A loss in the feral horse battle

Arizona doesn't have a lot of horses, but do have a bunch of them $^%% donkeys
Yes, tons of burros, but there are alot of feral horses here.

They have destroyed the Rim country above Heber. Just destroyed it! The country around the Salt River and everything north of Lake Pleasant isn't any better.
 
Thats right, you can find burros around any lake in Arizona. Arizona Game and Fish has never taken this problem seriously.
 
The taxidermist would look at you really weird if you brought one in for a shoulder mount
That would depend on what part you bring into mount. If I shot a big stallion, it wouldn’t be a shoulder mount, it would be quite the conversation starter though

“What’s the difference between the semi erect and fully erect form?”

“Yeah, I’ll take that one, that’s how it looked when I shot him”
 
What I meant, They sit on their hands and don't try to get the government to change that. I have complained to my US Representatives more than once about this problem.
 
They are killing off mountain goats in the west so maybe there’s a chance. People don’t care about the desert like they do the alpine zones though
 
Luckily I don’t have to deal with them but feel for the landscapes and native game that are suffering. It would be good if some hunters down there started to thin the herds and just keep quiet. How hard could it be? Would you do it if they were on the brink of eliminating sheep?
 
I worked closely with a local forest district when I was in oil and gas. The foresters (rangers) despised the feral horses. A stud will chase off the natural wildlife deer and elk) from water sources.

One forest employee referred to them as weeds and should be treated as such.
This is what prompted my rancher in New Mexico, to shoot them , chasing off
Everything from water ,
 
So I’m out of the loop here, we can have tens of thousands of feral horses destroying the land but somehow having a large bison population is some how a problem? I’m pretty sure a bison would out compete a horse and they are actually native to the US unlike horses.
 
Luckily I don’t have to deal with them but feel for the landscapes and native game that are suffering. It would be good if some hunters down there started to thin the herds and just keep quiet. How hard could it be? Would you do it if they were on the brink of eliminating sheep?
It is horrible that a hunter would publicly wish that someone else would unlawfully kill a protected species just because that individual doesn't like that species.

But that is to be expected on this site where it is unfortunately common for individuals to publicly advocate for the unlawful killing of species they don’t care for.
 
It is horrible that a hunter would publicly wish that someone else would unlawfully kill a protected species just because that individual doesn't like that species.

But that is to be expected on this site where it is unfortunately common for individuals to publicly advocate for the unlawful killing of species they don’t care for.
We raise donkeys down here as guard animals for some types of livestock
Donkeys will kill fawn deer , pronghorn, wild sheep, basically anything that isn’t part of the flock or herd.
I can only imagine what the crazed feral donkeys do to what they find on open range!

No one is promoting shooting eagles or anything, just stupid deductive horses and donkey, Australia doesn’t have a problem with shooting horses, camels, donkeys, wtf are the green wieners taking over the whole west of the Rio grande to the pacific coast !

And are you a wiener?
 
It is horrible that a hunter would publicly wish that someone else would unlawfully kill a protected species just because that individual doesn't like that species.

But that is to be expected on this site where it is unfortunately common for individuals to publicly advocate for the unlawful killing of species they don’t care for.

Are they romantic to you or are you 100% inside the law at all times? Genuinely curious.

If we treated them the same as feral pigs, which we should, would you feel different? Just because enough people in our society value horses over pigs because they are more charismatic (yet absolutely dumber) doesn’t change my mind personally. Many countries eat them and we should to. They’re contributing to the demise of deer and sheep in the south west. I don’t even like shooting coyotes plus they’re native. Ethically kill and consume 80% of the feral horses is what I say.

And if the people of this site bother you there are plenty of other forums for you.
 
Luckily I don’t have to deal with them but feel for the landscapes and native game that are suffering. It would be good if some hunters down there started to thin the herds and just keep quiet. How hard could it be? Would you do it if they were on the brink of eliminating sheep?
It happens but not a lot or at least you don’t hear much about it and rightfully so. I’ve had ranchers here and there suggest things. Problem is no one wants to go to jail over a donkey or a horse.

Another thing that might get you into bigger trouble is I’ve encountered branded free range horses on public lease land in AZ. One herd had bells on some of them presumably so whomever owned them could hear them and go round them up. There’s at least a couple of ranches down here where some of their mules run free. I wonder what would happen if you shot any of those up and got caught?
 
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