A state wildlife management area that closed last week because of dangerous vandalism says it’s hoping to reopen by the end of the month, in time for squirrel-hunting season.
WPLN’s Daniel Potter reports on the 80-thousand-acre Catoosa wildlife area, on the Cumberland Plateau.
This summer officials have found several low-tech traps left on remote roads and trails in Catoosa. They’re spikes and boards with large nails driven through and left on the ground. They’ve blown out tires on several vehicles, and last week officials decided the danger was bad enough to temporarily close the area.
Now eight workers are scouring the area with metal detectors. Manager Kirk Miles says they’ll have to spend many hours on foot looking for the traps.
“They’re very hard to find; they’re hard to see. They’re dangerous to foot traffic for sure, vehicle tires – some of them are in areas that if you had a flat and couldn’t get out you could possibly be stranded in there.”
Miles didn’t want to speculate as to who’s responsible. But he did say the traps began cropping up around the same time the state ended hunting for wild hogs in the area, and instead started trying to trap and eradicate them.
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