State natural areas, state parks and other states owned land.

timberjack86

timberjack86

Well-Known Member
TNDeer Supporter
Joined
Jun 20, 2011
Messages
15,053
Reaction score
13,023
Location
Polk County
Was out driving around and passed a state natural area with no hunting signs. Why not? The state keeps going up on our License fees why not open up some of these areas to hunt. At least bow hunt some of these areas. Look at Savage Gulf, South Cumberland and piney falls state natural area.
Piney falls over 800 acres
Savage Gulf 19,000 acres!
South Cumberland 12,000 acres!
How would we lobby the state to allow hunting on these large tracks of land?
 
There's a big tract in my county off limits as well due to being a State Natural Area. It still gets hunted plenty, just not legal. I have brought this up with my TWRA regional office and they basically don't have an answer. The similar scenario I use is Georgia having an expansive state park hunting program. There's no reason we can't as well on properties like these. There's no reason we can't shut down state parks and the like for 2-3 day hunts either. The SNA in my county is over 3,000 acres of remote property with no tourist activities. The state departments just need to work together.
 
PickettSFHunter said:
There's a big tract in my county off limits as well due to being a State Natural Area. It still gets hunted plenty, just not legal. I have brought this up with my TWRA regional office and they basically don't have an answer. The similar scenario I use is Georgia having an expansive state park hunting program. There's no reason we can't as well on properties like these. There's no reason we can't shut down state parks and the like for 2-3 day hunts either. The SNA in my county is over 3,000 acres of remote property with no tourist activities. The state departments just need to work together.
Click to expand...
MY buddy had an outstanding hunt on a Georgia state park this past season and your absolutely right there's no reason why we can do that in TN. TN public land sucks compared to other states. Especially Georgia. Heck they at least plant a little something in the openings on their wmas. There's more land than what I originally listed but those three properties would really add something special to public land hunting in TN.
 
The state park system also doesn't have the manpower to police all the natural areas.

Here is an idea… I love state parks, but you could make a 10-20 acre state park, surrounded by 3000 acres of state forest that you allow hunting on. It would allow TWRA to police the forest area, but still allow for the park activities
 
State parks and natural area get zero dollars from hunting license sales. I agree hunting would be great at some state parks and natural areas.
 
Rackseeker said:
Savage Gulf use to give out a few permits. We use to go and wait in line all night to get a permit. Killed a really nice 8pt one year. The only access was off Cherry Branch road across private property.
Click to expand...
Yes
Rackseeker said:
Savage Gulf use to give out a few permits. We use to go and wait in line all night to get a permit. Killed a really nice 8pt one year. The only access was off Cherry Branch road across private property.
Click to expand...
I remember goin out there for the permit, was told a tree hugger took over running the ground and stopped all hunting.
 
GA state park hunts are popular and require some preference points. They just shut the park down for 2-3 days during middle of the week. They have a safety briefing and encourage shooting does. Some nice bucks get killed and everybody is happy.

I'm afraid over browsing has already happened in Davy Crockett state park.
 
Antler Daddy said:
GA state park hunts are popular and require some preference points. They just shut the park down for 2-3 days during middle of the week. They have a safety briefing and encourage shooting does. Some nice bucks get killed and everybody is happy.

I'm afraid over browsing has already happened in Davy Crockett state park.
Click to expand...
I can't imagine that weekdays after leaf drop would be busy times in our parks. Seems like November deer hunts would be a great way to keep the rooms and campgrounds full
 

Latest posts

Back
Top