TN Elk Draw Open

Thanks for posting this, forgot the turkey quota as life has been busy this year. 🙄 I've put in for Elk since it started and no luck but my cousin and a coworker both scored several years ago on this hunt, one gun and one archery.
 
No reason to have these short time periods to enter the drawing....people forget and agency just loses money....My .02.

KY has been open for months. I probably put in when bought my license and did quota draws last fall, but I cant remember. :)

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Antler Daddy said:
No reason to have these short time periods to enter the drawing....people forget and agency just loses money....My .02.

KY has been open for months. I probably put in when bought my license and did quota draws last fall, but I cant remember. :)

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There IS a reason. People actually requested this due to knowing that this would likely be a OIL draw for anyone fortunate to draw it. If I were to draw it I would want to know before I put in for draws and burning my points for places out west that are difficult to draw, but not as difficult as TN's.

Maybe they could start it earlier, but I appreciate them ending it when they do
 
EastTNHunter said:
There IS a reason. People actually requested this due to knowing that this would likely be a OIL draw for anyone fortunate to draw it. If I were to draw it I would want to know before I put in for draws and burning my points for places out west that are difficult to draw, but not as difficult as TN's.

Maybe they could start it earlier, but I appreciate them ending it when they do
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The application period for the 2025 elk quota hunts is Feb 5 – 26, 2025.

Understood....but the time to enter is less than a month. It is like they just want people to miss applying and generate less revenue. That increases my odds, but not a great business decision imo.
 
Antler Daddy said:
The application period for the 2025 elk quota hunts is Feb 5 – 26, 2025.

Understood....but the time to enter is less than a month. It is like they just want people to miss applying and generate less revenue. That increases my odds, but not a great business decision imo.
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I get it. Maybe they should open it earlier, but I also agree that it should theoretically help our odds… but I don't really know since I can't seem to find the application numbers since 2020. Numbers up to 2020 are posted on their website, but a lot of things have changed since then. Maybe they are posted somewhere else, but who knows since I cannot get anyone from their office to call me back to discuss this.

TWRA has done a good thing with the elk draws, but they do not do it with excellence. I do appreciate them bumping the draw dates back to earlier in the year, though
 
DeerCamp said:
I did the math a few years back.

Best I can recall odds of being drawn range from around once every 100 years to around once every 1000 years depending on whether you put in for bow or rifle.
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Sounds about right. Wish Twra would consider expanding hunting opportunities. South Cherokee would be a contender for an expanding elk population.
 
timberjack86 said:
Sounds about right. Wish Twra would consider expanding hunting opportunities. South Cherokee would be a contender for an expanding elk population.
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Some of the draw data can be found online but they haven't updated since 2020 and there is no info for the new EHZs added a few years back. I was told the new Elk Biologist is getting the numbers together to publish updated statistics but he was in the field when I tried to call.

To your point, there are somewhere between 450-500 Elk estimated to be in Tennessee in the EHZs. On an annual basis, 10-12 are killed.

Going low/high that's about 2.7% harvest of total population of Elk

Deer are closer to 18% harvest annually.


My "guess" based on Elk density in Kentucky is that Tennessee's EHZ could support around 1600 Elk. Maybe they are being conservative to try and get there quicker.
 

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