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Feral hogs remain a menace for farmers across the Southeastern United States. The South Carolina Farm Bureau has reported these animals account for $115 million in damage “each year” in the Palmetto State. Not only that, “they destroy crops, decimate rural land and spread disease.”
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has called feral hogs a “dangerous, destructive, invasive species” – one whose geographic territory is “rapidly expanding” while its “populations are increasing across the nation.”
Farmers typically deal with feral hog infestations by shooting the beasts with rifles or employing traps. But the advent of drone technology has led to new potential methods of hog elimination – prompting the attempted regulation of the use of drones in feral hog management.
S.C. state representative Richard Yow of Chesterfield, S.C. recently introduced a bill – H. 3945 – which would give the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) the authority to implement a regulatory scheme dictating how land-owners can use drones to locate and eliminate feral pigs.
“In Chesterfield County and Darlington and Lancaster, rural counties that I represent, hogs are destroying millions of dollars worth of crops every year,” Yow said.
“We passed the helicopter bill last year, which was a good deal, but most people can’t afford a helicopter,” Yow said, referencing legislation regulating the use of helicopters to hunt hogs that cleared the S.C. General Assembly during the previous legislative session.
Yow called his drone hog hunting bill an attempt “to get ahead of the curve with another option while still following FAA guidelines,” adding his proposed statutory language is based off of Texas’ drone regulations.
For those unfamiliar with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s “rules of the air” – no, you can’t shoot hogs (or anything else) with a drone.
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RELATED | WAR AGAINST FERAL HOGS GOES AIRBORNE
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While drones cannot be used to eliminate animals directly, they are still highly effective targeting platforms when coupled with the use of thermal imaging devices.
Unable to find legislation which would currently prohibit the use of drones to locate hogs, FITSNews asked Yow if he believed the practice was illegal.
“We’ve researched that and we don’t have an answer,” he said. “We can’t find anything that says it’s illegal, but we don’t have anything that says it is legal.”
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Yow said the current situation “leaves it up to the discretion of SCDNR agents, and we don’t want discretion, we want the drone operator and the farmer protected.”
If implemented, the regulatory scheme would require the registration of drone hunting properties with SCDNR in a scheme similar to the state’s current night hunting property registration requirements.
Under the system, land owners could hunt their own lands with the assistance of drones or contract others possessing an SCDNR-issued “aerial management program” permit to kill hogs. Drone operators would be required to keep flight logs for production to game wardens.
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Drone-assisted hunting would be limited exclusively to land management purposes, and would be prohibited for use by recreational hunters.
Anyone using drones to assist their hog hunting outside of the regulatory framework would be guilty of a misdemeanor, and if convicted could be fined up to two hundred dollars and imprisoned for up to thirty days.
If passed, the new regulatory framework would also apply to the targeting of coyotes, another invasive species SCDNR reports is damaging native wildlife.
The bill unanimously cleared a subcommittee in the S.C. House last week without material amendments, and must now pass through the full committee. Count on FITSNews to keep close tabs on this legislation as it makes its way through the S.C. General Assembly.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
(Via: Travis Bell)
Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.
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1 comment
“We’ve researched that and we don’t have an answer,” he said. “We can’t find anything that says it’s illegal, but we don’t have anything that says it is legal.”
“Yow said the current situation “leaves it up to the discretion of SCDNR agents, and we don’t want discretion, we want the drone operator and the farmer protected.””
Okay, if there is nothing saying it is illegal, then why does it need to be “made legal”? How and why is it up to the discretion of a DNR agent? This seems a huge problem. If DNR agents are so far off the chain that they are harassing and penalizing citizens for things that there is no law against, perhaps what we need is a law reigning in the power of DNR agents.
“If implemented, the regulatory scheme would require the registration of drone hunting properties with SCDNR in a scheme similar to the state’s current night hunting property registration requirements.”
“Under the system, land owners could hunt their own lands with the assistance of drones or contract others possessing an SCDNR-issued “aerial management program” permit to kill hogs. Drone operators would be required to keep flight logs for production to game wardens.”
This bill by Yow sounds as though it will do far more harm than good. Given the immense level of destruction wild hogs cause, who gives a flying f-ck if they are killed by farmers to protect crops or by “recreational hunters”? Why should permits be issued by DNR and flight logs kept “for production to game wardens”?
This sounds like an attempt by Yow to boost the almighty power of the state and to create a crime to ensnare farmers and citizens where none previously existed.
To me, Yow sounds like a statist POS. I hope the citizens in his district vote him out at their earliest opportunity.