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Missouri Pork supports feral hog hunting ban on federal lands

The Missouri Pork Association supports the ban on public hunting of feral hogs on federal lands in Missouri. Association Director Don Nikodim says hunting spreads the wild hogs out and makes them harder to contain.

“When the Department of Conservation and those agencies go in to try and trap and diminish those populations, when you have people going in and hunting them it spreads them and makes it harder to get control. So, we think that’s a good idea and continue to support that effort.”

Nikodim tells Brownfield Ag News that Missouri Pork is working with the state Conservation Department, Department of Natural Resources, and the Department of Agriculture which all support the ban.

“It’s an issue,” says Nikodim, “I mean, if you look at states to the south and west, particularly Texas, they have just monumental problems with feral pigs. And if we don’t get a handle on it, we’ll have the same kind of situation here.”

Nikodim says he’s encouraged by reports that feral hog numbers around Truman Lake are getting very low.

The Conservation Department is training more staff this year to trap feral hogs to assist private landowners in getting rid of them. Brownfield interviewed Nikodim at the 2020 Missouri Pork Expo in Columbia.