Is There Really A Feral Hog Problem?

[Cherokee Slim]

So what’s with “The Pig Bomb†“Hog Wars†and the like on TV? They spend the whole show trying to trap or catch feral pigs in a trap or with dogs. Sometimes they take a serious risk, from my point of view, to kill it with a knife. Why don’t they just shoot them? If there are just a few hogs I can see trying to do it like they show on TV. Kind of like turkey hunting, you get one or so and go home. But if they are such a threat to the environment why not have 6 guys with Bushmasters ambush the herds and make a serious dent in the numbers of hogs running loose. Maybe I’m missing something? Are they a problem in SE Tennessee outside the National Forest? Inquiring minds want to know.

Cherokee Slim

[Guest fourspdRAT]

There's a gew farmers in my area complaining about them, but I guarantee no one around here is just trapping them. I think the TV shows are trapping them to release in wildlife management areas; plus being on a major TV channel, they probably can't show people going out and shooting a bunch of pigs every episode due to the bleeding heart PETA people.

[enfield]

Not around my house, but the skwerls are gettin' worrisome.

[whiskey]

The trappers I know only trap for one reason, money. They often get paid to trap the hog, then they take the hogs home and sell them off to "hunting preserves" for paid hunts. To be legal, they are required to vaccinate the hogs before transporting them out of state, but I doubt that happens much.

[roverboy]

Hogs in some areas are a bad problem. We don't have'm here yet, but its probably coming. There's some hogs about 7 miles from here. I worked with a guy from Fentris county and he said they are all around him. He gave up on trying to raise a garden 4-5 years ago.

[Lumber_Jack]

Fentress, Overton, Morgan, Putnam counties have a bad problem. And no, the ones trying to get rid of the hogs are not trapping them. Over a property we manage on the fentress/overton county line The USFWS did a fly over in a helicopter last fall herding them and shooting them from a door gunner. as you can imagine that wasn't too successful as shooting a pig rom a moving helicopter is a daunting task even for a great marksman. But that's the govmint using our tax dollars wisely once again. I have spoke with al land owner that has killed over 80 hogs last year just in his field. Thats a pretty bad problem I'd say

[DaveS]

They are all over Stewart county , LBL and Fort Campbell. Hundreds of them. Not allowed to hunt them though, except with extreme rules and regulations. They have more regs on them than black bears!!! Crazy! I ain't going to get started!

[DaveS]

USDA did a "fly over" here too. Killed 50 something of them. Shot them from a helicopter with buckshot and left them laying in the woods and fields to rot. Sickening, since we have so many hungry people in this state. It p***** me off to no end!! And yet, they won't let us hunt them. Rumor has it that each flight/day cost about $10,000.00 to complete. Don't matter if they kill them or not. Tax dollars well spent!

[Raoul]

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Edited May 14, 2011 by Raoul

[Lumber_Jack]

Yeah if they want them all dead, just tell TWRA to loosen the rules. Allow night hunting, no limit, no license, allow bait. They are non-native and very destructive. But they can't make money doin that now can they?

[roverboy]

Lumber_Jack, I called TWRA once and talked to a guy and asked him why the regulations were so messed up. He said they do a lot of damage to the land. I said i know. Why don't they loosen up the laws? He couldn't give me an answer.

[Lumber_Jack]

Lumber_Jack, I called TWRA once and talked to a guy and asked him why the regulations were so messed up. He said they do a lot of damage to the land. I said i know. Why don't they loosen up the laws? He couldn't give me an answer.

Yeah i know, I have talked to several game wardens and got the same lack of a good answer. I did however hear that they(TWRA ) approved the loosening of the regulations. I'm not sure to what degree though, maybe no limits. If you ask me, they should allow bait. Hogs are so nocturnal that hunting them in the day is a challenge. If we could use bait that would go along way to eliminating the high numbers. I know this poses a loophole for baiting deer, but at least allow it outside of whitetail season.

[DaveS]

How could they loosen the regs on them, when they stopped the hunting of them in a high population area? At times I think TWRA has little idea what they are doing!

[Lumber_Jack]

LBL and Fort Cambel play by different rules. But for the rest of the state, i have no idea. I haven't actually heard of any reg changes directly from TWRA, just through the grapevine. Time will tell. Maybe the changes were only for Units A & B, I'm not sure.

Edited May 15, 2011 by Lumber_Jack

[Lumber_Jack]

Ok after doing some calling, i found what the change is supposed to be. From what I am told they are going to remove the Wild Hog from the Big Game classification. There is no limit on most counties and season is only regulated if you hunt with dogs, otherwise it's open year round. You still cannot hunt at night or with bait, which again are the two biggest factors allowing the populations to continually increase. But alas I am a forester, no a wildlife biologist, my knowledge of the matter is limited and mostly opinion

[roverboy]

If you could bait'em and hunt at night, then hunters could put a dent in'em.

[zgunbear]

I just want to find a place to try and shoot a few.

[Dolomite_supafly]

YouTube - Helicopter Pig Hunt (no music)

Can't imagine anything more fun than this.

Dolomite

[Andyshowfan]

They are not too terribly bad here yet, other than in the Smokies. Howver with the new regulations coming down the pipe they may soon become worse. I was told by one of the "head honchos" for TWRA in Nashville that they are implementing these regulations as a way to combat the folks bringing in hogs for paid hunts. Most notably in the central part of the state. It will soon be a requirement that a "landowner" can shoot as many as he/she wants anytime of the year (which really hasn't changed that much from previous) but coming soon for a non-owner of a property to hunt the hogs on private land the "landowner" must call and tell TWRA "i'm not capable of taking care of my hog problem, I'm getting Joe Blow and his brothers Jim and Jack to come take care of them for me" According to the TWRA official it was nothing to worry about, "you will still get to hunt, we just do not want people stocking the hogs and charging people to hunt them. This way a property owner will have to tell us who is coming on their property to hunt and we can curb the population boom this way" I'm not sure how other states are dealing with the hog problem but as for me I'm going to start looking for a place to hunt hogs a little more liberally. If they are the problem they say they are, especially in SE TN and Central TN, then let us shoot as many as we can all year long. Private, public and/or WMA's. I'm off my soap box now................A little more detailed version of my conversations with TWRA are in this post. http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/hunting/56164-twra-requests-public-input-concerning-2011-2012-hunting-season.html

Edited May 16, 2011 by Andyshowfan

[Lumber_Jack]

YouTube - Helicopter Pig Hunt (no music)

Can't imagine anything more fun than this.

Dolomite

true true, unfortunately in heavily timbered areas like tennessee you can imagine why it was so unsucsessful. But dont get me wrong if they called needing and extra gunman, I would be ALL over it!!! Great fun there

They are not too terribly bad here yet, other than in the Smokies. Howver with the new regulations coming down the pipe they may soon become worse. I was told by one of the "head honchos" for TWRA in Nashville that they are implementing these regulations as a way to combat the folks bringing in hogs for paid hunts. Most notably in the central part of the state. It will soon be a requirement that a "landowner" can shoot as many as he/she wants anytime of the year (which really hasn't changed that much from previous) but coming soon for a non-owner of a property to hunt the hogs on private land the "landowner" must call and tell TWRA "i'm not capable of taking care of my hog problem, I'm getting Joe Blow and his brothers Jim and Jack to come take care of them for me" According to the TWRA official it was nothing to worry about, "you will still get to hunt, we just do not want people stocking the hogs and charging people to hunt them. This way a property owner will have to tell us who is coming on their property to hunt and we can curb the population boom this way" I'm not sure how other states are dealing with the hog problem but as for me I'm going to start looking for a place to hunt hogs a little more liberally. If they are the problem they say they are, especially in SE TN and Central TN, then let us shoot as many as we can all year long. Private, public and/or WMA's. I'm off my soap box now................A little more detailed version of my conversations with TWRA are in this post. http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/hunting/56164-twra-requests-public-input-concerning-2011-2012-hunting-season.html

I dont see how that is going to help. Especially with large landowners that lease property for hunting. We manage over 250,000 acres on the plataue and Cumberland Mountains all of which would not fall under the "landwoner" classification. I can garuntee that our clients (the actual landowners) are not going to call TWRA and Authorize all of our hunt leases. I dont know maybe being the leasor exempts you from having to call. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

[ttocswob]

I went hog "hunting" in Florida about 3 years ago; actually hog catching using dogs, just like TV! Local ordinance prohibited using guns where we were hunting. Also we were on a large cattle ranch, and there's a potential danger to livestock with guns or bows.

Catching the hogs live allows you to kill them later, then immediately process the meat - important in hot climates.

Yes hogs are a major problem. I've seen large lawn and garden areas wiped out in a single night here on the plateau.

[bajabuc]

Back before the 20th cent, the hillfolk used to turn 'em loose in the spring and round 'em up in the fall...See Foxfire Book one. You never get them all...they hide out and spread...and now we're paying for it.

[vontar]

I know I would sure like to hunt wild hog this year . But I want to go some place were I have a good change to get one. I live in East TN so any tips are welcome.

I haven't read this entire thread but I know people would probaby enjoy getting a mess of wild hog too.

[Lumber_Jack]

I know I would sure like to hunt wild hog this year . But I want to go some place were I have a good change to get one. I live in East TN so any tips are welcome.

I haven't read this entire thread but I know people would probaby enjoy getting a mess of wild hog too.

Fentress, Overton, Morgan, Scott are all good counties. Emory river, is a public hunting area, near frozen head state park. Definitely hogs in there. It not listed as a WMA, but f you need directions let me know. We have managed the Timber on the tract for over 10 years

[East_TN_Patriot]

Pardon my ignorance on this topic - I don't hunt because I'm too stubborn as a former police firearms instructor to go take that hunter safety course. I would assume that these wild hogs would be good eating wouldn't they?