Mark Twain to eliminate hunting at request of state

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Of feral hogs that is.  In kind of a turnabout from typical conflicts between states and feds, this is a disagreement between the state and counties (and the hog hunting segment of the public).  (There was some discussion of federal regulation of hunting on the Kisatchie National Forest here.)

The State of Missouri is undertaking a trapping program, which they say that hunting interferes with.  The Forest Service is proposing to use its federal land management authority to issue a closure order to prohibit hunting of feral hogs on the Mark Twain National Forest.  From the Forest Service website linked to this article:

Mark Twain National Forest is proposing a Forest Closure Order to support interagency efforts to eliminate feral swine (also known as feral hogs) in Missouri. The Forest Closure Order would prevent the taking, pursuing or releasing of all feral swine on the forest. The only exception would apply to feral swine elimination efforts conducted by the interagency task force.

The proposal is in response to a Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) request to make policies consistent across all public lands in Missouri to halt the spread of feral swine and the resulting damage they cause. The State of Missouri feral swine elimination program bans all taking, pursuing or releasing of feral swine on state lands. The State asked the Forest Service and National Park Service for support as part of the Missouri Feral Hog Partnership. The proposed closure order would align lands managed by the Forest Service with the efforts of Missouri and other federal agencies, including USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

On the Kisatchie, the Forest Service used a forest plan amendment to provide long-term direction.  Here, the forest plan is not mentioned, so presumably the closure is viewed as short-term – until the hogs are gone, but from what I hear, good luck with that.

12 thoughts on “Mark Twain to eliminate hunting at request of state”

    • I guess the hunters also do not fret over the environmental damage these swine create. I do not remember seeing swine being part of the forest’s desired condition expressed in the Land Management Plan. So, collaborating with the State to address this problem makes sense.

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  1. The state presumably has the authority to prohibit (or permit) hunting on federal lands as long as it does not conflict with federal land management. So since the forest plan does not promote feral hogs, it doesn’t seem necessary for the Forest Service to take this step. But the State did ask for their help.

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  2. Only a person with no knowledge of feral hogs would even entertain this idea as being wise for more than 3 seconds. Mark Twain National Forest is not a single monolithic block of forested acreage. Instead it surrounds private property and borders many small landowners. The hogs reproduce so quickly that it takes removing 70% of the total population each year just to keep the population in check. We’re not even talking about a reduction here. But somehow, taking 300k hunters out of the equation is going to help? I’ve talked to too many landowners that have run the MDC and USDA trappers off their land because the trapping only approach only brought more hogs to their property. This is a terrible idea and I hope that they do NOT decide to go through with it. If they do, it will be a disaster.

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  3. It’s trajectly ironic that in fact since MDC banned hunting hogs on state ground the population has multiplied yet they claim their need to trap on Mark Twain ….lol Gee does anyone else even slightly suspect that maybe just maybe the thought of millions of prospective taxpayers dollars are going to trickle down into MDC pockets? For crying out loud people MDC trapping methods and partner in crime USDA/ Aphis aerial show is a long time proven complete failure and loss of millions of tax dollars .Wake up taxpayers and dont drink anymore MDC koolaid…..hellooooo.

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  4. The ONLY solution to feral hog reduction nationally and statewide is to open state and federal hunting areas to the public for hunting and trapping free range pork ….in correspondence with legislation take marketing the pork safe and easy for markets and butcher shops .Its a no brainer actually , the demand for the healthier free range pork is astronomical and the supply abundant ….the real beauty is NO COST TO TAXPAYERS and benefit for everyone by significantly reducing hog population nationally ….BUT OH WAIT ! ” WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE MOLLIONS FINDED TO MDC AND USDA ? we can’t do this 🙁

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  5. Im not a hog hunter but i can tell you this unless you see first hand howvthe mdc plsn that is place since 2016 has backfired and waste of resources then continue to believe what you want. All tools in the bag must be used to eradicate . 18.7 million tax payer dollars spent on 12,000 hogs in two years dosent even touch the proven 70% yearly removed rate to keep the numbers in check when they dont even know how many pigs are in the state do your research folks the infobyou have is propaganda, 1500.00 per pig cost is cheap pork control when a bounty of 50.00 would net a total of 300,000 plus removed.
    possible
    Follow the money is the problem .

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  6. Famous MDC QUOTES
    Our intentions is to trap the entire sounder ! NEVER will happen!
    They keep trapping the same areas year after year !
    Quote Hunting is a management tool we don’t want to manage them our GOAL is eradication ? Hunting managed to deplete the entire elk , bear ,mountain lions, wolves , and nearly the entire deer population, along with the Buffalo! that’s the very reason we have a department of conservation!
    Quote hunters kill 1 or 2 and scattering the entire sounder!
    I suppose hogs know they aren’t in any danger from shooting repeatedly from a helicopter ? many times with little to no results!
    Quote With no official record of what hunters killed we suspect hunters killed several hundred hogs In fact hunters killed thousands of hogs in the 15 years of their so called unregulated hunting! Why on earth would the taxpayers Agree to turn over an additional 1.5 million acres to the same task force that hasn’t been able to eradicate hogs in 5000 acres in Sam A Baker state park or 1 single area on MDC property!
    When the Director of MDC Sarah Pauley was asked by the conservation commission board where they had been eliminated she stated we almost eliminated them around fort Leonard Wood ! Not sure what almost even means when it comes to elimination ?

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  7. Their needs to be a consort ed effort between MDC, and National Forest, And Missouri hunters. Have MDC to put a bounty of $25.00 per snout!! No hog can’t live without a snout !!
    That would be a fraction of what they spend in their trapping ! The MDC agents can check the hogs and keep a total of how many is killed. Watch the numbers of feral hogs decline !! What is the problem with eating these wild hogs, what is more ORGANICALLY raised than a wild hog?? They eat just like deer, elk, and every other WILD animal!!
    If this is about dollars, sell a hog tag, then you can make more money, so you can buy more land and have even more power, and CONTROL even more!!!!

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  8. Elimination will never come before control that’s reducing 70% of the population MDC hasn’t contributed hogs in areas where hunting them has never been allowed IE Sam A Bakery state park is around 5000 acres landowners near there and joined to that property are selling their farms because they can’t compete with the hogs ! BELIEVE it or not I invite you to the show me state hog safe havens! Why on earth would we been hogs are going to be eliminated in 1.2 million acres of no hog hunting when the hog eradication task force can’t eliminate them in 5000 acres ! Within the help of the hunters that have been helping keep their reproduction rate from exploding! Hunting needs to be promoted not banned! The same people that depleted nearly the entire wildlife population that’s why we even have a department of conservation! The mountain lions were GONE the elk were GONE the wolves the bears the buffalo were GONE ! And hunting is a management tool! Really! Hunters brought them here Really! They migrated from Florida to Texas with The explores Desoto I’ll finish with one final question did hunters bring the ARMADILLOS here !! Or do they migrate in search of food and habitat! MDC information is highly exaggerated to say the least !

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  9. You are evidently listening to the same propaganda of those receiving millions of taxpayers dollars for the ultimate failure! Hogs will not leave acorns their favorite foods to come to corn ! As we’ll as the intelligence scale is supposed to be humans? Dolphins and hogs ! These government agencies keep giving false narratives like our goal is trapping the entire Sounder ? Good Goal doesn’t happen or these agencies would not keep going to the same places year after year ? Having areal gunning operations in the same areas year after year when the truth is the entire Sounders are NOT being caught at 1 time I have countless pictures of adult hogs jumping and climbing out of traps ! Thus creating trap wise hogs and the not to mention those not inside the trap when it’s activated? The Same propaganda press say dog hunting makes hogs trap shy ? Really hogs get wise to traps dogs, night vision, roads noise and most of all survive by human avoidance!
    I do know about trapping hogs because I have 4 myself and am not opposed to trapping ? They do catch large groups of juveniles while the breeding adults remain to have 2 more litters of pigs and their first litter reproduce more pig’s waiting for the same trapping only approach the next year thus creating a larger population ! Wake up it’s all about the funding money ! Wake Up .the population in Missouri has grown from an estimated 10 thousand when the report don’t shoot strategic plan to 100 thousand in 2020 to start 2021 with a 150 population thousand ? do the research? The MDC deputies famous words are trying the same thing over and over is the definition of idiocy!
    Well if the shoe fits ?

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