Wild Horses?
 

Being from Saskatchewan, I have very little experience or knowledge about wild horses and how they behave towards other animals and vice versa. I saw a couple of them out today and just gave them their space. I did notice their presence in this area for sometime now but this is my first time being up.close to them. I have noticed that there seems to be considerably less deer sign in this area where they seem to frequent? Please share any words of wisdom and advice. Thanks. Ken

The deer in the area I hunt definitely tend to vanish when wild horses move in - for whatever reason. And unfortunately there can be a lot of horses around. They can really ***** up a hunt in my experience.

J

"But they are so wonderful and free" and identify as 'free spanish mustangs"....or some such "rot" that the horse huggy-kissy crowd keeps pushing in alberta.:snapoutofit:

Does anyone know the history of the horses? Are they really "wild" horses or did they escape etc..

I think in some cases if you don't want to pay to feed and board Trigger anymore he gets taken for a one way road trip to run away and be free.

So, is it illegal to get rid of old trigger by dumping him off in the woods?

Protected
 

Well just some quick online research, they do tend to take over areas from other members of the deer family, no natural predators, there is a wild horses of Alberta society? They fall under the stray animal act, so it is not legal to shoot, hunt, or snare them apparently. Well I’m glad I didn’t have to shoot them then. Approximately 900 in the foothills of Alberta. Government spends money all the time to manage the population to keep it from growing. They act towards humans similar to tame horses. Interesting.

Who'd know?:thinking-006:

There is no such thing as "wild horses" in North America.

They are all introduced and feral. Calling them wild just plays into many of the anti's.

They don't belong on the landscape. Period. And yes, they look majestic, but they don't belong there.

Feral
 

Yes, feral would be a better description. They are apparently the product of logging operations in the early 1900’s.

I can’t see too many people dropping off their pet horse into the wild, wouldn’t they just sell it cheap instead?

I would rather have it that they didn’t exist, there is no shortage of horse **** all over the place and they seem to take over areas from game animals.

I agree they are not wild, even ferrel is a stretch, vermin is more appropriate, its sad that they are abandoned, but they shouldnt be allowed to pressure the native species, its interesting why they are so protected, it appears more than the true wild game, i still dont understand why they are protected?

The stray animal act ? What actually does it state ? I thought you can shoot strays ? Like dogs and cats . I would eat one [emoji18]

Does anyone know where it states they are legally protected?

The wildies around Nordegg are descendants of the work horses that were turned loose when the coal mines shut down. I'm sure people have been trying to catch them since the first ones escaped or were set free, so I don't understand why they needed protection when the population has exploded for 50 years.

Escaped,abandoned and turned loose by loggers,guide and outfitters,eastern slope ranchers,first nation reservations,tourists,horse huggers and also farmed and selectively culled by some enterprising local ranchers. Started showing up in larger numbers after WW 2. :)

So the Alberta Animal Protection Regulation governs horses, they clasify as livestock, so if the are abandoned is it not the responsibility of the government to spend our tax dollars to round them up? The spca rounds up strays all the time, why are these horses any different? Its not our Heritage that miners and loggers let horses run free, its the miners and loggers that are our Heritage, just my thought

Pony, my understanding and in the link, is that they are protected under the stray animal act. This is why the f&w officers are not involved in their management or any investigations. They are not consider wildlife.

http://aep.alberta.ca/land/land-management

Under the Stray Animal Act they fall under domestic stray animals. So you are not allowed to shoot them. Livestock Inspector "directive"... inspect for visible brand if horse is "found" ...if nvb(no visible brand) , impound animal then try to contact rightful owner . After 14 days of impound and no owner comes forward .... sell at public auction"!

Yep. Wild horse.:sHa_sarcasticlol::sHa_sarcasticlol:

I have always wondered why the wolves don't eat them up.

When they can
 

From what I’ve read the odd one does get taken down by wolves. Happens to moose all the time. I would speculate that moose get caught by packs of wolves as they are often on their own, these horses seem to stick together and are less vulnerable as a prey animal as part of a herd?

Cougars as well they say.....

And trucks. Don’t forget trucks...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...psrafs10gr.jpg

and bears (wolves, cougars and bears).


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When snow get deep, elk will follow wild horses and use grass areas pawed down by feral horses. So guys leave them alone they have been part of our wilderness for many years. If you cannot find elk look at mr wolf, mr bear and mr cougar.

West of Rocky there is a herd of geldings! so I guess people are dropping them off so they don't end up in a can OR maybe nature is joining the transgender theme.

When wolves go near the back end of a horse they soon realize deer / elk / moose are easier to deal with.

That's the one... Just drilled down a bit from your link to the pony-specific stuff:

http://aep.alberta.ca/land/land-mana...s/default.aspx

The horses have the prime areas picked down to nothing. Your theory is great but incorrect. The horses have always been there but in small numbers. As a kid if we seen 5-6 in a weekend we thought it was pretty cool. Now i can see 50-60 in a few hours.

Wolves, bears and cougars may play a part but in some of the zones the Horses have completely pushed most of the wildlife out.

Cattle.


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Photos.


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Not too often cattle make it off of the roads and pipelines. Horses end up in every valley, at the top of every ridge....

A few weeks ago, I was out hunting just south of the elk river road and there were wild horse tracks everywhere. plenty of wolf tracks as well!