Louisiana opens night hunting for "outlaw quadrapeds."
While there has been plenty of bad news in 2020, hunters in Louisiana will likely be celebrating a regulation change that opens hunting for feral hogs and other species at night.
According to NOLA.com, Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a new bill into law that went into effect this weekend changing state regulations to allow the hunting coyotes, armadillos, nutria, beavers, and feral hogs on private property with permission.
The regulation change also allows hunters the chance to opportunistically shoot hogs when they stumble upon them by accident. There is a slight catch to the rule change. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says hunters must contact their parish's sheriff's office 24 hours before any night hunting is for "outlaw quadrupeds" is set to begin. The outlaw quadruped line is what is being used by the agency as a blanket term for coyotes, armadillos, and feral hogs.
Hunters will be allowed to use suppressors, laser sights, artificial light, night vision and infared devices to aid them in their take of these animals. Anyone prohibited from legal firearms use or who has been convicted of a class three or higher wildlife violation are prohibited from hunting at night.
The state's new regulation change now brings Louisiana's regulations more closely in line with neighboring Texas, which has the worst feral hog problem in the United States. Officials there have estimated that nearly seven out of every ten animals must be harvested just to keep the population of 1.5 million animals stable.
State Department of Wildlife and Fisheries veterinarian Jim LaCour told NOLA.com that the rule change will not likely put a dent in the estimated population of 700,000 feral hogs that live in Louisiana. He noted that officials had been hesitant to open nighttime for hog hunting due to concerns about deer getting poached.
"But we have so many pigs now, and we need to do what we can to make it easier to shoot them," LaCour told the news organization.
Hunters do not need a permit to take feral hogs and the other mentioned animals on the list at night, but they do need to have a hunting license.
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