The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is actively trying to reduce the number of wild hogs causing issues in the Upper Cumberland.
TWRA Feral Swine Coordinator Michael McCord said wild hogs are an invasive species and have been causing issues in the state for several years. A 2015 report showed wild hogs cause about $26 million in crop damage every year.
“So wild pigs they feed by rooting,” McCord said. “So they may be tearing up people’s pasture fields or getting into corn fields late in the summer and tearing the corn stalch down. Even the corn, I’ve seen fields that were basically total losses because of hog damage.”
McCord said wild hogs also cause issues by contaminating waterways with erosion or with their feces. McCord said the mountains of East Tennessee and the Upper Cumberland are the most impacted areas.
“These are areas that can be hard to get to,” McCord said. “You know very rugged country, so a lot of places for the pigs to hide out and it doesn’t take them long to move into an area cause damage and then retreat back to hard to access areas.”
McCord said the TWRA is combating wild hogs using lethal measures, as trapping and transporting a wild hog is not a good idea. McCord said they do help private property owners through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services.
“They actually have staff dedicated to doing control on private land for land owners,” McCord said. “We do what we can but we are sort of limited in that aspect, but we regulate how landowners are able to control those wild pigs.”
McCord said historically the TWRA allowed landowners to use all methods of control including baiting wild hogs. McCord said however, this year they have changed that.
“We made some changes to try to refocus on trapping as the preferred method to steer people to the USDA Wildlife Services and their staff but also to kind of reign in some illegal activity that was going on specifically with some individuals that were trying to use these hog exemptions a way to pursue other game with illegal methods.”
McCord said wild hogs have become a problem as some have been released into Tennessee illegally. McCord said people should report sightings of wild hogs or damages to the TWRA. McCord said he hopes people can be more aware and work together to resolve the wild hog issues.
