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Oak Ridge Didn't want to Hijack

Bone Collector

Bone Collector

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So reading through Timberjack's thread it appears that there is a lot to hunting Oak Ridge that needs to be considered. I didn't want to Hijack, but I didn't see the most pertinent question (in my mind)... which hunt?

options are Nov. 5-6; Nov. 12-13; and Dec. 10-11.

It is east TN, so in my mind, I would think that the rut has to be around thanksgiving, right? so the 12-13 may be too early and the Dec. 10-11 may be too late.

What do y'all think??

As a side note. I am not sure that I will apply to a hunt or not this year. May just take a point. I have been putting in for PI and have 9 points. It is tough to think after waiting all this time, that I may go somewhere else, but reports form the Island have been weighing on my mind. These are shotgun hunts and I just happen to hunt a SG/ML/A only WMA, so I have a slug gun. Its a lot easier to put one down with a SG than a bow, so odds are higher.

Pros:
- If I put in and get drawn, then I can do this hunt. Maybe since it hasn't been hunted in some time I will get a chance at a good one.
- If they cancel or I don't get drawn, then I still have 10 pts and can decide again next year.
Cons:
- If I get drawn I will never hunt PI.... but I may never get to at this rate either. No telling how much longer the WMA will exist and how many points I will need to draw in. I am thinking at least 15.
 
I selected the first archery hunt.

I have 13 points and have been holding out for the island as well. Same concerns as you so I thought I'd have a better bow hunt at OR.

I'm thinking Pre Rut to Rut will be happening, but that will all be out the window when 1000 people start moving in to hunt.

Now comes the hard part and that will be finding the deer and where they want to be once the pressure starts. It's a big area.
 
mike243 said:
Ya know so much BS about the rut dates cracks me up, the rut starts when the first doe is breed and ends when the last 1 is breed, sure there are times when more are in heat but you cant kill them if you are setting on the couch wondering when you need to go hunt lmao
Click to expand...
While you're correct, there is a short window when chasing is much more active than the rest of the year. I do agree, get off the couch and hunt. Any time in November is the time to be in the woods
 
Imo I think the 1st hunt would be the best deer aint been hunted in 3 years.but with that 1st wekend in November never know if is gonna be cold or a warm weeknd. Iv Never had any luck with the December hunt.
 
Bone Collector said:
So reading through Timberjack's thread it appears that there is a lot to hunting Oak Ridge that needs to be considered. I didn't want to Hijack, but I didn't see the most pertinent question (in my mind)... which hunt?

options are Nov. 5-6; Nov. 12-13; and Dec. 10-11.

It is east TN, so in my mind, I would think that the rut has to be around thanksgiving, right? so the 12-13 may be too early and the Dec. 10-11 may be too late.

What do y'all think??

As a side note. I am not sure that I will apply to a hunt or not this year. May just take a point. I have been putting in for PI and have 9 points. It is tough to think after waiting all this time, that I may go somewhere else, but reports form the Island have been weighing on my mind. These are shotgun hunts and I just happen to hunt a SG/ML/A only WMA, so I have a slug gun. Its a lot easier to put one down with a SG than a bow, so odds are higher.

Pros:
- If I put in and get drawn, then I can do this hunt. Maybe since it hasn't been hunted in some time I will get a chance at a good one.
- If they cancel or I don't get drawn, then I still have 10 pts and can decide again next year.
Cons:
- If I get drawn I will never hunt PI.... but I may never get to at this rate either. No telling how much longer the WMA will exist and how many points I will need to draw in. I am thinking at least 15.
Click to expand...
No way I'd waste 10 points on the Oak Ridge Hunt!
 
gobblegrunt said:
No way I'd waste 10 points on the Oak Ridge Hunt!
Click to expand...
I used 12 points for OR archery hunt this year.

Hasn't been hunted in 2 years so those 1.5 year olds will be 4.5 this year and so on with the older class bucks.

I was waiting for PI, but one buck might be killed on the hunt and from the pictures they are no bigger than regular state deer.
The island never recovered and hasn't been the same in years.
 
EJ1 said:
I used 12 points for OR archery hunt this year.

Hasn't been hunted in 2 years so those 1.5 year olds will be 4.5 this year and so on with the older class bucks.

I was waiting for PI, but one buck might be killed on the hunt and from the pictures they are no bigger than regular state deer.
The island never recovered and hasn't been the same in years.
Click to expand...
I am afraid you may come to regret using your 12 points on OR, instead of getting PI soon.
I say that mostly because you'll likely never have another opportunity to hunt PI,
but may be able to continuously hunt OR on an annual basis ongoing.

Bucks living at PI will always be (on average) much larger antlered than those living at OR.
I seriously doubt the average 4 1/2 at OR being as large as the average 3 1/2 at PI.

Neither place has "recovered" and neither will ever be like they were at one time,
in terms of high deer densities.

I hunted OR the 1st year it began, and a few times since.
I hunted PI in 2016.

In both cases, the deer densities have been more purposefully reduced than accidently happening. In both cases Mother Nature has simply helped with the goal of maintaining a low deer density in the respective areas.

One reason the deer hunts were cancelled at OR recently is because the deer population was so low they didn't seem necessary.
Seems joke-worthy cancellations were blamed on covid.
These hunts are not so much about providing hunters "opportunity"
as they are almost totally about using hunters as tools for keeping the deer density low.

While any 1.5 yr old bucks living a couple years ago may have survived to now be a couple years older, there simply were not many 1.5 yr old deer at OR a couple years ago (at least compared to many years ago). In fact, I suspect the deer population in 2022 is higher at PI.

Having hunted both OR & PI, neither even came close to the expectations I had.
Although the first couple years OR was open to hunting, there were a lot of deer, there was also a deer hunter seemingly in every other tree, while other hunters were walking all over the place.
Just saying, the negatives can cancel out the positives in both places.

Other than relatively few deer, the biggest negatives I experienced at PI in 2016
was the unsightly trash EVERYWHERE in the woods, the horrible stench from the surrounding chemical factories, on top the noise pollution. Honestly, my first day hunting a PI, there was no way I could have heard a deer walking on dry leaves right under my tree due to all the continuous industrial sounds.

Although the aesthetics are better at OR, I've experienced some pretty bad noise pollution there as well, and had 100% of my hunts interrupted by other hunters. Maybe just luck, but when I hunted PI, I did not get messed up by another hunter while on stand.

Lots of ways to measure the quality of a hunting experience.
Opportunity to kill a deer is but one measure.
Opportunity to enjoy the hunting otherwise is another.
On those "other" aspects, both PI & OR are near last on any list.
 
I've also hunted oak ridge many times. Use to very easy to draw the hunt most years. I like the area seen doe's and small bucks.but deer density is awful. It is a hunt put on to keep deer density low so people working in there don't hit run into them with they're cars. And keep this in mind. It is a nuclear facility with that being said. They test every deer killed for radiation. If it tests to a certain level you can't have it. They keep it and dispose of it. So kill the biggest buck of your life. Now you gotta hope it doesn't test positive for radiation.
 
Yeah there's really not a overpopulation problem at all right now. Deer vehicle collisions have went up a hair but not enough to cause alarm. That's really the only reason for the hunts is to keep DVC's down.
 
I am not trying to make anyone change their mind , it's a quota hunt number is limited to begin with so who cares. LBL Man is spot on in my opinion, I believe Oak ridge is getting way over hyped because it has not been hunted in a couple years. I live in an area with low deer density and they could shut it down from a couple years and it would still have low deer density. Now if this was 1989 when they first started the hunts now that was a different story! You just don't see the deer in that area like back in the day when the hunts started and you had to play Dodge a deer just to get to the city of oak ridge! They truly have been successful in their goal to hold the population in check. Either way it should have a few more deer than it would normally had it not been shut down. Good luck!
 
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