to be done.

 

[scottyboy]

It's funny, Australia is WAY more liberal in their gun, shooting, and hunting laws and over there you can stack as many wild burros as you can shoot, anytime you want, year-round. And yet over here in the "good 'ol" USofA where we are VERY conservarive in our guns, shooting and hunting heritage spend untold millions protecting the vermin feral species while they totally destroy the ecosystem that is managed for our native species such as our sheep and antelope. Makes no sense to me.

I'd run some hot lead or arrows through every one of them bastards if it was legal.. I hate them.
If horse meat is as good as zebra is, hhhmm??? Don't worry, i won't tell.
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DRSS Chapuis 470NE
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WSF
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NRA

 

[scottyboy]

LAST EDITED ON Aug-03-09 AT 06:55PM (MST)[p]Let me ask this as I'd like to see what ya'll think the reasons for this are? Is it because Americans have elevated and hold all equine species above the rest because of them being pets, comanions, work animals, etc? Hell, I love dogs, but if I was in Korea and got hungry, well, you get the idea...

I just dont get it..


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DRSS Chapuis 470NE
SCI
DSC
WSF
QU
NRA

 

[REDDOG]

Hollywood is alot of the problem. idiots that will never even see one are the people that protect them the most.

 

[silverstatehunter]

Anyone want to become a millionaire? Open a glue factory, and dog food plant in central Nevada. I counted over a 150 horses in two days of scouting.

 

[Willametteriveroutlaw]

Want to see a group of F'd up people, try and reason with the wild horse mafia.. What a bunch of completely deslusional people. Let the air out of em and hope they die in the tall sage.

 

[HillbillyNnevada]

I agree, the horse supporters know nothing about them. I know a lady that loves horses (wild & tame) so much that she missed a day of work because she was so upset when Barbarino broke his leg. She also sent the freakin' horse a fruit basket with a "get well" soon card. But she is rich so they call her eccentric instead of crazy.

 

[Gazelle]

Just finished bow hunting Nev. Tons of horses. I wittnessed them not allow big herd of lopes to water. They kept running at them. Lopes never did water after several attempts. Rubber blunts ?

 

[NeverStopHuntin]

How did your hunt go gazelle?

 

[greatbasin]

>They're not native right? There
>should be open season on
>them year round then.

Correct and Yes!

 

[Gazelle]

I killed one on the second evening. Lots of lopes but they all watered in the seep coming out of my h2o hole. all about 60+ yards out. Next day I put a portable where they drank but it spooked them. They then ran even further down the seep, So.....I pulled up my origanal blind and and put where they were watering now. Now they came in, spooked off the portable and came right in . That was so cool. 33 yards Dead lope.

 

[piper]

A little history, It was 1971 when president Nixon signed the wild and free roaming horses and burro act. thats the law that guides the way these animals are treated, it was back then the second most publicly commented on issue that congress ever had to deal with, only next to the Vietnam war. Velma Johnston AKA "wild horse annie" was the driving force behind getting the law passed