Nilgai meat harvested by helicopter no longer given to charities

Previously, the meat from nilgai culled by helicopter at Laguna Atascosa NWR was to be given exclusively to charities. That is no longer the case. It will be harvested by the Broken Arrow Ranch and sold at a profit.

http://m.valleymorningstar.com/news/loca...2.html?mode=jqm

Is that good or bad?

Well, I guess that depends on how you look at it. If you are one of the groups of folks who would like to get rid of the nilgai, it is a way for the FWS to fund the helicopter culling, so there will be more culling. If you like to hunt the nilgai, then maybe not so good. One thing that allowed me to accept the reduced hunt opportunities was at least the meat went to the needy in the area, and there are a lot. Now, I guess they will be harvested off our federal land and sold.

The whole thing is about supposedly controlling the fever tick. The problem is, the fever tick also uses whitetail deer and cattle as hosts. I seriously doubt they are going to reduce the numbers of either in that area.

I'm by no means an expert on the subject, but I was having a conversation with a TPWD biologist at another WMA. His said that the best way to control the fever tick is to treat cattle with a pesticide and then allow them to graze in the area. The problem is, who will pay for it? I think a solution would be, let the cattlemen pay for it, and in exchange, the FWS allows them to graze on the refuge for a period of time.

This type of favouritism should not shock anyone who has utilized public hunting lands for any length of time.

Thanks for the reporting Palehorse!

For public hunting opportunity especially if you ever wanted a DIY nilgai hunt, it is a bad thing.

as usual us the public gets screwed

Yep

same old story

sounds like some liberals got mixed up in this

Laguna Atatasoca was one of the best public hunting properties going. If you never hunted there, you missed out as it will never be the same with helicopter culling and TPWD's involvement.

They will never get rid of the nilgai because there valuable to private landowners who sell hunts for them and they will just spread back into there by surrounding propertys.

Nilgai just swim the river from Mexico back into the US, bringing the ticks with them. Issuing weekly or monthly permits to hunt them would be nice, but its work that govt workers aren't willing to do.