FORT CHAFFEE : Wild hogs increasing as officials OK hunts
Posted on Sunday, October 5, 2008
FORT CHAFFEE — A large and growing feral hog population at Fort Chaffee has post officials looking for solutions, including encouraging hunters to participate in a free hunt this fall.
Feral hogs (scientific name Sus scrofa ), wild swine from domestic ancestry, are reproducing faster than hunters or Arkansas Game and Fish Commission trappers can kill them, and are competing with natural wildlife for food and habitat, said Kevin Lynch of the fort’s Game and Fish office.
Natural wildlife will move out when feral hogs move in. They eat anything natural wildlife will eat, including crops, and will root along stream beds, causing erosion, or leave deep wallows in hayfields, where tractors can tip.
Officials at Fort Chaffee are allowing the hunting of feral hogs in an effort to reduce the population, roughly estimated by Fort Chaffee’s Environmental Branch at about 1, 000.
While hog hunting permits are free, potential hunters must complete a sportsman orientation course, which requires a $ 20 fee, and have a valid Arkansas hunting and fishing license, said Beth Phillips, Fort Chaffee’s natural resource manager.
Hunters then can obtain the hog hunting permit, she said, which allows the hunter to kill an unlimited number of hogs.
Hunters are limited to hunting in daylight during an open season and using the weapons allowed for the season at hand.
Hog hunters are not allowed to use dogs or traps.
Lynch said the current season allows for rimfire rifles, shotguns with small shot, and bows and crossbows. Later, there will be bow seasons, black powder and modern rifle hunts.
The hunter is asked to report a hog kill to the fort’s environmental branch, so that officials can better track the animals
They would like as much information about the hog, such as its size and the location of the kill, but such information is not required, Phillips said.
Hunters reported killing 19 hogs on the western Arkansas post in 2008, Phillips said.
Added to that, Lynch said, about 20 have been captured in traps set by the Game and Fish Commission.
Data on the hogs is scant, Phillips said, because wildlife officials at Fort Chaffee have begun tracking the animals for only about 18 months.
The availability of food and the terrain at Fort Chaffee seem to favor the feral hogs, Lynch said, noting that more than 80 feral hogs have been trapped around Mount Magazine, about 44 miles east.
Food is more scarce at the latter, he noted, forcing hogs to congregate in the areas where the food can be found and making them easier to trap.
Even the military has been pitching in. Navy SEAL snipers training at Fort Chaffee have practiced their skills on feral hogs, shooting them from helicopters, Lynch said.
Despite all the efforts, the post’s feral hog population continues to grow because sows can have two litters a year, each with around seven or eight piglets in a litter, Lynch said.
“Essentially, they can add a lot of hogs to the population in a hurry,” Lynch said.
No one is sure when the first feral hog appeared on the post or how it got there. Phillips said that the feral hogs have been present ever since she went to work at Fort Chaffee five years ago.
It appears the first showed up in the southeast corner of the fort and spread north and west into the artillery impact area, which is off limits to people, she said.
The artillery impact area may be serving as a safe haven for the hogs.
Feral hogs have been found in many areas of Arkansas, and many other states have reported the same problem.
Some states, like Missouri, have set up task forces in an attempt to eradicate feral hogs.
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