TN Elk Draw Open

[lol]

Overall odds for Tennessee are technically about 18:12,000, So 1:667

But a lot more people put in for rifle. So odds are, a bunch of folks have gotten drawn and none of their choices were available so they are unsuccessful.

Closest I have been able to figure, the best you can get your odds to by choosing the lowest entry hunts are about 1:100, or once every hundred years you apply.

Doesn't help that TN is 5 years behind on draw statistics.

It's a shame they only draw one youth.

 

[wildside]

We need to relocate some more elk like all the other states are doing and get our population up. TWRA needs to spend some of that money that they have been wasting on maintenance and do some restocking.

They do not have enough money to maintain what is up there. No more restocking due to disease threats. Remember elk cross from Ky and boost populations anyway

 

[wildside]

It's a shame they only draw one youth.

youth can apply for other hunts as well...not limited to youth only

 

[mountain chiro]

They do not have enough money to maintain what is up there. No more restocking due to disease threats. Remember elk cross from Ky and boost populations anyway

I'd be worried if they did restock them anyways. I've been up to a certain ridge a few times and ran into some cows and spikes. They've looked like skin and bones at times. Other places I've seen some VERY healthy bulls. Not sure if it's disease or habitat to blame for them not being able to weight on. If NCWMA can't support a great deer herd I do t know how it'll support a great elk herd

 

[cecil30-30]

Tn does not have the habitat in the elk hunt zone to sustain a large herd. KY does so well because of mountain top removal type coal mining.

 

[lol]

Tn does not have the habitat in the elk hunt zone to sustain a large herd. KY does so well because of mountain top removal type coal mining.

TN is underutilizing the entire mountain region of East Tennessee. Cherokee NF has 650000 acres, bordering 500,000 acres of GSMNP, bordering 530,000 acres of Nantahala NF, bordering 500,000 acres of Pisgah NF, and also bordering Chattahoochee, Francis Marion and Sumter NF, and George Washington and Jefferson NF. There is millions of acres of contiguous habitat being underutilized for elk.

 

[cecil30-30]

TN is underutilizing the entire mountain region of East Tennessee. Cherokee NF has 650000 acres, bordering 500,000 acres of GSMNP, bordering 530,000 acres of Nantahala NF, bordering 500,000 acres of Pisgah NF, and also bordering Chattahoochee, Francis Marion and Sumter NF, and George Washington and Jefferson NF. There is millions of acres of contiguous habitat being underutilized for elk.

All big woods. Not good elk habitat.

 

[lol]

All big woods. Not good elk habitat.

It may not be perfect but it certainly would support a sizable population even at lower densities. After all, elk lived in these forests long before we chopped them to the ground.