MDC considers relaxing feral hog hunting regulations on its properties

Feral hog hunting has been a contentious issue in Missouri lately, with the banning of recreational hunting on Department of Conservation, Forest Service and some other public lands over the last couple years. However, a change in policy last week may appease those who want to pursue hogs.

During the most recent Missouri Conservation Commission meeting, incidental take of feral hogs on currently closed public lands was given initial approval, with some stipulations.

Hunters now will be able to take hogs on MDC lands and the Mark Twain National Forest if they are hunting during a regular fall or spring hunting season, using the weapon allowed for that season.

For instance, a person bowhunting in October can take a hog with his or her bow, but not a rifle. If that same person is hunting during the November rifle deer season, that weapon would be legal to take hogs.

Hunters also must have an unfilled deer or turkey tag, depending on the season, in order to take hogs.

The commission will take public comments until its May meeting, and if a final go-ahead is approved, it would go into effect in August. On Forest Service lands, the ruling is effective immediately.

“This is part of the compromise in listening to the public,” said MDC Director Sara Pauley on Monday. “Considering that input, and talking to our partners, not only did the Forest Service agree to opportunistic take in any fall or spring season, the commission followed suit.

“Anyone with an unfilled tag, abiding by the Wildlife Code, who sees a feral hog can go ahead and take it.”

Trapping, however, still is the preferred tool for removing large numbers of feral hogs from an area and will continue to be used, along with other methods.

“A lot of folks sure love to hunt hogs and think it’s fun, but if we’re serious about eradication, this is the way we’ve got to go,” Pauley emphasized.

MDC officials previously noted hunting tends to remove small numbers of hogs and spreads out the remainder, while trapping is more effective in catching entire sounders, or family groups, of pigs.

Pauley said she is well aware of a “lot of controversy in the heart of the Ozarks about not allowing recreational hunting for feral hogs on public lands, but where it has been allowed, the population of hogs has only grown.

“We’ve seen the states who have lost the war on hogs, and we’ve seen the states who have won the war. We have seen what works and what doesn’t. There’s a lot of talk here about ‘using all the tools in the toolbox,’ and let me just tell you, that hasn’t worked in other places.”

The states who have shown success in greatly reducing hog numbers, like Tennessee and Kansas, she said, have taken the recreational hunting incentive away.

The federal director of the USDA’s animal services program will testify next week before a joint Missouri House and Senate agriculture committee on the pitfalls of hog hunting versus trapping, Pauley said, and recently, the director of the USDA animal services program in Texas, which is overrun with feral hogs and has allowed recreational hunting of them, spoke to the Conservation Commission about that state’s ongoing swine problems.

“He told the commission the worst thing Texas ever did was not to ban recreational hunting,” she said.

In Missouri, the Mark Twain National Forest, Pauley said, has become “ground zero” for feral hogs, and MDC recently mobilized an additional 150 personnel in the region, in addition to those already working the problem.

“When they announced the shutdown, we knew if we were going to show success, we had to get in there quickly,” Pauley said, because the state is nearing a make or break point.

Missouri is “on the precipice” when it comes to feral hogs, and what happens over the next few years will determine future improvement, or deterioration, of the problem, Pauley said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, she said, classifies states with feral hogs much like hurricanes are rated, assigning numbers one through five, based on the severity of the problem.

“Texas is a five and Missouri is a three right now, meaning we’re at this tipping point where we’re either going to do what we need to do to eradicate this invasive species or we’re going to lose the battle,” Pauley said.

“It’s all hands on deck for us. We believe we have two, maybe three years to show success before it’s too late,” she added.

Despite the cost of hog eradication to MDC, which has been “to the tune of about $1.8 million” just to pay for the USDA’s trappers, Pauley said, her department remains committed to working toward the eradication of feral hogs.

“We’re in the midst of a significant battle right now, and we’re very committed to showing success,” she said.