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Originally Posted by whunter29
Total bs from our WLF again. How many people out there have hog traps with 22 inch or 25 inch holes in the top to let bears out. I have having a hog trap for years and now I am in violation of a law because of bears. How stupid can this state get. Like the poster earlier said all this state cares about are bears.
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All they are requiring is that you have an opening if you already have an enclosed trap. Just cut a 24" hole in the top its no big deal or if you are building a new one make it an open top trap. Most of the larger corral type traps have open tops anyways. There is zero difference in the hog catching abilities of the traps, hogs don't climb them and a bear or a deer can get out easily.
LDWF and several other agencies are combining to form a task force to try and put a dent in these hogs and keep them from getting out of control, which may already be too late. LDWF has to be a little more strict because we do have bears and this is a threatened species. If someone was to catch a bear and the bear died in the trap, it would be a legal nightmare and LDWF is just covering the bases. Many traps just sit out for a week without being checked and its one thing to have a dead pig in the trap but a bear would be bad if the press got a hold of the pics. Places like TX that have very few bears do not have to worry about mistaking a bear for a hog and can go up by helicopter and shoot every black animal they see and not have to worry about it and the vegetation is much different in west Tx compared to La. It is not sensible to take a helicopter up to shoot hogs that live in dense forest, in the marsh it would work but there are also bears that live in the marshes especially St Mary Parish. I know professional wildlife biologists who have came very close to shooting a bear thinking it was a pig.
If people would stop shooting bears illegally, the bears will come off the threatened list sooner and then a season will open on bears.