I put in for all the hunts I've got one point and it don't matter if I get drawed or not. Would like to learn the area being I only live an hour away
One thing that's caught more than a few "off guard" regarding these particular quota hunts:
You'll have comparatively no opportunities to "learn the areas", at least compared to most other quota hunt offerings. There is zero opportunity to go scout the day before any these hunts. You will go in more or less blind the 1st morning of your hunt.
Yes, there is a
single annual "scouting" day for those drawn, which would typically mean you forfeit a good deer hunting day for this limited scouting opportunity. This scouting day has been the Saturday before a drawn hunt, but could be a single Saturday in October covering everyone drawn for all dates (some of which are in December, month or so later).
Otherwise, you generally don't want to set foot on any this acreage,
as the consequences can be severe.
Use the water to your advantage sit all day people going in an out with push the deer around
I've never put in for it but this will save u time and you're able to get away from most people
This is not necessarily the case here because so many the locals also fish a lot around much the perimeter, and they're already "one up" on those traveling from afar, having spent years "scouting" around the banks.
I do agree with the part about sitting on stand all day.
When I've hunted there in the past, whole area became a zoo by mid-morning with hunters, previously unable to scout, now trying to find a good place for a stand during the morning of the 1st hunting day.
Also, as in very similar to my hunting experiences on the Cherokee National Forest, there will be a lot more "stalk" hunters just walking around "hunting" rather than sitting on a stand.
I think part of this comes from a higher percentage of East TN hunters habitually not using stands in steep mountainous terrain (on public hunting areas). Although the "mountains" within this WMA are not as tall, many are straight up & down, difficult to navigate, more so if carrying a deer stand.
