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Oak ridge

Big one at the check in
 

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mayberryrick said:
Big ole neck! Oak Ridge used to grow some giant racked bucks but not seen that since the ehd die off….
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I really don't think it's fully recovered. They should back off the doe tags for a year or two. I know that will never happen as the only reason they allow hunting at all is to curb deer/vehicle collisions. And they have accomplished that. The deer i shot there 2 years ago was a survivor of the outbreak. He was 3½ years old 8 point and only field dressed 95#. Granted it made his rack look really big in conjunction to body size, but the mount looks pitiful. My son in law saw 2 deer in tower shielding and I saw 0. The spot we were used to be covered in deer sign and there was very little. I'm sure I would have been happier had we got to hunt the first 2 places I had picked, but when we got to them there was 4 vehicles there already. So we hunted on past experiences instead of scouting intel. I hope everyone else faired better. I also know a guy who put out a cell cam on scout day. He had 1 doe and a crazy racked 7 point on that cam. Granted that buck was a heavy deer.
 
It's a pretty decent indicator your population is suffering, that over the weekend so far only 20 does have been taken with 1050 people with 3 antlerless permits and 2 antlerless permits are field. That's a terrible success rate and you don't even need to do the math.
 
Still better than catoosa hunted both days and never got walked in on or even saw another light any were around me. Did shot a six on Saturday nothing to brag about but meat in freezer and is still a bonus buck
 
It is a far cry from where it was before 2017. It is sad to say it is has been terrible in Oak Ridge since the 2017 die off. Some surrounding areas have recovered much better than oak ridge did.
 

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