[r0ckstarr]

This one was very irritable and kept lunging at the other birds.

Green face means breeding. Probably fighting for the female.

[r0ckstarr]

We've got a real bad wild hog problem here. If you google for "Texas hog plague", you'll find a bunch of articles explaining how bad it really is. I've come across traps and tracks, but this is the first time I have come across the hogs.

[UserAccessDenied]

Green face means breeding. Probably fighting for the female.

Interesting..
I had no idea that's what the green face meant!
Thanks!

---------- Post added 03-30-16 at 08:44 AM ----------

A rare sighting of a Gold-Banded Pentaxian! Did you get a decent shot of it? That first egret is killer, btw.

I actually took a shot of his Tamron 1.4 PzAf TC, haha. I wanted to remember what it was called...

Thanks! I got lucky with the Egrets, they flew into this cove that just lit up perfectly with the setting sun.
Still getting used to the K-3ii.
I get so nervous to ramp up ISO past 400. I don't know why?

I'm happy the way these turned out though!

[WPRESTO]

We've got a real bad wild hog problem here. If you google for "Texas hog plague", you'll find a bunch of articles explaining how bad it really is. I've come across traps and tracks, but this is the first time I have come across the hogs.

Are Texans as devoted to hunting/killing hogs as they are to hunting/killing cougars and coyotes? I suspect the reproductive dynamics of hogs give them a substantial advantage over the two carnivores in keeping ahead of attempts to knock down their population.

[r0ckstarr]

Are Texans as devoted to hunting/killing hogs as they are to hunting/killing cougars and coyotes? I suspect the reproductive dynamics of hogs give them a substantial advantage over the two carnivores in keeping ahead of attempts to knock down their population.

Are you trying to bait me into a trap here? Not everybody in Texas is a hunter/killer of wildlife. I have a pack of coyotes that have been living in the wooded field behind my house for 3yrs now. They regularly patrol my back fence at night. They don't pose a problem for me, and I don't bother them. Being that it's part of their diet, I like to think that they help keep the rodent population down. I haven't seen a mountain lion since I was a kid.

As for the hogs. They start breeding at 8 months old and have a litter of around 6. They multiply fast. Because they are such a nuisance and overrun some area's, all you need is a hunting license and permission from the landowner to kill them by any means necessary. You don't have to tag your kills, and you can do what you want with the meat. Some people trap them, fatten them up for a few months, and then eat them. There are also quite a few land owners here who will take you up in a helicopter and allow you to shoot them with an assault rifle. As you can see from the pic above, I prefer to shoot them with a camera.

A few more of the hogs.

[normhead]

What great pictures.... I can tell you, if we had a resource like that around Whitney, there wouldn't be much call for meat over at the local grocery store. Poaching wildlife out of season is still a big problem here. Having a meat source to hunt legally would inspire a lot of activity. Many of them still go out and hunt or fish two or three times a week. There are smoke houses at locl homes that seem to be going pretty much 24/7. As a photographer I hate it of course. But, I understand where they are coming from.

[dadipentak]

We've got a real bad wild hog problem here

Yeah, I've heard about that. In other areas, there's a tame hog problem--as in odoriferous and environmentally devestating pig farms. Makes one wonder...

[JML69]

MMMMMM BACON!!!!!! We have the same problem in the area of Florida where I live, although the local Good Ol Boys keep them thinned out enough to where they have not reached the destructive level they have in Texas.

Took Bigma for a walk this morning as She has been bit#%ing about not getting enough love, blah, blah, blah......

[boriscleto]

We have a problem with Eurasian boar in NY. It has been illegal to import them since 2013, and since April 2014 it is illegal to hunt or trap them. Since September of last year it is illegal to possess, sell, distribute, trade or transport an Eurasian boar in the state.

The reason for the hunting ban is because it was doing more harm than good. The DEC wants to eliminate them from the state, the easiest way to do that is to trap an entire sounder at the same time. It takes a long time to bait a sounder into being comfortable around the trap, and if a hunter shoots at a boar, the sounder will break up into smaller sounders and are harder to trap as they become wary of traps. So the DEC has declared hunting to be inefficient as a means of control, citing Tennessee as an example.

[WPRESTO]

Are you trying to bait me into a trap here?

Nope, not trying to bait you, but unless I am mistaken, both cougar and coyote are classified as "vermin" in Texas, so you can hunt them all year, any way you want, no license and no bag limit.

[marcusBMG]

tamron SP 300mm 54B @f5.6

[Ducatigaz]

K-5/Sigma 300mm f2.8 EX DG




Pentax K-5/Pentax FA*600mm f4 ED [IF]

[zzeitg]

Siskin (male) with DA*300 (@420mm)

[Kevwaly]

Nope, not trying to bait you, but unless I am mistaken, both cougar and coyote are classified as "vermin" in Texas, so you can hunt them all year, any way you want, no license and no bag limit.

Correct, as long as landowner says they are a cause of predation (Cougars, coyotes, bobcats, fox). License only required in Texas if hunting "Varmints" (Texas slang) for purpose of selling furs. (Trappers license). I prefer the shutter to a trigger, but am able to call in all of the above with just my mouth.

[Audi 5 cyl]

Some more shots from Tair 3s