Hunting Season 2009-10

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2009-10 Hunting Seasons Set at May TWRC Meeting

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission has established the 2009-10 state hunting seasons during the May meeting which was held at the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s Region II Ray Bell Building.

Deer hunters will find a big change to their 2009-10 seasons. The commission followed TWRA’s recommendation in unifying the two muzzleloader segments by bringing the December segment forward and attaching it to the tail end of the November segment. This creates a continuous 14-day muzzleloader season (starting Nov. 7) that continues to the opening day of gun season (Nov. 21).

Unit B hunters have the biggest increase in hunting opportunities as they will now follow the same season dates as Units A and L. The change means that East Tennessee hunters will have no more closed days during the middle of deer season.

Besides the season date shift, the TWRC approved a flat statewide three-buck limit, eliminating the two-buck restriction in Unit B. There were also numerous adjustments to antlerless opportunities across the state. The West Tennessee counties of Chester, Haywood, and Henderson counties were moved into Unit L, while antlerless quotas were adjusted in many Unit A counties.

Tennessee deer hunters having a difficult time finding an open check station will now be allowed to check their deer in over the internet. Details of this option will be available in the 2009-10 Hunting & Trapping Guide that will available this later this summer.

In bear and boar seasons, there were minimal changes from last year's record setting season other than moving the Nov. 16 dog hunt up two weeks to Nov. 2 to reduce conflict between bear hunters and deer hunters. The bear dog training season was expanded and now runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 20, 2009.

There are minimal changes to the turkey seasons. Other than creating the 12-day fall turkey season (Dec. 7-18), a few counties saw increases in their fall turkey quotas. The 2010 spring turkey season will run April 3 through May 16 with the Young Sportsman hunt falling on March 27-28.

Lastly, many WMAs were opened to statewide seasons with few restrictions. “Giving hunters a place to hunt is what these WMAs are all about,” says Ed Warr, Assistant Chief of Wildlife. “Knowing that a WMA is open for hunting the same time a county is open is a tremendous help for those that do not have private property to hunt.

“There is no need for worry. The traditional, highly managed WMAs, which focus on waterfowl or quality deer management, remained as they have been in the past to maintain their management goals.”

The commission also passed an amendment to the sport fishing proclamation that changed the smallmouth bass regulations on South Holston Reservoir. The minimum size limit for smallmouth bass was changed from 18 to 15 inches in length. The amendment follows a change that was made at the April TWRC meeting from 18 to 15 inches on Boone and Watauga reservoirs.

The TWRC’s next meeting will be June 17-18 in Nashville at the Ray Bell Building.
---TWRA---

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