• Help Support TNDeer:

Let's Talk Catoosa

East TN Bowhunter said:
I would pay $100 for a permit to hunt it all season. It is tough to connect on the early bow hunt with a good buck bc they just aren't moving much at all during daylight and other than that we currently have 3 really crowded gun/muzz hunts and as a bow hunter, there is not a really well timed, good hunt. Having all season to hunt, I think guys would be more selective as well and hold out for better bucks. When you only have a couple weekends a season there most people are going to shoot the first legal buck they see. If they won't do this, at least add a bow quota hunt the first couple weeks of November for guys that only bow hunt and want a better chance during the rut.
Click to expand...
I agree with all of this. Also - I think it would add a ton of excitement surrounding Catoosa. It's reputation has been sinking for years. I'd gladly pay $100.
 
quackaholic said:
If we're gonna talk season... the bow hunt should be first week of November. The velvet hunt too. Then one week of Muzzleloader. No gun hunt period. All hunts should allow bears, boars, and coyotes to be taken.
Click to expand...
yep agree
DMD said:
I agree with all of this. Also - I think it would add a ton of excitement surrounding Catoosa. It's reputation has been sinking for years. I'd gladly pay $100.
Click to expand...
That should make enough money to fix the bridge and then have some left over to do actual food plots, corn fields, and bean fields! Look we just solved all the problems LOL
 
DMD said:
I agree with all of this. Also - I think it would add a ton of excitement surrounding Catoosa. It's reputation has been sinking for years. I'd gladly pay $100.
Click to expand...
I mean $100 x 1,000 permits/yr = $100,000/yr. Over a couple of years surely that would do some good for the place!
 
quackaholic said:
If we're gonna talk season... the bow hunt should be first week of November. The velvet hunt too. Then one week of Muzzleloader. No gun hunt period. All hunts should allow bears, boars, and coyotes to be taken.
Click to expand...
The coyotes and boars are legal during any big game hunt. I agree- they should be legal during small game well.
 
I think there must be quite a lot of poaching going on out there on Catoosa. Something's definitely not right, the place had a ton of potential.

I heard stories about one guy and his Dad poaching out there. By the time I was able to gain more information, he took a job out of town, and I heard they'd stopped.
 
Last edited:
East TN Bowhunter said:
I mean $100 x 1,000 permits/yr = $100,000/yr. Over a couple of years surely that would do some good for the place!
Click to expand...
Yes sir...you'd think so. It would be a win-win situation. Good for the wildlife, Catoosa, and hunters. I think. That's what I always liked about LBL. If I got drawn on a quota rifle hunt, I could drive over and spend a week, bowhunt and scout. I would love to be able to bow hunt Catoosa throughout the season.
 
knightrider said:
Problem is it wouldnt go to just to catoosa, and lets have more bow only opportunities and hell no, no guns, screw them guys🙄
Click to expand...
Not saying to "screw" gun hunters. But the obvious way to improve upon game numbers as well as quality is to reduce weapons range. No it isn't a fix. But, it would have a positive impact until the land held more deer. Then have an antlerless draw for gun to keep herd in check. The juvenile hunt is having very few killed. That tells me the population needs a boost. I may be wrong, but I have seen the results from limited firearms seasons. Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, says you can't argue the fact. Those are fairly heavily hunted states that produce quality opportunities year after year. Don't say it's crops. Deers diets are still mostly browse. That's just facts.
 
quackaholic said:
Not saying to "screw" gun hunters. But the obvious way to improve upon game numbers as well as quality is to reduce weapons range. No it isn't a fix. But, it would have a positive impact until the land held more deer. Then have an antlerless draw for gun to keep herd in check. The juvenile hunt is having very few killed. That tells me the population needs a boost. I may be wrong, but I have seen the results from limited firearms seasons. Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, says you can't argue the fact. Those are fairly heavily hunted states that produce quality opportunities year after year. Don't say it's crops. Deers diets are still mostly browse. That's just facts.
Click to expand...
Thats exactly what your doing, cut the draw by a thousand if you want to help, but to exclude gun hunters is definitely screwing guys that dont bow hunt. Population needs a boost? Hell the population they have needs something to eat, but you want more deer to compete with existing deer,hogs,bears, turkeys, and squirrels for what little they have to eat now. Just like every where else twra has control of they need better management with less tags and more food. Gun or bow doesnt matter , dead deer are dead whether its from a gun, bow, predators, or starvation. Cut number of tags and give em something to eat
 
knightrider said:
Thats exactly what your doing, cut the draw by a thousand if you want to help, but to exclude gun hunters is definitely screwing guys that dont bow hunt. Population needs a boost? Hell the population they have needs something to eat, but you want more deer to compete with existing deer,hogs,bears, turkeys, and squirrels for what little they have to eat now. Just like every where else twra has control of they need better management with less tags and more food. Gun or bow doesnt matter , dead deer are dead whether its from a gun, bow, predators, or starvation. Cut number of tags and give em something to eat
Click to expand...
I don't see how this screws gun hunters??? Same amount of days gun hunting as ever. And, I guarantee more deer will be killed on those days than all the deer killed by bow hunters. Cutting the gun tags by a 1000 screws gun hunters more than adding more days for bow hunters. Plus bow hunters killing some does, lowering the doe population will help with the food situation and will even the buck to doe ratio which will improve the gun hunting imo. Somehow you are equating more days bow hunting with being unfair to gun hunters, when in reality, imo, it improves the entire area, which is better for gun hunters and bow hunters. But, it doesn't matter, because it's never going to happen anyway. And, I gun hunt/Muzzleload hunt way more than I bow hunt anymore. I've only bow hunted at Catoosa a few times, but have gun/muzzleloader hunted many times.
 
DMD said:
I don't see how this screws gun hunters??? Same amount of days gun hunting as ever. And, I guarantee more deer will be killed on those days than all the deer killed by bow hunters. Cutting the gun tags by a 1000 screws gun hunters more than adding more days for bow hunters. Plus bow hunters killing some does, lowering the doe population will help with the food situation and will even the buck to doe ratio which will improve the gun hunting imo. Somehow you are equating more days bow hunting with being unfair to gun hunters, when in reality, imo, it improves the entire area, which is better for gun hunters and bow hunters. But, it doesn't matter, because it's never going to happen anyway. And, I gun hunt/Muzzleload hunt way more than I bow hunt anymore. I've only bow hunted at Catoosa a few times, but have gun/muzzleloader hunted many times.
Click to expand...
You must of missed the post i was referring to that said do away with gun hunting. Hell i dont really care if they open it with state wide and unlimited tags, i will never step foot on the place, just chaps my ass when bow hunters want to eliminate gun hunters opportunities, i love to bowhunt as much as anyone but some folks just dont do it and they deserve woods time too! You guys have at it but as long as twra is in charge of it nothing will change except for it getting worse ✌️
 
knightrider said:
You must of missed the post i was referring to that said do away with gun hunting. Hell i dont really care if they open it with state wide and unlimited tags, i will never step foot on the place, just chaps my ass when bow hunters want to eliminate gun hunters opportunities, i love to bowhunt as much as anyone but some folks just dont do it and they deserve woods time too! You guys have at it but as long as twra is in charge of it nothing will change except for it getting worse ✌️
Click to expand...
Oh.. I'm sorry, i missed that post. I agree with you then. Absolutely. My adhd just won't let me read every post 😂. And you are absolutely right about twra.
 
knightrider said:
You must of missed the post i was referring to that said do away with gun hunting. Hell i dont really care if they open it with state wide and unlimited tags, i will never step foot on the place, just chaps my ass when bow hunters want to eliminate gun hunters opportunities, i love to bowhunt as much as anyone but some folks just dont do it and they deserve woods time too! You guys have at it but as long as twra is in charge of it nothing will change except for it getting worse ✌️
Click to expand...
I don't care either way about the gun hunts I bow hunt during them anyways lol I just think they should open up the bow hunt to 3-4 weeks atleast maybe the whole month of October until the first muzz/gun hunt and make it a permit just like LBL like DMD was saying. Just allow one doe and one buck with antler restrictions and take the proceeds and fix bridge and start doing food plots.
 
Does anyone know off hand about how many 5 gallon buckets a person would need to hold 100# of corn?
 
Carlos said:
I think there must be quite a lot of poaching going on out there on Catoosa. Something's definitely not right, the place had a ton of potential.

I heard stories about one guy and his Dad poaching out there. By the time I was able to gain more information, he took a job out of town, and I heard they'd stopped.
Click to expand...
You also got bears and hogs. They need a rifle bear hunt to thin them out.
 
I haven't hunted there but I have looked it over on a map countless times. On paper it seems to have huge potential but then I'll see threads like this which are definitely discouraging. However the number one factor in keeping me from hunting there is there lack of access and timing of the hunts because they don't lend themselves to a bow hunter actually being able to locate a mature animal and hunt him down. I'm not opposed to killing a random buck that walks through heck I like to get lucky every once in a while. I much more prefer to form a plan and execute it on a buck and Catoosa just doesn't offer me that opportunity IMO
 
tree_ghost said:
I haven't hunted there but I have looked it over on a map countless times. On paper it seems to have huge potential but then I'll see threads like this which are definitely discouraging. However the number one factor in keeping me from hunting there is there lack of access and timing of the hunts because they don't lend themselves to a bow hunter actually being able to locate a mature animal and hunt him down. I'm not opposed to killing a random buck that walks through heck I like to get lucky every once in a while. I much more prefer to form a plan and execute it on a buck and Catoosa just doesn't offer me that opportunity IMO
Click to expand...
Exactly my problem....
 

Latest posts

Back
Top