Since 2017, officials with Land Between the Lakes have been working in conjunction with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture — working to temper the exploding population of feral hogs in west Kentucky and northwest Tennessee.
Jim McCoy, LBL Area Supervisor, told Your News Edge that a “good agreement with them” remains in place, with two full-time trappers working the lands all year long.
Year-to-date, McCoy noted more than 1,000 hogs have been eliminated from the region — with the largest concentrated population located south of US 68/80.
Aerial gunnery of the hogs began in 2019, and McCoy added that “a couple of guys with shotguns up in a helicopter hunting pigs” killed more than 200 just last week, while Whole Sounder trapping operations pick up entire herds of the invasive species.
McCoy said this is a more effective way to control the population, because the actual size of the population remains unknown at this time.
Pigs may make for excellent pets and farm animals, but feral hogs are completely different. McCoy said it’s illegal to hunt them in Kentucky and Tennessee, and they remain a destructive species that stems from Eurasia, transferred here by early Spanish settlers.
McCoy urged that there’s “no way” to eradicate the animal from the local habitat, but its control remains as important as ever.
Those who experience, or witness, their destruction or habitat should phone the LBL public information line at (270) 924-2000.
