Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
Chuck Swan WMA
Chuck Swan WMA encompasses 24,444 acres of Union and Campbell counties in the ridge and valley section of East Tennessee. The area is located between the Clinch River arm and the Powell River arm of Norris Lake and at one time, was known as Central Peninsula WMA. The property is jointly managed by TWRA and the Tennessee Division of Forestry (TDF).
The area has a fifty-yard and a one hundred-yard firing range. Camping is permitted in three designated campgrounds on the area located near the checking station.
The staff for Chuck Swan WMA consists of three people. Those personnel and positions are: John A. Mike – Wildlife Manager II; Wayne G. Ellison – Wildlife Technician II and Richard Brantley – Wildlife Technician 1. The area is basically an oak, hickory and pine forest with approximately 8% of the area in open fields for wildlife habitat enhancement. During this coming year, the Chuck Swan staff plan on planting the following crop types and acreage: corn – 200 acres, milo – 200 acres, soybeans – 150 acres, kobe lespedeza – 150 acres, alfalfa – 100 acres, sunflowers – 65 acres, German millet – 25 acres, winter wheat – 150 acres, ladino white clover – 100 acres, Redland red clover – 50 acres and buckwheat – 50 acres. The staff conducts control burns on approximately 800 acres.
The primary big game species on the area is whitetail deer and wild turkey. During all big game hunts, the animals have to be checked out at the Leon Harvey Memorial Big Game Checking Station located at the entrance of the management area. The whitetail deer harvest for 2004 was approximately 241 animals. The wild turkey harvest for 2004, which is a combination of the spring hunts and the fall hunts, was approximately 196 birds. The cottontail rabbits, raccoons, mourning doves and crows. The area is very heavily utilized by squirrel hunters using tree dogs. The raccoon hunts are scheduled hunts with the area having six hunts per year, usually during the month of November. Bobwhite quail management is of great concern on the area. A nine-mile linear opening was created for small game and wild turkeys. The creation of this opening was funded by the National Wild Turkey Federation and Quail Unlimited.
An experimental quail stocking program is underway on the area, in which wild quail are being trapped from other properties and are released into the linear opening. The program is still in the early stages, but appears to be doing well. Covey censuses are conducted during the late winter and whistle counts are conducted during late spring and early summer. Due to the stocking program, quail hunting is prohibited on the area and the use of point breed of dogs is not allowed during the dog training season.
Non-game work is being conducted on the area also. An inventory of non-game species is currently being done to find out exactly what species are on the area. Chuck Swan will then be used as a reference area for non-game species indigenous to the ridge and valley section of Tennessee. Due to the varied habitats found on the area, the inventory collection will take approximately three to five years to complete.
Chuck Swan is greatly used by bank fishermen due to easy access to the lake. The non-consumptive users such as hikers, ATV riders, mountain bike riders, horseback riders, wildlife photographers, and bird watchers also heavily utilize the area. Chuck Swan was deeded to the state from TVA. In the deed, the State is to conserve, protect and enhance the forest and the wildlife on the property. But the State must also provide recreational opportunity as deemed suitable for the property by the state. We feel that we are meeting that obligation in the deed by providing consumptive and non-consumptive users the opportunity to use the area and still provide for, enhance and protect all wildlife species indigenous to the area.
