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Velvet Hunt

Lincoln Co Archer said:
I have given it up completely as well. I was completely shocked at how much better it made muzzleloader season for our property. Our buck sightings went through the roof after we quit bow hunting and the first hunter intrusion was opening morning of muzzleloader.
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And this is the PRIME reason we gave up bow-hunting. Best buck action of the year when you're carrying a longer-range weapon.
 
TheLBLman said:
The main impetus behind the creation of this "trophy" velvet hunt
was to increase non-resident license sales.

I've found very, very few resident deer hunters who have any desire to participate.

And among those who do, I believe an alarming percentage are hunting illegally over bait.
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You'd think lowering the cost of the non resident license would have made more sense but I digress.
 
Just to be clear, I did not mean to imply any particular hunter should be assumed hunting over illegal bait via participating in the velvet hunt.

But I believe the incidence of it is much higher on this velvet hunt than on deer hunting in general, resulting in somewhat another "punishment" for the more honest hunters who abide by the law. For an officer to find bait on the ground during summertime is much more difficult than in wintertime (when vegetation is down, leaves off the trees).
Buzzard Breath said:
I definitely will be. I love spending my evenings glass bucks in the beans and planning a way to intercept them. Unlike TheLBLMan implies, I won't be illegally hunting over bait either.

I was glad to see LBL open the TN side to archery deer starting Sept 3rd.
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LBL is opening the TN side earlier than times past in large part to keep LBL's regs more simple, coinciding with KY's statewide archery opening date. As an aside, baiting for deer at LBL is an endeavor where the poacher is perhaps 100 times more likely to be caught, and successfully prosecuted, compared to most private lands. Still happens, just less.

Another thought about LBL's TN side archery season opening earlier this year is it may spread the hunting over a longer time horizon, actually reducing the hunting in October. This is due to LBL's 1-buck limit, whereby any hunter killing "a" buck in early September will be "done" for the year at LBL, including negating the opportunity for a quota gun hunt later in the same year. This 1-buck limit at LBL also counts against the statewide buck limit as well.

Personally, I believe the future of hunting in general would be enhanced if no deer hunting became legal in TN or KY before October 15, on top of most deer hunters currently being benefitted more than harmed if archery opened later.
 
BSK said:
And this is the PRIME reason we gave up bow-hunting. Best buck action of the year when you're carrying a longer-range weapon.
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We have typically hunted often during bow season. Last year, I was the only one that hunted during bow season and that was for only 1 sit in the evening. Come muzzleloader, I couldn't count how many times I'd be walking through the woods and the deer would just stand there looking at me, like "what are you and what are you doing here".
 
Lincoln Co Archer said:
I have given it up completely as well. I was completely shocked at how much better it made muzzleloader season for our property. Our buck sightings went through the roof after we quit bow hunting and the first hunter intrusion was opening morning of muzzleloader.
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I seen a similar experience back in 2020. We didn't hunt any of the archery season for various reasons. Opening AM of ML, my son shot a 6pt and doe by 9am. We saw 9 does and 11 bucks that AM. 2 big bucks cruise the ridge above us but couldn't get a shot. Crazy how much better it was. That season, we ended up seeing 17 different bucks. I killed a big 10 in gun season, my son killed another wide 6 on the last day, my dad killed a large 5 in ML and had 4 other large bucks on cam in daylight from Nov to late Dec. That was the best season ever in 25 years on the property. Last year, I was busy doing a bunch of work on the property, into October. The number of deer seen while hunting was virtually 0.
 
Lincoln Co Archer said:
I have given it up completely as well. I was completely shocked at how much better it made muzzleloader season for our property. Our buck sightings went through the roof after we quit bow hunting and the first hunter intrusion was opening morning of muzzleloader.
Click to expand...
I probably would too if I actually hunted our place in November. As it is now, I spend November doing draw hunts with buddies and traveling to the midwest to bowhunt. I sometimes pick a rifle up in December and hunt the farm, but I've been having too much fun keeping Yanahli's squirrels knocked back after Thanksgiving.
 
Not I. I've killed lots of deer during early archery in years past, and it was rough enough in September. August, no way.

Velvet antlers don't do much for me. Plus I'd be worried about a lot of other things, like meat spoilage, ticks, ticks, and more ticks. Plus some more ticks. Then, the skeeters.

I'm glad that some folks enjoy it though.
 
What cracks me up is when a 1 buck limit is talked about, so many say "Tennessee is not a trophy state, only trophy hunters want a 1 buck limit, etc." but now the TWRA making regulations to encourage trophy hunting. The velvet hunt is a trophy hunt, no doubt about it. Now they have taken away the bonus buck from many WMA's in part to encourage an older age buck class. Why are those WMA's still have to be drawn to hunt them? So much lunacy and crap from the TWRA it is hard to keep track.
 
Headhunter said:
What cracks me up is when a 1 buck limit is talked about, so many say "Tennessee is not a trophy state, only trophy hunters want a 1 buck limit, etc." but now the TWRA making regulations to encourage trophy hunting. The velvet hunt is a trophy hunt, no doubt about it.
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No doubt, the summertime "velvet" hunt can only accurately be described as a "trophy" hunt.

Headhunter said:
Now they have taken away the bonus buck from many WMA's in part to encourage an older age buck class.
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At best, this statement is only partial true.
I believe the bigger reason is to improve the overall hunting for those lacking private lands to hunt.
Many of the "bonus" bucks have traditionally been killed mainly by the most avid hunters who were also limiting out on private lands as well.

Add to this many avid hunters have often killed multiple "bonus" bucks on multiple WMAs annually. This is not necessarily anything "bad", but it does come with a price to the majority of hunters who do not eat, sleep, and dream deer hunting. Most now just want (or get) to go 2 or 3 times a year, and have a good opportunity.

Eliminating "bonus" (extra) bucks for the most accomplished hunters doesn't keep any of them from killing a buck --- but they do have to consider the implications more, as it means they limit out quicker statewide.

The actual buck kill may not go down on WMAs so much as there is just a change in which hunters are killing those bucks.

Even though I might personally be benefited by more "bonus" buck opportunities,
I do understand the "mixed blessing" aspect about it, and how it may help more hunters than it harms.
 
It's counterproductive and hypocritical for any of us to disparage "trophy" hunters.
Every one of us is a "trophy" hunter, to some degree or another.

Any time any one chooses to kill a buck instead of a doe
(when both are legal game)
it is because that person is more a "trophy" than a "meat" hunter.
Never mind the vast majority of us are both.
 
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TheLBLman said:
It's counterproductive and hypocritical for any of us to disparage "trophy" hunters.
Every one of us is a "trophy" hunter, so some degree or another.

Any time any one chooses to kill a buck instead of a doe
(when both are legal game)
it is because that person is more a "trophy" than a "meat" hunter.
Never mind the vast majority of us are both.
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Valid point
 
If the temps are not too awfully unbearable, I will give it a go. That's not likely the case, though. I went the first year and actually saw two deer - a doe and fawn. Was just too hot to enjoy, though.
 
I hunted the first year it opened but no more.I don't like the heat or bugs!If you didn't find the buck pretty quick,meat would be lost and the green flies would be all over it.I have bow hunted since 1975 and it is pretty dang hot at the end of Sept. when the archery season opens especially in the evening.
 

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