2009-10 Hunting Seasons to Be Voted Upon at May TWRC Meeting

Nashville – The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission will
vote to approve the 2009-10 state hunting seasons during its
meeting May 20-21. The May meeting will be held at the Region II
Ray Bell Building located in the Ellington Agricultural Center.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency presented its proposals
for the 2009-10 hunting seasons at the April meeting of the TWRC.
Although there are few changes to the big game seasons, there was a
substantial change proposed to the white-tailed deer season dates.
TWRA is recommending 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 that runs right up to the opening day of gun
season.

With the proposals, no traditional opening dates are changed and
no season will gain or lose any days. TWRA officials say it allows
all hunters to hunt the peak of the rut with a muzzleloader or
archery equipment if they so choose. A continuous 12-day fall
turkey season would be created which appears to be a very popular
move among surveyed hunters.

What appears to be the biggest increase in opportunity is that
Unit B hunters will now follow the same season dates as Units A and
L. This proposal means that there would be no more closed days in
the middle of deer season for East Tennessee hunters.

Besides the season date shift, the TWRA is recommending a flat
statewide three buck limit, eliminating the two buck restriction in
Unit B. Data presented confirms the fact that so few hunters
harvest multiple bucks that there is no need for tighter
restrictions. It was also noted that there was no change in the
harvested age-structure in Unit B after four years of the two-buck
limit.

The TWRA also has adjusted antlerless opportunities in several
counties. West Tennessee saw a number of counties increase their
antlerless opportunities while a few Cumberland Plateau counties
pulled back their antlerless opportunities due to concern for the
herd.

In bear and boar seasons, there were no changes recommended from
last year’s record-setting season other than moving the Nov. 16 dog
hunt up two weeks to Nov. 2 to reduce potential conflict between
bear hunters and deer hunters.

Turkey recommendations were also minimal. Other than creating
the 12-day fall turkey season, Dec. 7-18, a few counties saw
increases in their fall turkey quotas. There were no recommended
changes to the 2010 spring turkey season.

TWRA is making a strong push to unify WMA seasons across the
state. Many WMAs were opened to statewide seasons with few
restrictions.

Don King, Chief of Information and Education Division, will
introduce a video presentation highlighting the late April sturgeon
release into the Cumberland River near downtown Nashville. Boating
Education Coordinator Betsy Woods will make a presentation on the
“Wear It! Tennessee” campaign. Other reports will include
legislative and real estate updates.

The committee meetings will begin at 1 p.m. on May 20. The
regular TWRC meeting commences at 9 a.m. on May 21. The public is
invited to attend the meetings each day.