District to Hold Series of Hog Hunts

Southwest Florida Water Management District land managers plan to hold a series of hog hunts on district land this fall and winter to help reduce the wild hog population.

Beginning at 9 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 8, prospective hunters can purchase permits for these hunts on the District’s website at HogHunts.WaterMatters.org. Permits will be available on a first-come, first-served basis through 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19, or until they are sold out. The cost is $75 for each permit.

All hunts will adhere to the hog-dog format. No still hunts will be available.

Wild hogs, which are not native to Florida, feed on roots, tubors and grubs by rooting with their broad snouts and can leave an area looking like a plowed field. They also prey on native wildlife, compete with native species for food and transmit diseases to other wildlife, livestock and humans. Additionally, hogs may facilitate the spread of exotic plant species by transporting seeds and/or providing germination sites through rooting.

The district allows hogs to be controlled through hunts when damage they cause is at unacceptable levels. Damage from hogs is occurring more frequently and with increasing severity.

Here’s where and when the hunts will be held:

Alston Tract at Upper Hillsborough Preserve

Pasco County

Oct. 30-Nov. 1 (day hunts)

Conner Preserve

Pasco County

Nov. 6-8 (day hunts)

Starkey Wilderness Preserve

Pasco County

Jan. 8-10 (night hunts)

Flying Eagle Nature Center

Citrus County

Nov. 23-25

Dec. 14-16 (day hunts)

Hampton Tract and Closed-Areas Tracts at Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve

Polk County

Dec. 4-6 (day hunts)

Coker Prairie Tract at Edward Chance Reserve

Manatee County

Oct. 30-Nov. 1 (day hunts)

Little Manatee River Southfork Tract

Manatee County

Nov. 6-8 (day hunts)

Lower Hillsborough River Wilderness Preserve

Hillsborough County

Jan. 22-24 (night hunts)

Deer Prairie Creek Preserve and South Schewe Tract

Dec. 11-13

March 19-21 (night hunts)

Deep Creek Preserve

DeSoto County

Nov. 27-29 (day hunts)

Hálpata Tastanaki Preserve

Marion County

Dec. 4-6 (day hunts)

The district-managed properties will be temporarily closed to the public during the hog hunts. Only permitted hunters will be allowed access. In addition to obtaining a permit online, maps and hunting rules of the areas where the hunts will take place are available on the District’s website at HogHunts.WaterMatters.org.

This is the fifth consecutive year for the hunts. Last year’s hunts removed 270 hogs from four tracts of land throughout the district.