Since when is hunting considered animal cruelty? Well, it seems that the management of youtube thinks that hunting is just that, animal cruelty. Or, is youtube bowing to political pressure? Over the past few months youtube has started removing hunting videos. The reason -  hunting videos depict animal cruelty.

One of my videos that showed how to skin a squirrel was removed from youtube. The squirrel was legally taken according to the laws of the State of Texas (where I live) and was taken in a humane manner. The video was removed on December 20th. On that same day I sent an email back to the people at youtube asking if I could get a reason “why” the video was removed. Four days later and I still do not have an answer.

While doing a few google searches to try and find out why the video was removed, I found a fishing website where a guy posted that youtube had removed one of his hunting videos. According to him, the management of youtube considers hunting animal cruelty. I also found several “animal rights” websites where the members make it a habit of trolling youtube with the sole purpose of reporting hunting videos. On one of these animal rights sites, several people said they report every hunting video they see.

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These trail cameras are good for learning the movement patterns of wildlife in the area.

Deer feeders offer the local wildlife a source of food during times of drought and other hardship.

It is believed that hogs were first introduced into the United States by Hernando de Soto in or around 1539. Recent excavations from some of Hernando de Sotos’ encampments in Florida have discovered jaw bones of pigs and other swine bone fragments.

Hogs are a true omnivore, meaning that they will eat almost anything. The diet of a wild hog can include grubs, worms, termites, acorns - anything that the hog can get its mouth on, its likely to eat. There are even stories of wild hogs killing and eating new born deer.

Several factors have contributed to a recent surge in hog populations.

1. For some reason, several states have passed laws prohibiting butchers from processing wild hogs. If a hunter kills a hog, and brings that hog to a butcher, in some states the butcher will not be able to process the meat. This has helped prevent an active hog hunting community of hunters from developing. There are a group of people that hunt hogs, but not to the degree of deer hunters. Most people that hunt hogs process the meat theirselves. This is something that not everyone wants to do.

2. More deer hunters are using feeders. In some cases, deer hunters keep their feeders going all year long, and as a result, supply the hogs with a year round supply of food.

3. Lack of large natural predators to keep the wild hog population in check.

4. Other reasons too numerous to go into here.

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