Wild horses in Alberta

Here is another question. How do you as hunters feel about wild or feral pigs that roam free(and yes they do exsist)? Should they be protected as well?
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The Pigs
They should be allowed to fatten up enough so they taste great. Also their nuts removed , then released till their fat enough to get harvested(taste better, done all the time in florida).
As for horses being a danger , they can be very dangerous , and kill you pretty quick with their front feet. I got hit so fast I did not even see him get up(still in rehab) . I can certainly see a need to control the studs. I still think their wonderful animals that folks should try and protect. If this means gelding the stallions so be it. :runaway:
 
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Interesting thought nexgen with the winding up the anti's.
I grew up in Sundre, the area where this is going on, and have heard of folks shooting the wildies for wolf bait, or even grizzly when it was open. That seems that poor ethics to me no doubt.
Having said that, there are no shortage of idiots, even in small communities and some get a hair brained idea it is cool to just up and shoot stuff.

As far as the damage they do, it isn't very hard to find them out there. Generally I've seen them from west of Cochrane up to Caroline in groups of five to a dozen or so. They are the loudest bloody animal to run through the bush, easily double that of Elk.

They seem to find an area they like and they won't leave it unless they are chased off, but they still return. In the old clearcut trails, the studs will keep topping up their "stud piles" on a year round basis to mark their territory. Some are two feet round and as high as the droppings will stack!
 
Teapot said:
Horses were and are wild animals. They are even of cave paintings from before the Neanderthal period. Nature can sort things out. Some people just like to play God and feel important, "Doing a MAN's work by hunting some horses with a firearm." Go out naked and use your teeth and claws to sort out nature" Some of these horse killers are probably obese city slickers who feel powerful with a firearm because their muscles are puny. Or they are so arogant that they think they are setting things straight with their slaughter.
In the US they feel wild animals are should only exist if they serve man. That is why they hate wolves and cayotes. They kill livestock that translates into money or lost money.
Let's just kill everything and build one large city over all the land masses and get it over with.
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The American like wolves! That's why they thought it would be cool to get a bunch from Banff and transplant them into the Yosemite Nat. Park. Low and behold they put a licking on the Elk herds there!
 
To all those who think that humans should't manage the environment -wake up! We have altered the enviroment in many ways already. Just look at the so called "Prairies" - lots of wheat fields, not much prairie. Native ecosystems are under huge stress. To just say " let nature take it's course" is to deny the HUGE impact we have already had on western ecosytems -farming, logging, climate change, urbans sprawl, you name it. I just don't understand how some can think that just because some introduced, non native animals are "pretty" that they have a right to be here, regardless of the ecological damage they cause. Starlings are pretty, but they've largely displaced our native bluebirds in many areas. Escaped, farmed atlantic salmon are displacing our native pacific salmon in some streams. Leafy spurge is a noxious & useless weed taking over western rangeland. They're all the same to me - wild horses too! There are only a few species that do not displace natives when they are introduced, and in rare instances, they are a complete benefit. Pheasant come to mind. In a few, select cases introduced trout are an ecological benefit. But not allways! Cutthroat have been severely stressed by introduced Rainbows throughout their range. Ecological integrity should direct our opinions and public policy, NOT personal likes and biases.
 
I must've missed the article where a pack of wild horses jumped off a truck, ran through a neighbourhood and mauled little children.

Your scenario has nothing to do with what we're talking about. Perhaps those tigers shouldn't have been on a circus truck in the first place, though...
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It has everything to do with the thread of disscusion:

It addressed the opinion that nature would sort it self out and it also addressed the love that people feel for charismatic mega fauna. You further enforced this with your opinion that tigers should not be in trucks.LOL. If I had said meat king chickens you would not have cared.

All the horse love going on here sure makes it easy to understand the antis horror of killing bambi, bears etc.
 
All the horse love going on here sure makes it easy to understand the antis horror of killing bambi, bears etc
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I don't see it that way, horses and dogs have been working for man for a long time, and that makes it hard to forget all of that. Deer and bears on the other hand have been hunted by man , maybe on horses , and maybe with dogs . This mindset may change but its to late to change my feeling on the subject:)
 
For those who suggest that hunters be allowed to harvest wild horses I got to ask a stupid question!:confused: Suppose that the powers, or government or whoever recognize the need to cull the wild horses and allow a special hunt. How do we insure that only wild horses or feral horses are shot and that Tony the pony or Mr. Ed are not done in as well?:confused: Now I know the difference between a wild horse and a domestic one, especially the ones with saddles and rider!:p And I expect that every hunter experienced with this area of Alberta would.:) CGNs would for sure.;) Imagine the first year hunter, who is successful in the first ever wild horse draw?:rolleyes: Guides:runaway: , outfitters:runaway: hunters with horses:runaway: , ranchers:( and pleasure riders all use this area:runaway: . Would this be a wild horse hunt:) or just a supervised kill:mad: ? If it’s the later, I would leave it to the Government to do the dirty work.:cool:
 
Yeah I agree Levi, I grew up with horses and definetley feel more kinship with them then with bullwinkle or a stinky mule deer buck. I guess what has hapened in the non hunting population is that they are starting to confuse the bond that is possible between domestic animals and humans with what they feel about wild animals. An extension of this is the ridiculous relationship some people have with thier dogs/cats.
I am just cranky enough these days to figure a 180 grain slug in the lungs feels just about the same to all god's creatures no matter how I feel about them.
 
darko said:
I must've missed the article where a pack of wild horses jumped off a truck, ran through a neighbourhood and mauled little children.
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i got bit by a horse when i was 4 or 5, it hurt really, really, really, bad.
 
Covey Ridge said:
For those who suggest that hunters be allowed to harvest wild horses I got to ask a stupid question!:confused: Suppose that the powers, or government or whoever recognize the need to cull the wild horses and allow a special hunt. How do we insure that only wild horses or feral horses are shot and that Tony the pony or Mr. Ed are not done in as well?:confused: Now I know the difference between a wild horse and a domestic one, especially the ones with saddles and rider!:p And I expect that every hunter experienced with this area of Alberta would.:) CGNs would for sure.;) Imagine the first year hunter, who is successful in the first ever wild horse draw?:rolleyes: Guides:runaway: , outfitters:runaway: hunters with horses:runaway: , ranchers:( and pleasure riders all use this area:runaway: . Would this be a wild horse hunt:) or just a supervised kill:mad: ? If it’s the later, I would leave it to the Government to do the dirty work.:cool:
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That is an interesting scenario that I hadn't thaught of, but very real indeed. It is very common practise for a guide or hunter to hobble or picket a mule or lead mare all the while other horses are tuned loose to graze at will. I really wouldn't want to be in the shoes of the offending shooter. The SSS rule may quickly come into play :cool:

Mig25: there's a saying that goes something like this: you ain't been bit 'till you been bit by a horse.
 
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gitrdun said:
That is an interesting scenario that I hadn't thaught of, but very real indeed. It is very common practise for a guide or hunter to hobble or picket a mule or lead mare all the while other horses are tuned loose to graze at will. I really wouldn't want to be in the shoes of the offending shooter. The SSS rule may quickly come into play :cool:

Mig25: there's a saying that goes something like this: you ain't been bit 'till you been bit by a horse.
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If there was an open season, this "very common practice" would not remain very common for long.
 
I think after 500 yrs possibly longer that these Horses have been free. That they are indeed now a wild species. this is not like a bunch of animals jumped the fench at Uncle Franks ranch and are running around Alberta. These herds of horses have been living there for 500yrs or more. Yes they were introduce by to the continent by humans at least the species of today were. although there were native horses living in North America thousands of years before hand, but thats another discusion.

By some of the reasoning some of you are using Are the moose that were introduced to Nefoundland not Wild animals then?? or the Turkeys in southern Ontario?? etc etc the list goes on.

If a species has been living wild and free for hundreds of years and they are born in the wild their parents were born in the wild and their grandparents and their great grandparents etc etc seems like a pretty Wild species to me.

The americans won their indepenece from Britan in the mid 1700's would you still consider them to be British as they did come from britan mostly?? obviously No you wouldn't and thats my point, were you came from is not neccesarily indicitive of what you are today. same with the horses, Yes they were brought over by europeans however that was over 500yrs ago and they have long since been living in the wild indepedent of humans. So does that still make them livestock..... I think not, no more then Americans or Canadians are Englishmen.
 
Chopperhead said:
I think after 500 yrs possibly longer that these Horses have been free. That they are indeed now a wild species. this is not like a bunch of animals jumped the fench at Uncle Franks ranch and are running around Alberta. These herds of horses have been living there for 500yrs or more. Yes they were introduce by to the continent by humans at least the species of today were. although there were native horses living in North America thousands of years before hand, but thats another discusion.
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Interesting thoughts, there is no proof of that though.


The famous wild horses of Alberta's western foothills are a beautiful sight and they have become symbols of the wild frontier of Western Canada. It is believed the "free-ranging" horses are descendants of domestic horses that were used in logging and outfitting operations throughout the vast and unpopulated foothills region in the early 1900s. They roam the thousands of square kilometres of heavily forested Crown land that hugs the eastern slopes of the Rockies in western Alberta. The horses, which can be quickly identified by their unkempt, flowing manes, travel in herds of between four and 20.
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Hmmmmmmmmmm.........
 
brings to mind a piece canadian geographic did recently on the wild horses of the chilcotin. in one of their photos, a brand could clearly be seen on one of the so called "wild horses".
 
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