A temporary reversal of regulations prohibiting the take of feral hogs on Commission-owned property was proposed Oct. 13 by Commission Director Jeff Crow.
The proposal stems from public comments after the regulation was passed in May. Confusion over the reasoning behind the regulation was a primary concern.
If the regulation change passes, hunters will be allowed to take feral hogs during open bear, deer or elk firearms seasons with weapons legal for those seasons. National wildlife refuges in Arkansas also will adjust their feral hog regulations to meet those of the AGFC.
“The idea that we want to eliminate hogs on a WMA but won’t allow the public to shoot one if they see it does seem counterintuitive,” Crow said during committee meetings. “The idea was to eliminate the incentive for future illegal releases of hogs and to cut down on disturbance that can spook the hogs and make them much harder to trap.”
An aggressive hog trapping campaign directed by the Commission has been in place with the goal of catching whole sounders in one swoop instead of taking single hogs here and there.
“This new method eliminates many more hogs without scattering the rest of the sounder,” Crow explained. “I still firmly believe the restriction on taking hogs on WMAs is a good one, and that recreational pursuit of hogs is not the answer to the problem, but we need to give the public and our sister conservation agencies more time to review and understand this effort.”
Crow says the restriction to eliminate killing hogs on all AGFC-owned WMAs will be presented again in 2019.
Feral hogs may be killed or trapped year-round by a landowner or anyone with the landowner’s permission, except anyone who has had his or her hunting license revoked.
For regulations on feral hog hunting, click here.