Kentucky latest to ban hog hunting. (2024)

They could be common near you and you'd never see one where you are. I've never had one on my place, but I have access to a hog hunting property six miles from here. Plenty of hogs, but its managed to keep them and has some swamp.

About half an hour from here, I hunt a farm where hogs regularly try to move in but we keep them shot out. Probably ten miles from there I hunted a property where we only saw them when the swamp, about fifteen miles from there, flooded out and stayed that way a couple weeks.

Bulldog0156 said:

Land mines. I'd like to see them figure that one out.

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A fancy land mine that AI identifies as a hog? Probably not too far fetched actually…

CowboyLeroy said:

I respectfully disagree, there are ZERO laws regarding hogs in Georgia and our problem is as bad as anybody's.

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Same for SC and the FM NF is full of them. If you don't have then you don't want them...IMO they do as much, maybe more damage, to the native species than wild horses. Non native omnivors are hell on any landscape...not to mention county dirt roads, telephone poles, and other infrastructure they damage.

Last time I checked there were 4 or so counties in WV were you could hunt them, on the KY boarder, and its R only to eliminate NR guided hunts, illegal everywhere else in the state, the regs were drafted that way due to trailer biology.

howl said:

Most places where there are hogs in GA you, yourself, cannot access to kill them. Nor can most others.

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I, myself, am the landowner leaseholder, or farmer on these places and I'm telling you you just can't shoot your way out of the problem. Thraps work best, thermals help, but shooting a couple dozen out of a stand is a bandaid on a bullet hole.

CowboyLeroy said:

I, myself, am the landowner leaseholder, or farmer on these places and I'm telling you you just can't shoot your way out of the problem. Thraps work best, thermals help, but shooting a couple dozen out of a stand is a bandaid on a bullet hole.

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You aren't responding to what I typed. Claiming hogs cannot be controlled by hunting does not hold up because we know hogs were controlled in the past before most landowners denied access. It actually, undeniably happened.

howl said:

They could be common near you and you'd never see one where you are. I've never had one on my place, but I have access to a hog hunting property six miles from here. Plenty of hogs, but its managed to keep them and has some swamp.

About half an hour from here, I hunt a farm where hogs regularly try to move in but we keep them shot out. Probably ten miles from there I hunted a property where we only saw them when the swamp, about fifteen miles from there, flooded out and stayed that way a couple weeks.

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What you are describing is justification for the approach taken by the state. One property manages them for hunting, yet they still get out and invade other properties.

The issue isn't that animals are leaving one to go to another, the issue is that there is now an expectation and market for them to be abundant. That's the motivation they are trying to eliminate.

Eliminating the hunt eliminates the driver behind population growth, and ultimately - unmanageability.

States on the front end of an infestation are being extremely conservative and cautious with any hogs in order to protect native wildlife and agricultural operations. Kudos to them.

Ben Lamb said:

Pretty much this. The states that adopted a "no sport hunting" policy are doing so because people will go to great lengths to increase their opportunity on hogs. It's no different than bucket biologists who dump walleye in trout lakes, etc.

By creating the opportunity and licenses for hogs, you create advocates for hog hunting (not conservation). States are trying to not make hog hunting part of their wildlife culture and it's a good thing. Feral hogs are invasive and cause ecological & agricultural issues. Managing them is going to look much different than other species.

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Exactly, well said Ben. This seems like a counterintuitive plan until you think about it and look at other states that have implemented a ban on hog hunting.

Iowa and Kansas are 2 examples that I am aware of. Hogs show up occasionally, and wildlife agencies eradicate them. There is no incentive for landowners or hunters to keep them around.

CowboyLeroy said:

I, myself, am the landowner leaseholder, or farmer on these places and I'm telling you you just can't shoot your way out of the problem. Thraps work best, thermals help, but shooting a couple dozen out of a stand is a bandaid on a bullet hole.

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A pack of Dogos works well too...you just have to run them every couple of months. Most of the farmers around me have contacts with houndsmen.

Ben Lamb said:

What you are describing is justification for the approach taken by the state. One property manages them for hunting, yet they still get out and invade other properties.

The issue isn't that animals are leaving one to go to another, the issue is that there is now an expectation and market for them to be abundant. That's the motivation they are trying to eliminate.

Eliminating the hunt eliminates the driver behind population growth, and ultimately - unmanageability.

States on the front end of an infestation are being extremely conservative and cautious with any hogs in order to protect native wildlife and agricultural operations. Kudos to them.

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Perhaps they make a justification but it's more about gaining a revenue stream than solving a problem. That's how state governments address any issue they are asked to attend to.

I know of two farms in GA to compare. One claims to consult with APHIS and traps. The other has hunters. The former is covered up in hogs. The latter occasionally has some for short periods until we shoot them out.

When landowners look to the feds for help rather than seeking a local solution is when problems develop. They would rather be compensated for damage rather than attend to the problem. If they couldn't get .gov help without allowing neighbors to help first, the problem would solve itself as it did before. This is about funneling tax dollars with hogs as the excuse.

All that said and tied up with a bow, the idea of landowners letting the general public onto their property to eradicate hogs is a bit of a red herring. It isn't going to happen the way it used to because we no longer live in a mono-cultural, high-trust society. Corruption of government and addiction to the government teat prevent it as well. So what to do? Move the value of the hog from government handout and hunting of the hog to the hog itself. Programs already exist to match killers and trappers to landowners. Wild hog buying and packing operations are common some places. It's not like market hunting never made a species extinct.