Roundup!

[CAelknuts]

I haven't noticed any threads on this topic, so thought I'd let you all know that BLM is rounding up about 2,000 wild horses and burros in northeastern California and northwestern Nevada. I was out there last week with a buddy who had a pronghorn tag in Nevada, and we ran into BLM Rangers in both Susanville and Gerlach who were working the roundup. They told me that they've estimated the total population in that area at around 2,500, and they aim to remove 2,000 of them.

They've already finished with the California side, going north from Honey Lake to about Karlo, and the Nevada country at the same latitudes. They were working Observation Peak, Painters Flat (Lots of horse there, for sure!) and that region when we left. It really messed up the antelope hunting, but at least it was for a good reason.

My buddy ended up shooting a buck on the 4th afternoon, after we'd wasted too much time hunting some of my favorite areas, which also happened to be where they were flying and catching horses. We ended up going quite a way to the north, and immediately found plenty of antelope and got 'er done.

I suggested to the BLM'ers that I knew of a more cost efficient way of removing those non-native, feral horses and donkeys, but they didn't think they could use 180 grain noslers.

 

[NMPaul]

That is really good news. The wild horses destroyed that country.

Maybe the price of dog food will come down a little after this roundup.

 

[NVMULEDEER1]

That's great news....But there is more then 2500 wild horses in Northern Nevada alone...Where they get there estimates is beyond me.....

 

[BeanMan]

My Wife's Colorado unit 2 pronghorn hunt was messed up a few years back by a BLM Feral Horse Roundup. Usually you get to glass a bunch of bucks and pick the one you like. After having the BLM helicopters herding horses for a few days before season all of the goats were really jumpy and hard to find. Hopefully they will run them off of a cliff or turn them into dog food or something useful.

 

[cjboz]

nuttyelk you know what is the worst part of the round up? The corals and pens they have built with our taxpayer dollars in order to harbor these jugheads. They have no outlet for these dirty SOBs. I dont really enjoy paying for Alfalfa hay for those damn things, but look at it this way I would rather in a sense pay for a few bales of hay in a feedlot situation and have good wildlife numbers in those areas. Before the slaughter ban the indian tribes would make pretty good wom-pom off the sales of the horses. It was a win win, everyone was happy especially the "Frenchies" eating cactus/rock/sagebrush fed nags

 

[justr_86]

I think PETA should be held financially responisble for taking care of the horses from their slaughter ban!

There's absolutely no way to control numbers with no predators, all you can hope is one chokes and dies. Don't get me wrong, I love horses but wild horse numbers need to be controlled!

 

[cjboz]

Colic + wild horse = Priceless LOL

(for everything else there is Mastercard)

 

[NMPaul]

I think a helicopter gun ship would be the way to go.

If you noticed, there is no wild horses on the military ranges here in NM. They fixed that problem awhile back.

We have a huntable population of Oryx, Barbary sheep on some of the military ranges and they get $1600 a pop for Non Residents to come hunt them.

Meanwhile in NV they were thinking about making the wild hourse the state animal. Dont get me started.

 

[eelgrass]

What they did was fine. Their timing sure sucked though. Do they have any idea how hard it is to draw a pronghorn tag in Nevada?

Way to stick with it Dan.

Eel

 

[Model_70_Guy]

>I think a helicopter gun ship
>would be the way to
>go.
>
>If you noticed, there is no
>wild horses on the military
>ranges here in NM.
>They fixed that problem awhile
>back.

+1 NMPaul - They would make great targets for the gun ships and practical training for the pilots to play with all the toys on the gun ships. hell of an idea if you ask me..

Here is another thought for the gunships.. You know that little problem we are having along the southern most part of CA and AZ?
Fences? We don't need no stinking fences..
We got gunships, use them.

 

[CAelknuts]

The bad timing was not BLM's fault. They were delayed a couple months by animal rights idiot's lawsuits. They finally got a judge to allow the round-up, and they're working it for all they're worth right now.

As for what will happen to these non-native animals, I was told by one of the Rangers that some group has donated 38,000 acres somewhere in the midwest where these horses and donkeys will be shipped to, and they'll live out their lives at that location.

It seems OK for politicians like Dianne Feinstein to demand that all deer and elk be killed off from Santa Rosa Island, because they are non-native, but we can't do a damned thing, except these occasional round-ups, to control feral horse and burro numbers. Talk about Hypocrisy!