More Fun with Feral Horses

[Bambistew]

Far more profitable to become a holding facility, get paid to range them and bury them when they die, your expenses covered and you make a profit, just need the land (or BLM allotment) to do it.

Family freinds of ours have about 1500 on their property. They don't do anything with them but keep them in. They got rid of most of their cows and just collect a check from the feds and sleep in and play golf in the summer vs working cows and haying. If they (horses) die, they die.

 

[kwyeewyk]

Family freinds of ours have about 1500 on their property. They don't do anything with them but keep them in. They got rid of most of their cows and just collect a check from the feds and sleep in and play golf in the summer vs working cows and haying. If they (horses) die, they die.

They just started one here in Washington, they had to build 50+ miles of fence, as fast as they built it figured it must be a real good investment. They'll have to hay these since it's a pretty arid spot, but I'm sure way easier and certain than cows. They still run cows too but gave up a big chunk of cow ground to switch to horses.

 

[Rhcuam]

The horses are a invasive species, they need to be eradicated. Maybe we can round them up and then airdrop them in to grizzly and wolf country.

 

[BuckRut]

The horses are a invasive species, they need to be eradicated. Maybe we can round them up and then airdrop them in to grizzly and wolf country.

Eradicated is a strong word. There are tons of non-native species that haven't done 1/10th as much for this country as those horses and nobody wants to eradicate them.

 

[RobertD]

Eradicated is a strong word. There are tons of non-native species that haven't done 1/10th as much for this country as those horses and nobody wants to eradicate them.

I actually agree here. I would happily accept the presence of horses on the landscape at a certain number, in return for actual management of the horses.

 

[seeth07]

Eradicated is a strong word. There are tons of non-native species that haven't done 1/10th as much for this country as those horses and nobody wants to eradicate them.

Aka cattle...

 

[FI460]

Eradicated is a strong word. There are tons of non-native species that haven't done 1/10th as much for this country as those horses and nobody wants to eradicate them.

Not nobody. Not so long ago I was present for discussion on some guerrilla warfare tactics that could be implemented on high mountain lake invasive/ introduced fishes. Heck, there's even a contingent here that is anti-turkey as they aren't the native subspecies post reintroduction.

Horses are a blight on the landscape. Just likes dogs they should be removed when they're feral.

 

[Rhcuam]

Aka cattle...

Cattle have worth. These feral horses have next to none.

Upon review they don’t even have next to no worth. They are blight on the landscape and cost God only knows how much to manage.

 

[Rhcuam]

Eradicated is a strong word. There are tons of non-native species that haven't done 1/10th as much for this country as those horses and nobody wants to eradicate them.

What have they done for the country.

 

[Dougfirtree]

Good luck rounding up a wild horse, it would stomp the sheet
out of you.
I have hunted all over Az. for over 50 yrs. and never seen
a wild horse. Burros are everywhere!

I hunted an elk unit in Wyoming once where I must have seen 20-30 every day. They were everywhere and not always where you would expect. I ran into them in the forests, as well as in the open areas.

 

[BuckRut]

What have they done for the country.

We took tons of them to Europe with us in WWI. Also when we settled the west horse breeders weren't exactly something you found around every corner.

 

[Rhcuam]

We took tons of them to Europe with us in WWI. Also when we settled the west horse breeders weren't exactly something you found around every corner.

Really reaching there aren’t we? Glad they had some value 90 to 130 years ago. Now let’s flashback to the current times.
If the carrying capacity is 27,000 they should be culled to at least down to half that knowing full well will have to be back in 4-5 years to cull them back down again.

 

[FI460]

We took tons of them to Europe with us in WWI. Also when we settled the west horse breeders weren't exactly something you found around every corner.

That's an important part of the problem though, isn't it?

They were manageable when they were being used as a resource like the rest of our wildlife. The perception was that the resource was being exploited, so the Wild Horse and Burro act squashed that. They went from an asset to the western way of life to a novelty just for looking at.

 

[BuckRut]

Really reaching there aren’t we? Glad they had some value 90 to 130 years ago. Now let’s flashback to the current times.

You're entitle to your opinion and the opinion that this countries history holds no value to people seems to be growing more and more common. I would gladly put more money into programs to live along side these wild horses that dumping that money into more and more welfare programs.

 

[BuckRut]

That's an important part of the problem though, isn't it?

They were manageable when they were being used as a resource like the rest of our wildlife. The perception was that the resource was being exploited, so the Wild Horse and Burro act squashed that. They went from an asset to the western way of life to a novelty just for looking at.

Missed that day in history class did you? Nixon didn't feel they were being exploited he felt they special to this country and deserved protections above that of our wildlife. Have we seen horrible execution of the act and are the numbers out of hand? Absolutely, but the answer isn't to erase these animals from the landscape.

 

[Rhcuam]

You’re veering off into the left field. Shiny rocks and beads used to have quite a bit of value in the settling of the west but we don’t use them anymore either. And we don’t have government funded programs to keep them around and in use. Do you support a government funded program to bring back transportation by covered wagons?

You're entitle to your opinion and the opinion that this countries history holds no value to people seems to be growing more and more common. I would gladly put more money into programs to live along side these wild horses that dumping that money into more and more welfare programs.

 

[FI460]

Missed that day in history class did you? Nixon didn't feel they were being exploited he felt they special to this country and deserved protections above that of our wildlife. Have we seen horrible execution of the act and are the numbers out of hand? Absolutely, but the answer isn't to erase these animals from the landscape.

Nixon didn't care about wild horses. He was angling for the hippies vote, the same with his support for the ESA. There was social pressure from horse advocates, as well as regular folks, who held the horses in high esteem as a symbol of the American west.

The answer could be that we erase them from the landscape. It might not be. It's certainly not what we've done for the last 50 years though.

 

[BuckRut]

Nixon didn't care about wild horses. He was angling for the hippies vote, the same with his support for the ESA. There was social pressure from horse advocates, as well as regular folks, who held the horses in high esteem as a symbol of the American west.

The answer could be that we erase them from the landscape. It might not be. It's certainly not what we've done for the last 50 years though.

I agree the current plan isn't working but like you just said they are an iconic symbol of the American west. They deserve better than eradication from the landscape.

 

[FI460]

I agree the current plan isn't working but like you just said they are an iconic symbol of the American west. They deserve better than eradication from the landscape.

Ehhh. Plenty of broke horses to admire in pastures. I acknowledge that it's an unrealistic position to advocate that we wipe them off the landscape, but I believe the emotional argument about their symbolism is how we got in this situation.

I have a lot of horse people in my life from track horses, to packers, to whacko zero touching of wild horses folks. The last group of them have had an outsized influence on this discussion for far too long. I have an aunt who goes into screaming fits at the mere suggestion that we start sterilizing them and it seems to me that she's winning the argument.

 

[Dinkshooter]

The only wild horses I've ever seen were in NW NM and I assure you they were quite wild. They were more vehicle shy than the muley does in the same canyon

I will never forget the cliffs I watched them climb up through to get away from me the time I jumped a bunch. Looked like a herd of elk tromping away.