The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill in June that would ban the hunting of wild hogs in the state, but would allow landowners or their designated agents to shoot the invasive swine without a hunting license or depredation permit as long as they notify the state’s Department of Natural Resources within 24 hours.
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House Bill 503, which now goes to the Ohio Senate for consideration, also bans importing, transporting or releasing feral swine in the state, prohibits feeding of wild hogs once they are established, and requires Ohio citizens to report any feral pig they see to state officials. Bringing feral hogs into the state or releasing them into the wild would be a fifth-degree felony under the proposed law, which now goes to the Ohio Senate for debate.
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According to the Ohio DNR, breeding populations of wild hogs have been confirmed in Adams, Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Scioto, and Vinton counties in southeastern Ohio, making the Buckeye State one of 35 in the U.S. where feral swine have established breeding populations. Texas (with an estimated 3 million feral hogs) and Oklahoma (with around 1.5 million) have the largest numbers.
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“It’s not Porky Pig,” Rep. Bob Peterson, who sponsored the bill with Rep. Don Jones, said during the June 12 session where the proposal passed 89-0. He cited the extensive damaged caused by wild hogs rooting in the state’s crop fields, CRP cover, and waterways and asserted that hog-borne diseases such as African Swine Fever could cost Ohio around $2.5 billion if it got into the state’s commercial pork operations. “It’s not the pigs you see at the fair,” Peterson said. “These are mean, wild and destructive animals that need to be eradicated.”
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Currently wild hogs are classified as nuisance animals in Ohio and may be taken year-round by anyone with an Ohio hunting license, although a valid deer permit is required to harvest feral swine during the gun and muzzleloader seasons for whitetail deer and hunters are required to use only firearms legal for the season.
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The rule changes come as Kentucky, Ohio’s neighbor to the south, is finalizing a ban on hog hunting because state wildlife officials don’t want to be hamstrung in their efforts to eradicate feral swine through trapping. Ben Robinson, the wildlife division director for the state, told the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission board that the department is trying to prevent “anybody from shooting a pig at any time” because hunting pressure can make feral hogs more wary and harder to trap.
