If you read the papers, one of the largest wildlife stories in Tennessee during 2011 was the change in management philosophy and regulations by TWRA concerning Tennessee's most destructive animal, the wild (also referred to as 'feral') hog. While headlines across the state read that TWRA was "making hunting of wild hogs illegal", what wasn't reported was that the opportunity to kill these exotic pests was actually expanded.

(TWF's paper on this issue is HERE and other great information is located on a special website which can be accessed HERE.) 

Let us start by understanding that the wild hog (Sus scrofa) is a non-native species of animal that was introduced into the U.S. long ago. While some wild hog populations contain a significant genetic strain of Russian wild boar, many wild hog populations are the result of domesticated swine that escaped or were turned loose and became feral. These animals cause millions in damage to crops and land annually, and harbor several diseases that are dangerous to both humans and livestock. They are smart, highly adaptive to multiple habitat types, and prolific breeders.

Technically TWRA did make it illegal to "hunt" wild hogs, but what the wild hog "hunters" won't admit to (or tell the media) is that they are still killing wild hogs, using dogs, and haven't skipped a beat because the opportunity still exists - its just not called "hunting", now its called eradication. So the question remains, if this is all true what is going on?

Well for one thing, in 2000, in an effort to respond to a growing wild hog problem on the Cumberland Plateau and counties bordering the Cherokee National Forest, TWRA opened up the regulations to allow hunting of wild hogs 365 days a year for hunters. They did this so hunters could knock back the wild hog population and help address some of the damage that these nasty non-native swine were causing. So what happened? Did it work?

No...this approach failed miserably. For the next decade, the wild hog population in Tennessee exploded, moving into Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee in isolated populations (most likely created through illegal transport of wild hogs). Localized populations of wild hogs expanded in the plateau and parts of east Tennessee and damage to Tennessee landowners and farmers began to get serious, with damages to crops reaching into the tens of thousands of dollars for individual farmers.

So after citizens began complaining to their elected officials about these pests TWRA worked with the members of the House Environment and Conservation Committee and developed a new approach to managing wild hogs based upon successful approaches used in other states, being careful to avoid failed approaches used in others.

The result, a new approach to managing the wild hog that better reflects the nature of this exotic wild pest...eradicate them by almost all means necessary. This means:

• Wild hogs were reclassified from a game species to a nuisance species - this means that a hunting license is no longer required to shoot wild hogs
• Wild hogs can now be killed at night
• Wild hogs can now be shot or trapped and killed using bait
• TWRA is offering stepped up assistance to landowners that have wild hog problems

To understand more of the history of what has happened and the specifics of the changes that were made, we strongly suggest you click HERE to read the TWF position paper on this topic which covers the specific details of changes that were made.

Wild hogs have become a plague across the southern United States. The are capable of producing a litter of 6 piglets every 115 days. As a result, if you remove 70% of a wild hog population, it takes only 30 months to recover to its previous population level.

To gain a better perspective on what these pests do to farmers and landowners please visit a great website developed by Mississippi State University by clicking HERE.