To the Editor:
Humans cause way more damage than feral hogs. Hogs have been here for many years. Their habitat has grown tremendously in the last 30 years. Our forest in South Arkansas has changed from hardwood mix to pine forest. Hardwood has been clear cut, spray and set out in pine. Nothing left for wildlife to eat except for hogs. It’s amazing what a dollar bill can do. We have killed billions of acres of nuts, fruit and berry-bearing trees alone with our vines that produce muscadine and berries. Acorns are a main food this time of year for most wildlife. Builds body fat that get them though winter.
Around 1940, Game and Fish had a game reserve south of the Marysville/Spotville community. It was 6 miles wide. It was on Murphy land (Deltic). Had some of the best hunting in the state. A lot of the bottom land has came up for sale in the last 20 years. I wish the Game and Fish could have acquired this land. Where was the animal rights group? PETA would rather pay their CEO millions instead of using it for animals. It all has been clear cut now and back up for sale.
Squirrel hunting is gone for moist hunters, squirrel camps gone and now deer camps are dying out. Our deer hunting is going to get worse and hog problems are going to keep growing alone with their habitat.
If you are a hunter, bird watcher, animal lover or like looking at God’s creation and got some natural forest, don’t let the dollar bill take it all away. Take a ride out in the country and look. Google about pine plantation and read it, then ask yourself who causes the most damage to natural resources and has a negative impact on just about everything. Yes, pine produces jobs but so does hardwood forests, not only lumber and cross-ties but the fruits that our wildlife need to survive. Enjoy what hardwood you got to hunt now, because it can very well become memories.
Ricky Goza
Marysville