Ames Plantation Hunting Club Shrinking

[fairchaser]

The area is only 5500 acres with a public highway dividing it down the middle. On any given hunting day only a handful of hunters (less than 10) would be hunting normally. I can't imagine what would happen if they had a quota hunt of 50 hunters. I know I'd be hunting on the escape routes on Ames adjacent to the new WMA. You would think it could handle one hunter per 100 acres but there are only so many access points and the hunters might as well bang pots and pans. Some of those escape routes would look like a YouTube video.

 

[TheLBLman]

I can't imagine what would happen if they had a quota hunt of 50 hunters.

Wouldn't a quota of 100 hunters be more in line with what TWRA would normally do with a 5500 acre tract?

 

[Buzzard Breath]

Wouldn't a quota of 100 hunters be more in line with what TWRA would normally do with a 5500 acre tract?

The smaller WMA's are around 25 acres/hunter for the rifle hunts, the larger WMA's are around 50 acres/hunter; here in middle TN.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

The smaller WMA's are around 25 acres/hunter for the rifle hunts, the larger WMA's are around 50 acres/hunter; here in middle TN.

The ones I tend to draw have nowhere near 100% participation and even though they have one of the lowest acres per hunter, I rarely see another hunter.

 

[TheLBLman]

The smaller WMA's are around 25 acres/hunter for the rifle hunts, the larger WMA's are around 50 acres/hunter; here in middle TN.

So on a tract of 5500 acres, that would be somewhere between 220 & 110 hunters selected to participate.

Sure, all will not show up, but on something "new", participation rates tend to be much higher.
Reasonable to expect 80-plus percent participation among those drawn?

I wish TWRA would allot more acres per hunter drawn, which could in many cases be off-set by having an additional quota hunt or two of a particular WMA. The small acreage per hunter idea may go back to a time of less skilled hunters, and the plan was to force deer movement?

 

[Buzzard Breath]

Sure, all will not show up, but on something "new", participation rates tend to be much higher.
Reasonable to expect 80-plus percent participation among those drawn?

I believe this would definitely be true. I would also hope TWRA would take into consideration that this is near the epicenter of CWD. I just looked up Presidents Island and the only size I could find for the WMA is 5,669 acres (Gaia mapping). That would put PI at 113 acres per bowhunter. The size is similar to what the Ames property is.

 

[Andy S.]

The small acreage per hunter idea may go back to a time of less skilled hunters, and the plan was to force deer movement?

I recently talked to a Region 1 warden and this was his train of thought about PI quota increasing from 30 to 50. More hunters equate to more opportunity, and more deer movement due to human disturbance, hopefully resulting in more deer sightings and deer shot opportunities in a short period of time (2-3 day hunt).

 

[TheLBLman]

More hunters equate to more opportunity, and more deer movement due to human disturbance, hopefully resulting in more deer sigthings and deer shot opportunities in a short period of time (2-3 day hunt).

Doesn't always work that way. Sometimes the older deer in particular just hunker down in the thickest places where no hunters are going to force them out. Plus become more nocturnal.

 

[Andy S.]

Doesn't always work that way. Sometimes the older deer in particular just hunker down in the thickest places where no hunters are going to force them out. Plus become more nocturnal.

Correct, and his thoughts were 30 quota gives ALL bucks plenty of places to hunker down and hide on the island. He said he had been recommending this quota increase at PI for the last few years. Finally, with the lower kills at PI over the last few years, he was heard, and others were willing to give it a try and see how things play out.