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  • Ranchers trapping hogs with cell phones

    Modern technology used to curb hog problem

    SAN ANTONIO -Feral hogs are a mean, nasty nuisance and over the last several years, they have multiplied in South Texas, creating a nightmare for farmers, ranchers and even urban residents.

    “Feral hogs are a pretty big problem,” said Nick Dornak, the Plum Creek Watershed coordinator. "They are an agricultural problem -- that is where you first see it. It’s an environmental problem and, ultimately, it’s an economic problem.”

    Hogs can do serious damage to grazing lands.

    “Our biggest issue with them is the grass and ruining fences -- they will come through a fence and plow it over," said Brian Heideman, a rancher in Caldwell County.

    “A (single) feral hog is responsible for about $200 a year in economic impact,” Dornak said.

    There are estimates that some 5,000 to 6,000 hogs roam Caldwell and Hays counties and that means millions of dollars lost.

    The hogs can also damage the environment. Since they don’t sweat, they spend a lot of time near and in creeks.

    "You are going to see increases in bacteria in those creeks,” said Dornak.

    With the help of contributions for Hays and Caldwell counties, and the company Cellgate, there is a new way to attack the hog problem: a remote-controlled gate on a round pen.

    The pen is about 25 feet wide and has a gate that can be operated by cell phone. There are currently three of these traps sitting in fields waiting to close in the hogs.

    Heideman has one of his land.

    “I never thought when I moved back to the family farm (that) I would be using my cell phone to trap hogs and manage the ranch, " Heideman said.

    The gate has a motion detector on it. When it senses something, it sends a text or email to Heideman’s cell phone, along with an attached picture.

    If he sees he has some hogs in the trap, he hits and button and the gate closes, allowing him to catch the critters from anywhere.

    “I have been sitting at a football game in Kerrville and checked the trap," Heideman said.

    The first night the trap was set up, Heideman caught 29 hogs. He said that is much easier than trying to hunt them down.

    "This is the only way to do it. It's so easy,” Heideman said.

    “This wireless trapping program is great because it allows land-owners the tools to handle this on their time when they can,” Dornak said.
    May we raise children who love the unloved things - the dandelion, the worm, the spiderlings.
    Children who sense the rose needs the thorn and run into rainswept days the same way they turn towards the sun...
    And when they're grown and someone has to speak for those who have no voice,
    may they draw upon that wilder bond, those days of tending tender things and be the one.

  • #2
    They'll never get ahead of the hog population but that being said……my Buddy Wendell makes the best of it on his ranch…

    If it pays, it stays

    Comment


    • #3
      If you prefer to be strapped to the side of an R-22 copter with an AR, this might be what you're looking for.




      You see, feral hogs ARE a huge problem in Texas but some folks are making a profit on them.
      If it pays, it stays

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      • #4
        This is a paid "advertorial" for this app (the news story, not the post here).

        Why send a picture? Why not have video, and why not close the gate and then send the notification?
        "Faith is nothing but a firm assent of the mind : which, if it be regulated, as is our duty, cannot be afforded to anything but upon good reason, and so cannot be opposite to it."
        -John Locke

        "It's all been melded together into one giant, authoritarian, leftist scream."
        -Newman

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        • #5
          Originally posted by scott View Post
          This is a paid "advertorial" for this app (the news story, not the post here).

          Why send a picture? Why not have video, and why not close the gate and then send the notification?
          My thoughts also.

          They already were using traps with trip wires.
          The gate is spring loaded, with a trip wire inside near the bait.
          The notification is good, because the hogs can root under the trap and escape if left too long.
          Robert Francis O'Rourke, Democrat, White guy, spent ~78 million to defeat, Ted Cruz, Republican immigrant Dark guy …
          and lost …
          But the Republicans are racist.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by scott View Post
            This is a paid "advertorial" for this app (the news story, not the post here).

            Why send a picture? Why not have video, and why not close the gate and then send the notification?

            With the right bait they could use this system to catch illegals.
            The year's at the spring
            And day's at the morn;
            Morning's at seven;
            The hill-side's dew-pearled;
            The lark's on the wing;
            The snail's on the thorn:
            God's in his heaven—
            All's right with the world!

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Novaheart View Post
              With the right bait they could use this system to catch illegals.
              Perhaps a new thread with suggestions for the bait.
              If it pays, it stays

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Novaheart View Post
                With the right bait they could use this system to catch illegals.
                RFID tag them then move them back to their natural habitat. If you catch them again, you put them down just like they do with wolves or coyotes or other nuisance pests.
                We are so fucked.

                Comment

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