I didnt have issue with the season as long as it isnt a bonus deer. If someone chooses to burn a buck tag on an anorexic tick taxi while be drained by an army of mosquitoes, more power to them. I just hate they made it conflict with the squirrel opener. Lots of dad will choose sitting in a deerstand, rather than taking their kids squirrel hunting.
Velvet Hunt - U in or out?
- Thread starter Team Yuma
- Start date
Everytime I hunt the muzzle loader hunt, I never see deer and almost always end up covered up by bears and can't shoot them. Had one at 30 yards feeding under a red oak and couldn't shoot him because you can't take a bear during that hunt.
My boy is wanting to go, so we are going to sit in the blind this weekend.
Love to do it, but I lost my lease the first year it was done. This year, got a small piece to hunt and I've not had a buck on it since July 17. Bears have moved in and the deer have moved out.
Same here. Happens almost every year on my spot. By the second week of August, they shift off somewhere else. I had a buck this summer that was a around daily until August 5th. He hasn't shown once since then. Last year it was August 7th. I probably won't hunt, but sure was hoping to.
It's not a strange idea. KY opens first of Sept. and is quite popular. Lots of people flock from all over the country to get a crack at velvet bucks. TN's velvet season is just a couple days prior to KY's opening, and closes out by then so there's no overlapping competition. Anybody traveling to KY for a chance at velvet can double dip by hunting TN first. Being that it's private land only, it forces hunters from abroad to largely use outfitters or leases. I'd be inclined to think TWRA increased its out of state big game license sales when they opened that velvet season. And I don't mind a bit. Doesn't hurt anything but brings in some out of state revenue.
Wrangler95
Well-Known Member
Not me,no interest in velvet antlers,just a waste of a good buck!Good luck though to the ones who go!
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
No. As I recall this was originally another opportunity created to remove more deer from CWD zones. Hunters didn't bite. Same with 3 does/day. Same with starting rifle weeks and weeks sooner. Same with extending rifle weeks and weeks later. Same with earn a buck...and so on and so forth.
May hunt Friday afternoon only because I need to go to the farm and work on a tractor. I scheduled a softball tournament for this Saturday before I started getting pics of some good bucks. Oh well, they are really tough to hunt this time of year if you don't have that preferred food source anyway. And we never planted due to lack of rain.
Gobble4me757
Well-Known Member
0 interest in shooting a velvet buck as well as shooting a deer in the heat and having to run to find him, dress him, and take to processor
No time this year.
BSK
Well-Known Member
No interest in velvet antlers.
hoghunter65
Well-Known Member
I see way more bears than deer I mainly go for the hogs.
Likely out, as I routinely try to convince myself to deer hunt in August for a quality mature buck, but I just cannot get the fire in me. Old habits are hard to break, my focus will be on squirrel hunting and messing with trail cameras.
BSK
Well-Known Member
These days, seems my focus is always on trail-cameras, even during deer season!
For sure. I run a few cellular cams year-round, and really ramp up things late July (additional traditional/cellular cams) until early January when I typically pull them.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Same here. Put out my long-range food plot cams first of August. Will deploy short-range scrape cams in late September. Take them all down late January.
Ok then, let's call it an 'unconventional idea'. Does that sound better to you?
Surely you'd agree that a deer hunt scheduled in August is unconventional, right?
Unless you're a contrairian, of course.
TN is not alone or else yeah I'd agree a late August season seems unconventional. But six other states I'm aware of(possibly more), including our immediate neighbor to the north, open first of September, a mere 3 day difference. South Carolina and California open mid August. Florida opens in July. With all that considered, TN's velvet hunt doesn't seem so strange or unconventional to me. Trendy perhaps, but not new or unheard of.
If by contarian you mean I don't limp mind cow in the crowd, that I am a free thinker capable of using information & logic to form an opinion all my own, then yes. You've got me pegged. I'm that guy.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
I'd love to be out there, but I've got things to do. I'll be in E TN crappie fishing and getting my herbicide from Rural King for spraying plots. Food plots are my focus right now, as that's the make or break on whether we have deer hang around this fall, since the acorn production looks dismal. No acorns and the deer simply vanish.
BSK
Well-Known Member
No biological reason prompted the velvet hunt. It was the desire of hunters, who voiced that desire to the agency. The agency looked at the idea, calculated it would do no harm, and decided to give hunters what they were asking for. Wahla, a velvet hunt.
I have no interesting in participating but have no objections to it. For those that want it, more power to them! I hope they kill some good ones.
I have no interesting in participating but have no objections to it. For those that want it, more power to them! I hope they kill some good ones.
