PickettSFHunter
Well-Known Member
I'm not aware of a turkey quota hunt in the US with a higher hunter per acre ratio than that one. Another failure of the TWRA.
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Shanman
Well-Known Member
Jaxon has been drawn twice on youth hunts, both times with 1 point.
Andy, it kind of shocks me that all the juvenile quota hunts are on this end of the state. I know you guys have more elbow room out there and possibly more opportunities on private, but are there any juvenile draw hunts out there outside of wma quotas?
IMO, SW TN is the worst part of the State to live if you love turkey hunting and only want to hunt TN public land (not MS, etc). We have a few Federal National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) such as Lower Hatchie, Chickasaw, Reelfoot that you can send a postcard in and maybe draw a youth only weekend. With that said, these same refuges are threatened every year by spring flood waters of the MS River, thus many have been inaccessible over the last decade regardless if you are drawn or not. A boat helps to some degree, but it is not a solution when the MS River is at peak stages with access roads cut off and and the entire forest floor under water. The floods have really hurt the turkey populations in these areas as well, IMO. We do have LBL youth hunt which many consider to be west TN, but it is a 3 hour drive for us. Middle and East TN are far better prospects for public land turkey hunting IMO.
Shanman
Well-Known Member
Sounds like they need to add a few WMA's out there, hate you guys have the flooding issues.
Thank you!
Agree 110%.
Same for me! Looking forward to it.
Can you scout after you check out at 1pm? I
Ie can you come back late evening?
I have a question about NWR quotas, if you send a card with 4 hunters and one gets drawn do they all get drawn in the same party?
we did not get drawn for Lower Hatchie, but one member of a group for Chickasaw did get drawn, I was wondering if we all should get a response in the mail. He got his response back Tuesday the 9th. Thanks for any info!
our mail route is a training route and delivery is never on time. I want to know so I can take the Thursday off.
we did not get drawn for Lower Hatchie, but one member of a group for Chickasaw did get drawn, I was wondering if we all should get a response in the mail. He got his response back Tuesday the 9th. Thanks for any info!
our mail route is a training route and delivery is never on time. I want to know so I can take the Thursday off.
^^^ Yes, you should all get drawn if all names on same postcard. I did not get Lower Hatchie (12th year in a row to be denied), but did get Chickasaw NWR second hunt. Hopefully the MS River will stay out of the bottoms.
Ikr. That's why we put in the 22-25th. Hoping the river stays down long enough to have a little high ground to hear a gobble. I know the lower hatchie and Chickasaw both are full of gobblers! Good luck!
Rakkin6
Well-Known Member
It is going to be cancelled, hate to be the bearer of bad news. I put in for it also. I am from over that way both my aunt and uncle work there at Y-12/K-25 and they pretty much said it ain't happening. D.O.E. is only allowing employees to enter all their facilities at this time. My buddy who is a DOD employer does a lot of work with D.O.E and they won't let him in either
After speaking with Reelfoot NWR wardens yes you can enter multiple locations just one card per hunt per location. Duplicates will be thrown out. We entered Lower Hatchie 8-11 and Chickasaw 22-25, I hunt with work buddies so we are off those same weekends and got drawn for Chickasaw 22-25, although we have not all gotten the blue confirmation cards back yet, one did, so they told us today we did draw Chickasaw 22-25 and I got our card back from Lower Hatchie 8-11th with a sticker on it saying we did not draw and better luck next year. I did not ask about point systems for NWRs.
Invade anybody is wondering Chickasaw is open for scouting March 15th. I wanted to be sure I didn't mess anyone up closer to the hunt date. If you know you got drawn and have not received a blue confirmation card asking fir the 15$ Payment fir permit you can go ahead and send it in to be sure you have your permit soon enough fir drawn hunt.
still no word back for my sons juvenile Lower Hatchie admission. Our mail route stinks.
Btw if Chickasaw does flood, TWRA can shut down the "area" for safety concerns but the game warden never actually said the NWR will close. And he did verify you can use a boat to hunt it, so maybe I should call TWRA to see if I can access by boat??
any GW want to clarify?
I know of someone who has hunted Tully when it was mostly underwater and said to be closed. I know it well enough to access it by boat but not sure of the legal repercussions.
any GW want to clarify?
I know of someone who has hunted Tully when it was mostly underwater and said to be closed. I know it well enough to access it by boat but not sure of the legal repercussions.
That is great information. Just want to clarify a little more. Could you put in a multiple cards for Chickasaw with different hunt dates? One for Chickasaw April 8-11 and then another card for Chickasaw April 15-18? Sounds like you can. Dang I could have submitted so many more chances.. oh well always next year.
^^^ Yes. You can submit numerous postcards for different NWRs. I typically submit three postcards and get drawn for one, mostly Chickasaw NWR over the years. As stated above, if Caruthersville gage on MS River is 34' or higher, hunting will be closed and illegal to partake in per TWRA proclamation 20-8. See this notice from last year (spring 2020) where TWRA cancelled the entire juvenile turkey hunt in the Mississippi Rivers Floodwaters Zone.
Here is the verbiage from proclamation 20-8, verbatim:
"Hunting Closure: When the Mississippi River stage reaches thirty-four feet (34.0 ft.) at the Caruthersville gauge (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gauge MS117 at river mile 846.4), all big game hunting will close in the Mississippi River Floodwaters Zone (hereafter Zone) and will remain closed until the Mississippi River stage falls below thirty-four feet (34.0 ft.) at the Caruthersville gauge (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gauge MS117 at river mile 846.4). This closure is effective on both private and public lands within the Zone."
"The eastern border of the Zone is the base of the Mississippi River Bluff (a geological land formation with a notable rise in elevation) beginning at the southern border of the State of Tennessee with Mississippi and continuing north to where the base of the Mississippi River Bluff intersects Tennessee State Route 78 (Highway 78) at the Obion River Bridge in Bogota and continuing along Tennessee State Route 78 ending at the norther border of the State of Tennessee with Kentucky."
Here is a rough map of the flood water zone, but Chickasaw NWR falls within this footprint.
Here is the verbiage from proclamation 20-8, verbatim:
"Hunting Closure: When the Mississippi River stage reaches thirty-four feet (34.0 ft.) at the Caruthersville gauge (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gauge MS117 at river mile 846.4), all big game hunting will close in the Mississippi River Floodwaters Zone (hereafter Zone) and will remain closed until the Mississippi River stage falls below thirty-four feet (34.0 ft.) at the Caruthersville gauge (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gauge MS117 at river mile 846.4). This closure is effective on both private and public lands within the Zone."
"The eastern border of the Zone is the base of the Mississippi River Bluff (a geological land formation with a notable rise in elevation) beginning at the southern border of the State of Tennessee with Mississippi and continuing north to where the base of the Mississippi River Bluff intersects Tennessee State Route 78 (Highway 78) at the Obion River Bridge in Bogota and continuing along Tennessee State Route 78 ending at the norther border of the State of Tennessee with Kentucky."
Here is a rough map of the flood water zone, but Chickasaw NWR falls within this footprint.
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Displaced_Vol
Well-Known Member
Y'all are at least starting from a better point this year aren't you? In terms of water levels I mean- dry as a bone compared to the last couple years in west KY, I'd imagine pretty similar across the line.
wow I just reread your last post Andy and saw where they close private land hunting too! Makes sense for the NWRs or WMAs they do that some during duck season up here. Surprised they close the private lands too although I know it very well may be a moot point if everything is under water.
wow I just reread your last post Andy and saw where they close private land hunting too! Makes sense for the NWRs or WMAs they do that some during duck season up here. Surprised they close the private lands too although I know it very well may be a moot point if everything is under water.
Question about chuck swan. I drew the April 1-3 hunt. Planning on coming up a couple days earlier to scout. Just making sure that wouldn't be a problem. I don't see it being closed or anything. Was a little concerned about noise if I wanted to use locator calls since they mention the decibel level for vehicles. I'm probably over thinking just never been there and don't want to mess up.
