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Milan Volunteer Training Area

I worked at the Milan Arsenal for over 30 years and hunted there the entire time. Back in the 80's and 90's there was a ton of deer there. I don't know what happened but hunting was canceled for one year after 9/11 and the deer herd plummeted. There are a few nice bucks killed every year but there's not one behind every bush. A lot of those deer were killed north of highway 104 those zones are not included in the new hunting areas they have now.You sure go back and look at harvest reports for MAAP last several years. Archery hunt will be very difficult a few and I mean very few nice bucks will be killed.They use to make you kill a doe before you killed a your 2nd buck a lot of hunters had a hard time with that. Hope this was helpful hate if I bursted anybody's bubble. Not going to be applying myself sorry for being so long winded.
 
^^^ Read your last two posts. Welcome to the forum and thanks for the insight, much appreciated. Question of clarification: you mentioned you worked and hunted at Milan for over 30 years, but you also stated you don't know when the rut is. Did I read that right? If so, what am I missing?
 
Andy S. said:
^^^ Read your last two posts. Welcome to the forum and thanks for the insight, much appreciated. Question of clarification: you mentioned you worked and hunted at Milan for over 30 years, but you also stated you don't know when the rut is. Did I read that right? If so, what am I missing?
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I saw bucks trailing and chasing does in 70 degree heat on first Saturday in Nov and then chasing does on 3rd Saturday in Nov when it was like 25 degrees and then bucks with does and acting silly crazy on good friday. I think that year was 2017.

This was all in the outside zones that are now archery only.

That is what confuses me...why in the world they would make the exterior zones archery only. They were always open to gun.
 
Squirrelhunter said:
I haven't put but one post on.Don't think I mentioned the rut.But isn't the 1st rut usually in November
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It was 30ish minutes before the post he responded to
 

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Buzzard Breath said:
You bring up a really good point. Some of the best bucks killed at Oak Ridge are shot by hunters that hunt there year after year. Going in blind, or with a single day of scouting makes for a tough hunt. At least with Oak Ridge, you can drive the roads, outside of Tower Shielding, and get a lay of the land and have some ideas. I highly doubt that's possible at Milan.
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There aren't any deer on the OR WMA. Between CWD, EHD, Blue Tongue, deer/car collisions, and OR residents hunting them at bird feeders, they're all gone. Yep. Every single one of em! No turkey there either!! So don't bother applying. 😁😁
 
Antler Daddy said:
Map is online now: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/twra/images/map/Milan-Deer-Units.jpg

It makes no sense to me why they designated all of the exterior border areas outside the fence for Archery Only hunts while the interior hunts are gun. You would have thought it would have been the opposite. It would not surprise me any if it is backwards. All the bomb bunkers are inside the gun zone ....you bozos! Perhaps they are empty now.

I know 12C, 13C, and 13B areas well. That is a lot of area for 3 archery hunters per area. That was the same limit for each area when we could use a gun.

I spined a monster double drop tine in 12C on opening day of ML in 2017. It is a heartbreaking tale to watch a buck drop and then crawl down the hill, and you reload and fire your only smokeless load at him while he is laying there in the gully and cant get up. Must have missed that 2nd shot aimed at the neck...didn't want to shoot in the shoulder to ruin meat. That deer crawled off and later jumped up and went back trough the fence. Then, you still too dumb to go shoot and check your rifle zero and three weeks later miss a whopper of a typical with his tongue hanging out at 30 yards. He just walked off while I struggled to reload. That was after watching 7 different bucks chase a doe in and out of sight and almost run me over for almost an hour. I hit that buck exactly where the scope was aiming and tried to shoulder drop the next one...shot right over the top of him. Sad tale of several missed opportunties for buck trophy greatness over my hunting lifetime.
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I got drawn for 13c early October any info would be greatly appreciated
 
I am drawn for one of the Archery Units. I am really looking forward to it. I called TWRA this morning and they don't think the emails have been sent yet with our specific instructions. Supposedly the arsenal itself will be sending an email with the details. I look forward to the scouting days.
 
slickwater1 said:
I am drawn for one of the Archery Units. I am really looking forward to it. I called TWRA this morning and they don't think the emails have been sent yet with our specific instructions. Supposedly the arsenal itself will be sending an email with the details. I look forward to the scouting days.
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The property you will be hunting now belongs to TN National Guard. TWRA took over all the hunting. You should receive all information for your hunt from TWRA.
 
Does anyone have any info on TA2? Not looking for a honey hole just a place to start. I will be there for the scout days but 3 days isn't a lot of time to figure out 700 acres.
 
jr0613 said:
Does anyone have any info on TA2? Not looking for a honey hole just a place to start. I will be there for the scout days but 3 days isn't a lot of time to figure out 700 acres.
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I think the sudden introduction of scouting days after 2 years of no hunting is going to really throw the deer for a loop.

I'm going to try to hunt a funnel and just hope someone bumps something by me.
 
DeerCamp said:
I think the sudden introduction of scouting days after 2 years of no hunting is going to really throw the deer for a loop.

I'm going to try to hunt a funnel and just hope someone bumps something by me.
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My thoughts exactly. I've got TA12 November 18th-20th. I think boots on the ground scouting will do more harm than good. I'm going to scout using maps and hope like you that deer will be bumped my way.
 
DwayneC said:
I got drawn for 13c early October any info would be greatly appreciated.
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I currently work at the Milan Training Site and will be the individual you receive your safety briefings from here as well. In reference to the boundary question in relation to the Gun/Archery areas, as depicted on the zone maps, it is as posted, Archery on the outside boundaries with Muzzleloader in the areas of the bunkers. All bunkers are now empty as of 2021. Some if not most of these areas listed on the map are larger than 1,000 acres of hunting. Hope this info helps for any of those coming to hunt this year.
 

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