Catoosa

[Volbuck777]

Anyone hunting the muzzleloader draw right now? Only 6 killed yesterday. I told myself 2 years ago I wasn't coming back, but here I sit.

 

[BuckHunter511]

I am it's been tough. No deer seen in daylight. Had a buck work a scrape in the dark and he got killed about an hour after daylight…

 

[Volbuck777]

I've seen 13, that's by far the best ever here for me. 3 of the 4 were legal bucks but 3 of 4 were also seen on scout day. I saw the 4th this morning and could've shot him but he was a young deer. Taking away a bonus tag saved him. I've noticed they're very vocal and I've called in most every deer I've seen from the stand, even rattled a small 4 in. The bear are getting out of hand here and had one belly growl at me yesterday morning. Also had one come walking in on me yesterday evening. He/she was decent size I'm thinking 250-300. I'll try to upload a video. By the way I'm hunting with 3 other guys and they've seen 2 small bucks between the 3 of them. People aren't happy with where this WMA has ended up. Can't say I blame them.

 

[killingtime 41]

What would make it an amazing place. I hunt it also every year. And also hear lots and lots of complaints. Wondering what other folks think would turn back into a no complaint type of area. I know fields are mostly unplanted and overgrown these days. And No longer a bonus buck. And it's logged to death

 

[Volbuck777]

 

[PickettSFHunter]

The locals are going to have to handle the bears like they are being handled over here. That will help the deer population.

 

[Volbuck777]

What would make it an amazing place. I hunt it also every year. And also hear lots and lots of complaints. Wondering what other folks think would turn back into a no complaint type of area. I know fields are mostly unplanted and overgrown these days. And No longer a bonus buck. And it's logged to death

I'm not against the bucks going against statewide limit as long as they would go in and manage the area better. I've hunted this wma for a long time and it gets worse every year. I believe they need to get real serious about the hog problem first and foremost.I'm not talking about Billy bob shooting one while deer hunting I'm talking eradicating the problem. I believe they should clean up and plant plots like you said and which we here every year, but I'm telling you it's less and less, very little planting happened. I'm not sure how it works but why couldn't they let agriculture come into the area it's not that the land won't grow it. My family had a few 100 acres on potato farm road which touched catoosa and cropped every year. Catoosa is 80,000 acres and half is a cutover. You could clean up and have 5-10k acres of ag spread throughout. I believe we'd see a jump in the deer herd. Quality and quantity. By the way I'm from sevier county and I'll tell y'all where bear get out of hand deer leave that area. Might take a year or so but bear push deer out.

 

[deerfever]

I hunted Catoosa back in the 80s all the fields were planted in some form or another and looked great. Now a man is hard pressed to find anything.in most of them, especially on the Bi Color side. Not bad mouthing or anything but I wish they kept the fields like back then. I was up last year and couldn't believe how some of the places that I hunted as a young man look at this point. Good luck to those hunting this weekend.

 

[killingtime 41]

I'm not against the bucks going against statewide limit as long as they would go in and manage the area better. I've hunted this wma for a long time and it gets worse every year. I believe they need to get real serious about the hog problem first and foremost.I'm not talking about Billy bob shooting one while deer hunting I'm talking eradicating the problem. I believe they should clean up and plant plots like you said and which we here every year, but I'm telling you it's less and less, very little planting happened. I'm not sure how it works but why couldn't they let agriculture come into the area it's not that the land won't grow it. My family had a few 100 acres on potato farm road which touched catoosa and cropped every year. Catoosa is 80,000 acres and half is a cutover. You could clean up and have 5-10k acres of ag spread throughout. I believe we'd see a jump in the deer herd. Quality and quantity. By the way I'm from sevier county and I'll tell y'all where bear get out of hand deer leave that area. Might take a year or so but bear push deer out.

I think sharecropping is a great idea. Cant imagine why they never thought of that. Big fields of soybeans and corn wouldn't cost the TWRA. I really don't understand why they won't plant the fields. But I've asked them why not more fields planted. Answer I got was biologist say an unplanned field doesn't mean there isn't good there. 80 or more percent of the deers diet is browse. And it more important to have the browse than it is fields planted. I also asked about hogs and was told they trap lots of them every year. I can't prove any of this. But that's the answers I got.

 

[Carlos Viagra]

The total is 13 bucks for the past 2 days. I'm sure the hot weather has kept many hunters at home, not many folks enjoy hunting in temps like these.

 

[Volbuck777]

Im in a hot spot. I ended up seeing 3 more bucks and a doe this evening. The last buck I saw was well over 100 inches and was chasing the doe. I couldn't get on him and they left in a hurry. Maybe I'll get him tomorrow. It's been a great hunt for me but I've yet to talk to someone else that's not discouraged and some just mad. I hate for them because it just seems it gets worse every time I come. 13 kills is a terrible number. It's down right embarrassing

 

[MickThompson]

I think sharecropping is a great idea. Cant imagine why they never thought of that. Big fields of soybeans and corn wouldn't cost the TWRA. I really don't understand why they won't plant the fields. But I've asked them why not more fields planted. Answer I got was biologist say an unplanned field doesn't mean there isn't good there. 80 or more percent of the deers diet is browse. And it more important to have the browse than it is fields planted. I also asked about hogs and was told they trap lots of them every year. I can't prove any of this. But that's the answers I got.

Farmers can't make a living on those little fields in Catoosa if they got em for free. They'd go broke just hauling equipment. TWRA would have to spend $1000s per acre to destump after cutting. Doesn't make sense for them either.

 

[jc0313]

I'm not against the bucks going against statewide limit as long as they would go in and manage the area better. I've hunted this wma for a long time and it gets worse every year. I believe they need to get real serious about the hog problem first and foremost.I'm not talking about Billy bob shooting one while deer hunting I'm talking eradicating the problem. I believe they should clean up and plant plots like you said and which we here every year, but I'm telling you it's less and less, very little planting happened. I'm not sure how it works but why couldn't they let agriculture come into the area it's not that the land won't grow it. My family had a few 100 acres on potato farm road which touched catoosa and cropped every year. Catoosa is 80,000 acres and half is a cutover. You could clean up and have 5-10k acres of ag spread throughout. I believe we'd see a jump in the deer herd. Quality and quantity. By the way I'm from sevier county and I'll tell y'all where bear get out of hand deer leave that area. Might take a year or so but bear push deer out.

Not much sense in planting until they deal with the hog problem like you said.

 

[tanasirivertea]

Last year they allowed dog hunts for hogs and they harvested plenty but really just a drop in the bucket. Between hogs and bears, deer herd is gonna get thin up there. They should've already started letting bear hunts be more than just a 30 day archery season or whatever. I love catoosa. Killed my first good buck there. Big bodied 3yr old with nice mass. But also I kinda like food plots on public land for one reason...it congregates hunters more than deer! So I can go find the big bucks that'd never approach a blowed out food plot and at the same time not feel crowded lol

 

[timberjack86]

View attachment 200505

Why couldn't you shoot him? I haven't hunted cattoosa and I'm not up to date on the regs.

 

[Volbuck777]

Why couldn't you shoot him? I haven't hunted cattoosa and I'm not up to date on the regs.

Only allowed to shoot bear on the bow hunt.

 

[timberjack86]

Only allowed to shoot bear on the bow hunt.

Imagine that, twra won't make a move until it's too late.

 

[Carlos Viagra]

Imagine that, twra won't make a move until it's too late.

Yup. The 9 day archery hunt isn't going to allow many bears to be killed.
It's evidently turning into a bear/hog reserve. I imagined the new area manager would have tried to make some changes for the better.

 

[killingtime 41]

Need to allow bear to be killed on every hunt after archery. And possibly have a special hunt for bears. I can't stand bears. Ruined tons of deer hunting with the bear reserves over here in North Cherokee. How many bears does a place need.

 

[THEdonkey0515]

Yup. The 9 day archery hunt isn't going to allow many bears to be killed.
It's evidently turning into a bear/hog reserve. I imagined the new area manager would have tried to make some changes for the better.

I'm starting to think this is what they are wanting.

 

[tanasirivertea]

Don't forget Elk has shown up too. They tend to not share the land well with whitetail

 

[tree_ghost]

Not sure if you're on here or not but I just spoke with a realtor about a piece of land I was interested in purchasing who just happened to be on the hunt up there, if you are it was nice speaking with you Al!

 

[oldmanelrod]

I'm not against the bucks going against statewide limit as long as they would go in and manage the area better. I've hunted this wma for a long time and it gets worse every year. I believe they need to get real serious about the hog problem first and foremost.I'm not talking about Billy bob shooting one while deer hunting I'm talking eradicating the problem. I believe they should clean up and plant plots like you said and which we here every year, but I'm telling you it's less and less, very little planting happened. I'm not sure how it works but why couldn't they let agriculture come into the area it's not that the land won't grow it. My family had a few 100 acres on potato farm road which touched catoosa and cropped every year. Catoosa is 80,000 acres and half is a cutover. You could clean up and have 5-10k acres of ag spread throughout. I believe we'd see a jump in the deer herd. Quality and quantity. By the way I'm from sevier county and I'll tell y'all where bear get out of hand deer leave that area. Might take a year or so but bear push deer out.

What you're saying makes a lot sense.

 

[timberjack86]

Yup. The 9 day archery hunt isn't going to allow many bears to be killed.
It's evidently turning into a bear/hog reserve. I imagined the new area manager would have tried to make some changes for the better.

They should a deer bear hog combo rifle season. Lots of people would flock to catoosa for a chance at 3 different species at once. Georgia does it on their mountain wmas and lots of bears are killed by people deer hunting.

 

[TheLBLman]

The seasonally warm weather may have been the most significant factor contributing to this year's low harvest on Catoosa 1st muzzleloader hunt.

Additionally, I suspect a growing number of this subset of hunters (muzzleloader hunters) are at least somewhat raising their standards as to what constitutes a "shooter" buck to them. It may not just be a buck that barely meets the Catoosa legal buck standards any more, and some are targeting 3 1/2 & older.

 

[MickThompson]

What would make it an amazing place. I hunt it also every year. And also hear lots and lots of complaints. Wondering what other folks think would turn back into a no complaint type of area. I know fields are mostly unplanted and overgrown these days. And No longer a bonus buck. And it's logged to death

Public land will never be a "no complaint" area. There's always someone, somewhere that has never managed an 80,000 acre property for public use but knows how to do it better. How would you define "amazing" in the context of public hunting? A certain success rate? Or is it experience-based?

 

[MickThompson]

Less of this would help, too

 

[BuckHunter511]

I think 15 was the final number. Hopefully the November rifle gets better….

 

[Carlos Viagra]

I think 15 was the final number. Hopefully the November rifle gets better….

Right.

Here's a post from the WMA FB page.

"So 15 will be the final number for the 2023 CatoosaWMA first muzzleloader hunt. Yes this number is lower than previous years. However look at the other WMAs that also had hunts this weekend. Those number are also way down. Temps were near or exceeded record highs. This alone can significantly reduce daytime deer activity.
So let's compare:
2022-47
2021-26
2020-71
2019-52
2018-25

Look at the high in 2020 of 71 with the next year being well below at 26. The numbers have bounced around significantly over the last 6 years. Lots of outside influencers factor into these numbers. So let's see what the next hunt has to deliver."

 

[dr]

I believe the bear, and elk are ruining Catoosa. A friend sent me a pic of a young bull elk on Catoosa.