Beaverdam WMA – 256 Hog

There are still hogs on Beaverdam WMA, but not like there were 30 years ago. 

GON reported in 1991 that the middle Georgia WMA outside of Dublin on the Oconee River was on the verge of shattering its wild hog harvest record.

After archery season and the first two gun hunts on the then-16,000-acre WMA, a grand total of 256 hogs had been killed. The number exactly matched the record of 256 hogs set the previous year, and there was still one more gun hunt set for the 1991 season.

Hogs were the big draw to Beaverdam. Word was out, too, based on hunter numbers that season.

In 1991, 1,445 archers killed 70 deer and 71 hogs. During the first four-day gun hunt, 1,092 hunters killed 100 hogs. The second hunt had 1,201 hunters, and they added 85 pigs to the total.

Area Manager Tim Gilbreath said he wasn’t going to miss the hogs.

“I planted some chufa for the turkeys,” said Tim. “And I had to put a fence around the plot to keep the hogs out.”