Tennessee Deer and Duck Hunting

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DEER AND DUCK HUNTERS SHARE OPENING DAYS
by Steve McCadams
www.stevemccadams.com

Call it a victim of unusual circumstances. For the first time in the state’s history, deer and duck season opens on the same day.

In a season when duck hunters were concerned and worried about the duration, along with the possible decline in daily bag limits, things took a different twist.

Much to the surprise of waterfowlers here in Tennessee and throughout the Mississippi flyway, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allowed the states to have a 60-day duck season and another year of a six-duck daily bag limit. That’s because the criteria of pond counts, duck broods, and other information supported the continuation of another “liberal” status for setting season dates and limits.

Once Tennessee discovered the possibility of a 60-day duck season was coming our way, the TWRA Commission began looking at possible dates for opening and closing. The USFWS framework allowed states to go no later than January 26, 2003. So, the TWRA Commission began counting back 60-days and that put the potential opener on Thanksgiving Day!

For some it sounded like a great idea. Others thought it was a bad choice as that’s a special holiday for friends and family to sit down at the table and talk turkey. To have the duck season open on Thanksgiving would disrupt many gatherings, said some.

Some states such as neighboring Kentucky, have opened their duck season for years on Thanksgiving Day. In the Commonwealth that has been a tradition.

Yet many sportsmen voiced their opinions to the TWRA to push the opener of duck season up five days, adding another weekend to the season for working folks, school kids, and others. The TWRA Commission faced another dilemma, as there is no perfect time to open a season. They know very well that all sportsmen cannot be pleased.

Enter the army of orange clad deer hunters whose numbers rank well into the thousands across the deer rich Volunteer State. All 95 counties have some sort of deer population and the sport has been growing for years, as has the deer herd.

As luck would have it, the dates of the opening day duck season and the traditional opener of the regular gun season fell on the same day. The fourth Saturday in November has long been the traditional opener for the whitetail brigade.

Now what? Do you climb up in a stand on the morning of November 23 or do you walk the mud and boat your way to the swamps and marsh? Will it be feathers or fur?

Sportsmen actually have a liberal season for both duck and deer so there’s numerous opportunities on the calendar to satisfy both. Deer segments have already been underway for archery, youth, and muzzleloader with more to come.

Duck hunters have one of the longest seasons awaiting them in the last twenty years so many sunrises await them.

Yet there’s something special about opening day. Everyone wants to be there at first light. Whether it’s starring down a rolling field where the big buck has been leaving signs or scanning the ski in hopes of new ducks that haven’t learned to avoid the blind, decoys, and constant calling, opening day has its merits.

Choices. Choices. We all have to make them.

Perhaps we’re lucky to live in a state where good deer and duck hunting opportunities exist.

Chances are, next year will be different anyway so the odds of both seasons competing for hunter participation will be slim.

Which one will you choose next weekend?

Steve McCadams
is a professional hunting and fishing guide here in the Paris Landing area and host of The Outdoor Channel's television series IN-PURSUIT.

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