In an effort to eradicate feral hogs, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission passed regulations against hunting the pigs on wildlife management areas it controls. The regulation was enacted on some WMAs during the 2014-15 hunting season, and has gradually spread to include nearly all AGFC WMAs in the state.
For decades, the AGFC allowed harvest of feral hogs during any open season with weapons legal for that season on wildlife management areas. Coyote season enabled hunters to be afield nine months of the year with high-powered rifles to pursue feral hogs. But feral hog populations continued to rise. Keith Stevens with the AGFC talks about the thought behind not hunting the wild hogs.
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AGFC Wild Hogs
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Complete removal is the key to wild hog eradication. Pigs are so prolific that unless 70 percent or more of a population is removed, the pigs that are left will repopulate the area within a year.
In fact, shooting a few hogs may actually hurt the situation. AGFC biologists have switched their tactics toward setting large corral traps on WMAs and areas with large hog problems. Instead of trying to catch or shoot one or two pigs and scattering the rest of the pigs on the area, biologists are baiting entire family groups of pigs into the traps and eradicating dozens at a time. Stevens also said it only takes a few to start the population up again.
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Some WMAs owned by other agencies, but cooperatively managed by the AGFC for hunting still allow hunters to take a hog if it crosses their path during a firearms deer, bear or elk season, as manpower for trapping in those areas can be limited.
Visit www.agfc.com/hunting/Pages/HuntingRegulationsFeralHog.aspx for more information on feral hog regulations and the threat they pose to native wildlife and habitats.
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