Wild horses in Alberta

canadian hunter312 said:
the same can be said about deer...when theres too many for a certain area, people push for more tags. each area can only support so many critters before they start having a negative effect. cormorants are having a negative effect and people want to fix it...
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Nature and evolution have been working fine for billions of years before we came along ya know.

Cormorants are having a negative effect on WHAT? Wild horses are having a negative effect on WHAT? Its survival of the fittest out there... who are we to meddle with nature? No human has any right to say that a certain animal is bad for its environment... and we certainly have no business in trying to play nature's role in this world.

Kill all you want for food, thats how nature works... but to kill animals because you think they're being harmful to another animal is hypocrisy at its best.
 
Nature sorts herself out. The cormorant population will crash at some time. As for us needing to do something about it, that is laughable. "Manageing" nature? You mean before man had the ability to fcku everything up nature was at a standstill just waiting for us? Immediate gratification is the problem nowadays when the natural environment is concerned and throw in a hadfull of arrogance and voila you have decimated species like the bison, dodo, elk, and the reindeer up in the NWT (though they are coming back but not nearly in the numbers they were).
Facts just show a line on a graph. Leave things alone and as I said nature has her way of sorting herself out. 'Look! Crawling everywhere with machines of destruction! Is it a bird? Is it a storm? No, it's MAN! Here comes trouble. He says he wants to help out".
 
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Jack Brock said:
Now there is another point I don't shoot anything I don't eat. How do they taste?? Can there be a season for some horse meat like a buffalo draw, how about a mustang draw.
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Domesticated horses taste fine. An x brother in law worked at a packing plant that exported horse meat and he alway brought home a few cuts. I would never turn down a good steak, but the sight of the feral mustangs seems to stir something in me that says we don't need to eliminate em!
 
I don't think it has been said yet, but the wild horses that have been killed were just shot and left. No one took meat or hide or anything. Just left them to die and rot. These shootings are just spiteful acts. There are not a lot of them in the woods, certainly not enough that they would be considered a major problem. Perhaps a problem for a few local ranchers, but they should be asking for assistance or compensation from authorities, not taking care of it themselves.

BTW, there has been no proof that local landowners are responsible, it is just what seems the most logical.
 
I have no problem with hunting the horses in controlled numbers. Hell, I've eaten them raw in Japan and they are good tasting(raw whale meat too and that is also good). I do have a problem with shooting them and leaving them to rot or to feed dogs with them. Reminds me of the scene in the movei Dances with Wolves where the protagonist comes along all the dead animals shot just for fun.
 
I personally would not participate in a wild horse hunt. When I went to Africa I turned down the opportunity to shoot zebra as well.

However, any wild free ranging animal population must be managed to keep it's numbers in check. Such hunting would keep the herd healthy, and prevent over grazing which would impact other species. If hunters are not provided the opportunity to manage a wild horse population, a government cropping program is sure to follow. I hope that wild horse populations are not erradicated and I would not support such a policy, unless the horses became a spreader of disease to indigonous species.
 
who are we to meddle with nature? No human has any right to say that a certain animal is bad for its environment... and we certainly have no business in trying to play nature's role in this world.
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I am thinking you would have a hard time selling that argument in australia, new zealand or to those responsible for piping water in and around the great lakes.
Some organisms are simply bad for the environment, this is pretty much accepted by all, from the greenest tree huggers to the most ardent industrialists. We call them "Invasive" species they harm biodiversity, lead to the need for rampant herbicide and pesticide use, cause human disease and cause property damage etc. etc.

Granted Homo Sapien meddling is mostly responsible for most harmful Invasive species but that does'nt mean we throw up our hands and say "Nature will take it's course"

If a circus truck crashes in your nieghbour releasing a dozen tigers do you let nature take it's course or do you remove the harmful species?

Are Feral horses a negaitive impact? That is the real question. My self I am thinking that the current range of feral horses is probabley so far f**ked in terms of environemtnal impact that a few thousand extra hooves and mouths are probabley not going to add anything but scenery and another source of protien.
 
There were apparently .30 cal. bullets recovered from one horse carcase, hopefully they were not too deformed for forensic comparison if a suspect is found.
Another problem was that within a short distance of the mare and colts being found shot, the carcases of a moose and a deer were also found, having been shot and abandoned, maybe/probably by the same a**hole.
Regardless of being pro or con wild horses, I just hope that the culprit(s) are found, convicted and do serious time.
Regards, DaveF.
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david doyle said:
If a circus truck crashes in your nieghbour releasing a dozen tigers do you let nature take it's course or do you remove the harmful species?
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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... :rolleyes:
 
DaveF said:
There were apparently .30 cal. bullets recovered from one horse carcase, hopefully they were not too deformed for forensic comparison if a suspect is found.
Another problem was that within a short distance of the mare and colts being found shot, the carcases of a moose and a deer were also found, having been shot and abandoned, maybe/probably by the same a**hole.
Regardless of being pro or con wild horses, I just hope that the culprit(s) are found, convicted and do serious time.Regards, DaveF.
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What DaveF said.

It should be up to science and the law makers to decide if there is a problem with the numbers of wild horses. Now some sculking rat bastard poacher :mad:
 
Shooting these wild horses is plain wrong in my book. Who is man to point fingers at another species for damaging an ecosystem.
 
Wow, lots of emotion and not very many facts IMHO. Humans introduced horses into an ecosystem to which they DO NOT BELONG! It is the height of self centered arrogance that just because you "Like to see them running free" the indigenous wildlife should be pushed aside to let feral horses prosper. Tehre is only so much habitat and the land can only support a limited number of grazers. There are very few, if any natural pedators that will take down a horse. Look at the ecolgical damage done to the Grand Canyon area in the USA if you want proof of the legacy of their "wild horse and burro protection act". They have experienced severe overgazing, and ecological harm that is incalculable. I like horses, but I would vote for complete extermination of every last feral horse. Some misguided people taking the law into their own hands will not help the public come to share that point of view, however, probably only polarize viewpoints.
 
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?
 
Well, I'll be one to go against the grain. I only say it because I have been charged by those Stallions and they mean buisness. I know of others who have been chased repeatedly and were forced up a tree or anything else for a spell. None of them provoked the horses at all.

I can honestly say I have never shot one but I came very close once when one I was caught in the open by one when the wind changed directions. He charged me from 200 yards away to 20ft, reared up and stated stiking at me and blowing and snorting something fierce. Fear doesn't desribe what I felt there. But I can tell you what my brain was telling me to do. He finally toned it down a bit and joined the group below once again. Then again, he did try to run me over again not five minutes later.

I agree that they represent the "wild west fuzzy good feeling" but to me introduced is just that. Just like the Sparrows and the Dandylions.
I also agree it only feeds the anti's when morons shoot them out of a lack for better things to do, that ain't right either.

It's funny, why is it when boars bust out of Farmer Jones' place and turn feral no one has a problem with slaying them. Granted they will be eaten, most of the time as compared to what has been with the Wildies.
As far as I know, the Alberta Government still gives out permits to trap the wild horses. They can be either broke to ride after, or the not so good ones can go to the meat market too.

I have seen the Wildies, Elk, Whitetail, and Muley's all grazing on the same hill at the same time. I have also seen what the ponies do to the landscape west of Sundre, it looks like a typical pasture with little grass left, their trails pounded deep into the ground and areas where they have dug litterally pits in the ground for the upcoming mare wrestling season the next time it rains.
Okay, I made the wrestling part up.....

Three falls ago I had an Antlered Mule Deer draw for 318. Every day I went out I saw three times more wild horses than all the wild game put together.
I think it needs to be controlled more for sure, the horses and the morons!

Noel
 
I like horses, work with em every day. Are the horses actually doing damage to the grazing in the area? How many are there? Is it one large herd or a bunch of small ones? Like Levi said, a herd of wild animals moves around a lot, doesn't damage the grazing like a penned herd. It'd be interesting to know if there is truth to the damage complaints or if it's a few folks needing something to complain about and the media adding to the drama (hard to believe I know). Can't imagine hunting horses myself, but if the science is there, I'm sure somebody wouold be up for it, there's a big market for horse meat. Having someone just run out and start shooting em makes hunters and ranchers in the area look bad, if they're caught their a$$ should be tossed in jail. Does anyone else think that something like this would be the perfect anti set up to polarize non hunters and sub urbanites against hunters and ranchers, nothing jerks a tear like a dead mare and foal.
 
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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