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Cheatham Secondary roads to remain closed!!!
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<blockquote data-quote="Woody Armor" data-source="post: 4066742" data-attributes="member: 16646"><p>I would like to 2nd the comments made by Luke Treewalker. To be quite honest I am shocked that this was posted as I have already talked with Randy about a month ago on this same issue about the dangerous conditions this creates due to SAFETY ISSUES. Even more so important to us hunters bringing kids along to expose them to the outdoors and hunting tradition. After explaining this and debating him about the SAFETY issues this would create he seemed to agree and left me with the impression that they would open the gates as they were closed at that time when I went over for some stand prep in mid August. Opening the gates up seemed to be pretty much decided for the most part per that call as far as Randy made it sound to me after I told him that I would not be hunting at Cheatham with my kids if he did that. I pretty much took him at his word that day that he would open the gates and made plans for hunting Cheatham this season. To then hear that he or his staff have decided to keep all of the gates locked a month before the opening of the 2015 hunting season is just completely unprofessional, arrogant and disrespectful to the very taxpayers/hunters that are funding the very organization that is supposed to be keeping the limited amount of PUBLIC land available accessible. </p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #FF0000">It is already challenging enough to hunt PUBLIC land, but when the WMA itself starts working against hunters then something has definitely gone wrong</span></strong>. And yes, I have spoken with and had good experiences with Randy in the past so I do know of Randy and his time with Cheatham. How this came out of left field I will never understand. </p><p></p><p>Now, I have not personally been to Cheatham since August to see if the gates have been opened up and I am only going by what Luke Treewalker has stated (Which was posted on 9-17-15): Which is the gates are still locked and that decision has been announced formally to keep them locked. If this is true and the current status at Cheatham is that the gates are locked then I fully submit everything that follows.</p><p></p><p>With that said, I am a new member to the forum. I have always kept up with the site as a mere observer and reader as it has been a great source of information thru the years. Especially for an outdoorsman transplant to Tennessee years ago like myself (more about that in the post to come). Good people with a ton of information and knowledge.</p><p></p><p>This post from Luke Treewalker frustrated and chapped me so much that it prompted me to register and make sure I could post my concerns and completely back every point made by Luke.</p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: #FF0000">To close down PUBLIC access to the vast majority of this or any PUBLIC WMA by closing down long standing trails goes completely against what the whole definition and purpose of PUBLIC land is and why it even exists.</span> </strong></p><p></p><p>If this is the direction the TWRA is going to start taking with the land under its control then there is no need for WMA managers. Why would there be a need for a WMA manager if the public is only going to be allowed to use a 1/4 of the available land in the WMA. There is no need for management at that point. What then are they exactly managing besides the cable locks at the trail heads? The situation with Cheatham does not adhere to any rational logic nor does it seem to pass the smell test with the random excuses given for the decision. </p><p></p><p>The points presented by Luke Treewalker.</p><p></p><p>1. <u> Closing the roads for patrolling purposes and staffing budgets</u>: Hate to break it to these folks, but if their budget was magically expanded 10 fold as of tomorrow and they increased the staff at Cheatham by 10 fold sadly enough there would still be people that violate the law. Would it minimize it...sure, but stop it. Nope. There will always be bad apples no matter how much patrolling is done. As Luke stated, many drive down foot designated trails that are not supposed to have car traffic. The foot traffic only sticks have never cut it. If they really want to keep people from driving on the trails deemed foot traffic only it will take a gate, rocks or logs etc. In the case of permanent foot trails.. they could actually benefit from gate closures. At least that has a basis in common sense. <strong>But going completely overboard and closing every trail in the WMA is just ridiculous overkill</strong>. Regardless, there would still be trash laying around, baiting, poaching etc. etc. with more patrols. </p><p></p><p>If they are going to cut the WMA down this substantially in size to the few dozen parking spots on only the main roads going thru the park then there is not enough of an area to justify spending the already tight funds on a manager for the area. For that matter there does not need to be any staff on site for planting plots or road maintenance etc. There is no need for equipment for road improvement...The roads are locked with no access!! If this is going to be the new conditions of the WMA then the TWRA is really not using its funding in the best interest of the taxpayer. Sell off the equipment, lay off most of the staff and maintain a few patrol officers. Nothing more is needed if the gates are going to be locked. If the majority of the WMA is going to be closed then all that is needed are some patrolling positions. The southern gate is always locked so there is only one main route into the park and then Wiley Pardue is the main east west crossroad. It will not take a manager on site or a sizeable staff to patrol the limited parking spots available along those main routes throughout a season. Also, Randy's retirement has been no secret and has been in the works for the past few years. It is not as though it was a spur of the moment decision that was sprung on his staff or the TWRA. He has made mention of it for the past few years openly. </p><p></p><p>2. <u> Mature bucks in the bottoms</u>: I have hunted Cheatham religiously for the past 3 seasons as it is the only land I have available to hunt within my proximity and I have been successful all 3 of those years. While others mileage may vary, every buck that I have harvested at Cheatham has not been taken anywhere near the bottoms. All of my deer (and they have been nicer bucks as that is what I choose to harvest) have come no more than 1/3 down any ridge. That is thru all of the seasons, even late season and all types of weather conditions. That is not opinion, that is a fact of personal experience.</p><p> </p><p>This angle (limiting deer access and micro managagement) seems probable to me for the reason for not opening the roads up from some of the comments that were made during my conversation about the gates not being open back in August. I figured Randy had just not gotten around to getting them opened and I called to find out when they would be opened up so we could do final prep for the season. Only then did I learn of this possible ridiculous decision about not opening them at all. That is when I called back after about 10 minutes of thinking about the dangerous safety ramifications for me and my kids of an extremely poor thought out decision. It sure seemed that the topic of SAFETY and close proximity of hunters next to each other never entered into their decision process that, at that time, had not yet been finalized. From the surprised reaction that I seemed to get stemming from my concerns as a hunter and parent as to that being a very UNSAFE set of conditions directly being created by the WMA itself certainly never appeared to cross their minds. They were still in meetings about it and my concerns seemed to give Randy enough pause to say that he would more than likely open the gates after all. Rational reasoning seemed to prevail by the end of the conversation. I will say that deer size and better hunting were mentioned in that conversation as a knee jerk response to my immediately bringing up the "what in the heck are you thinking" with regards to forcing hunters on top of each other creating unsafe circumstances when there is no need for it due to the long standing trails that have been available for years and years. My thoughts now and at the time of that conversation a few weeks ago have not changed one bit: More deer or better hunting should never ever trump SAFETY. EVER. PERIOD. </p><p></p><p>While I have always had good experiences with Randy as well as his advice and help thru the years this decision to lock all of the gates was directly his decision as I asked him directly who was responsible for the final decision on the call after voicing my concerns about the safety ramifications of such a decision. He directly and specifically said that he would be the final say on whether they were to be locked or opened. Luke stated that the staff was responsible for the decision in his conversations. I talked directly with Randy only and that is what I was personally told. Either way perhaps they want less hunters in the WMA to allow the staff better hunting opportunities for themselves. Closing all but 2 or 3 roads in the entire WMA will certainly put a damper on the number of hunters that decide to use Cheatham. I know Randy has always had several friends come to stay in the trailers at his headquarters during hunting seasons and many of the staff at Cheatham hunt the WMA. With Randy retiring I am more prone to think his current staff may have their own motives. I certainly hope EVERYBODY will be adhering to the Main Roads. I would certainly like to hope that these kinds of thoughts would be baseless, but with a change as big as this to a WMA that has had PRECEDENCE WITH TRAILS FOR YEARS AND YEARS weeks before season with random reasoning creates a trust vacuum.</p><p></p><p>3. <u> Food Plots</u>: While the food plots may or may not contribute to the benefit of the deer herd one thing is for certain at Cheatham. There are acres and acres and more acres of white and other various oak trees PREDOMINANTLY throughout the entire WMA. Let's just say the deer herd there has access to some of the best natural food sources available among any natural forest land that exists. Those acorns are some of the best sources of energy, fat and nutrition that are available regardless of any additional plantings. Everyone has their own preference on how to hunt whether at Cheatham or any other WMA, but food plots would be my absolute last resort for a stand location due to all of the available natural food and water sources available at Cheatham (I think most people that have had experience hunting the plantings realize that chances are pretty good that they are going to run across either a. more hunters or b. car traffic while hunting these plots. I would hardly think that would come as a surprise to anyone). Ironically, most of these areas and food sources of acorns are now closed off and for the most part, if we are being honest and reasonable here, are not really accessible due to road closures that do not seem to based on any solid reasoning with regards to PUBLIC land or any hunter input. </p><p></p><p>One of my biggest issues with this whole mess is first and foremost SAFETY. Luke hit on this point as well quite rightly. There are only so many limited parking possibilities on the main roads. As correctly pointed out by Luke this crams an unnecessary number of hunters into these confined areas. Sure, they will say you can hike back as far as you would like to get away from other hunters, but conjecture and reality are two entirely different worlds. People will still be walking thru and around hunters (with guns) as there is always a typical radius around parking areas that will congregate people. Now, I have ran into many hunters at Cheatham that are good, safe and ethical hunters that respect others and make sure dangerous situations do not occur due to good common sense and respect for other hunters. But, I have ran across a good many that I would not want to walk in front of, near or anywhere within a 1/2 mile of at dawn, dusk or during broad daylight. Their attitudes and visual cues of unsafe and disrespectful habits give me all I need to know to move on and find a safer place to set up. Most of which are on the gated secondary roads that get deeper into the WMA away from many of these types of hunters. So are people going to start taking handsaws and cutting out new parking spots along the main roads where possible to regain some safe distance from crowded trail heads and avoid arguments on trying to squeeze on top of other vehicles that are trying to park first thing in the morning? Perhaps it should be solved by heading straight to the managers house at 4:00 in the morning to plead the case and determine who was there first to park and let him come down and sort it out. Who knows, but nothing ever seems to stay static in the real world when drastic changes are made versus the tidy explanations of decisions that always are explained as good intentions, yet lack sound judgment in theory or on paper. The Buck only management that has been implemented has a grounding in sound judgment. Very simply, herd is down in big numbers due to disease die off....let's implement a buck only strategy in gun/muzzleloader seasons to allow the herd to grow again. That is a rational course of action that hunters can understand and work with as it meets the definition of logic and common sense.</p><p></p><p>There is also the issue of some of us that are bringing youngsters along with us throughout the season, many of which are still too young to actually hunt or are just coming of age. Supposedly that is one of the topics that always gets a lot of press and is touted as highly important with regards to the TWRA wanting to bring more youth into the outdoors. It is the TWRA and WMA's future existence that depends on new youth getting involved after all. Cheathams latest decision on locking down all existing secondary trails certainly is not walking the talk.</p><p></p><p>It is one thing for adults to make sure they keep an eye on their surroundings and make sure they avoid an unsafe situation and only have themselves to keep track of. Taking youngsters along though carries far more responsibility and vigilance in keeping the day safe. Many times the younger kids (for whom we already have a hard enough time keeping them interested in the outdoors and hunting tradition with all of the other distractions) do not have the stamina to hike a mile back into the woods beyond the crowded areas that will now be present which is the situation that Cheatham WMA has itself created. That is a situation that I am not only uncomfortable with, but will not be part of with my kids.</p><p> </p><p>Can I choose to go elsewhere. I could, but to drive over 1 1/2 -2 hours to go to another WMA with some scruples and common sense when I have a PUBLIC WMA right in my back yard really seems like it is worth the time to have some input into what is going on here at Cheatham right now.</p><p></p><p>Now, I have moved to Tennessee from Michigan (yeah another northerner <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />) and started going out in the woods alongside my dad deer hunting as long as I can remember up there. If Cheatham WMA thinks they have anything remotely approaching problems compared to where I moved from heaven forbid they actually get a serious amount of trouble to deal with. Michigan hunters probably harvest more deer every year than the number of total hunters that exist in Tennessee each year. When talking about public land up there compared to the size of Cheatham it is not even in the same universe. Cheatham is a tiny piece of ground comparably. Very tiny. And the current staff claims it cannot handle it?? The ratio of wildlife agents to acres in Michigan is stretched way thinner than anything even close down here in Tennessee. Closing down available land due to a staffing issue hardly seems like a plausible reason. My point being that there is already an extreme shortage of available PUBLIC land for Tennessee hunters. Even with the gates open at Cheatham, it took some work and time to find those out of the way spots that would be safe for me and my kids while still being respectful of other hunters and the areas they choose to hunt. Granted, nowhere near the amount of pressure up in MI. That is something that most folks down here would not believe or comprehend. But to take one of the few tracts of PUBLIC land available and shut most of it down is hard to even fathom a wildlife department or manager doing. </p><p></p><p>In Conclusion:</p><p>Something just does not seem to add up with the reasoning I am hearing. I don't know any more than the next person as to what their true intentions or agenda is on deciding something this impacting a few weeks before season opening. I have my suspicions. I myself had taken several days off from work during last winter scouting and setting up stand sites for the upcoming season. And yes all of them are on the secondary trails that are now locked down according to Luke Treewalker. And I will repeat again, Randy left me with the impression after discussing the safety issues that the gates would be opened back up. After getting a pretty solid answer from that call on opening the gates I then purchased several pieces of gear for Cheatham as it is demanding terrain for getting deer out of the hills which can be very, very tough as I learned thru the past 3 seasons getting deer out of there with young ones at dark. I took Randy for his word and continued preparing for this season getting things such as deer carts and pulley rope systems etc. to help with the recovery of deer in that tough terrain. This is my only available place to hunt so I do not have opportunities to go elsewhere within reasonable driving distance. </p><p></p><p>Had somebody at Cheatham explained that something this drastic was going to happen in a professional and timely manner, PERHAPS AROUND THE TIME OF LAST SEASON, I would have not wasted so much time and money out at Cheatham WMA to prepare for this year. All of my scouted areas are several miles back on the side roads which now has ended up being a major waste of time and valuable money. Lets not forget, Randy has been planning for retirement for at least 2 years that I know of from him mentioning it. If I knew that he was retiring that far in advance, there is no way that his staff or the TWRA can claim they did not know about it.</p><p> </p><p>And most would say, no wonder why you are complaining. You are upset that you spent a bunch of time and money preparing to hunt on secondary roads. You are darn right I am complaining. I did my homework (I am an ardent student of the John Eberhart method to hunting public land) and had my act together at the end of last season and thru the winter in organizing my hunting situation and game plan for the upcoming year unlike the Cheatham WMA staff which suddenly decided to go off on a whim and tangent mere weeks before season with off the wall changes. I do not have the luxury of leasing private land and this is the PUBLIC WMA that I am very close to and have the ability to spend the very limited time I do get to hunt on. Unlike the staff at Cheatham WMA, I don't do things haphazardly.</p><p></p><p>This is the type of decision that is put in place well in advance for a following year, not weeks before season. I am a very serious hunter that takes the extra time to scout and work hard for my deer. I work hard on being extremely picky about scent control and impacting an area as little as possible and teaching my kids to respect the land and animals, especially on a valuable asset such as PUBLIC land. This is only possible by having proper access to the available land in the WMA to be able to spread out. It is a must on PUBLIC ground. If Michigan taught me anything it was that extreme competition on PUBLIC ground required putting in the extra mile for success and safety. Also, while I enjoy pursuing quality bucks and applaud the buck only harvest during the later seasons to help build the herd back up, that is my choice. Not all hunters have their minds set on nicer racks. Many actually hunt to acquire venison for their freezers and as somebody that chooses to be patient for a quality deer I have to respect that in the context of PUBLIC land. As long as that individual is not violating any laws to harvest their deer then that is their prerogative. Maybe my style and theirs differ, but that is how PUBLIC land works. The land is set up and available for all taxpayers as a place to pursue the outdoors and hunting. That is it's only existence. </p><p></p><p> If the intention is to try QDM beyond harvest limits by closing down the majority of the WMA, it is my opinion that they have completely lost perspective of what they are. PUBLIC land is NOT a Texas Hunting Ranch that is to be micro-managed for trophy bucks. If that is the desire of a particular department or WMA manager then perhaps they would be better served working on a ranch with those possibilities to fulfill their personal desires as a WMA is not the proper venue for that. While many hunters in recent times have come to expect more quality deer on their outings, this is a choice that that particular hunter has to weigh in choosing a leased piece of land that they can control the variables on or choosing to pursue deer on PUBLIC ground that may have more competition and require more work. The difference is some can afford to lease the land and go that route and many cannot. Those that cannot have a limited amount of acres available currently in Tennessee as it is and now putting more limitations in place is not helping or good for the future generations of hunters we must bring up. QDM may or may not be a deciding factor in this weird and irrational decision by Cheatham, although several little comments made to me by Cheatham staff thru the past few years seem to point in that direction. Perhaps it is a budget issue, but that is a state matter as Luke Treewalker correctly pointed out. But if the size of racks has become the priority in lieu of SAFETY and basic hunter access on OUR land, which also includes having a safe place to take future generations of hunters to learn and carry on the tradition of hunting (and appreciate the already limited PUBLIC land opportunities) then this WMA has so lost its way in responsible stewardship of PUBLIC land as a PUBLIC source of hunting available to all taxpayers that it is in need of some very serious review and scrutiny. Pronto!</p><p></p><p>I will not hunt at Cheatham any longer if this is going to be a standing change, but I can tell you this much. I will be monitoring the hunting habits of the staff at Cheatham as to where they are choosing their hunting stand sites that is for sure. </p><p></p><p>Can anyone even imagine Governor Prentice Cooper ever foreseeing a time when the majority of the WMA that his administration established and set aside for hunters in 1939 would have such restricted access? </p><p></p><p>I certainly hope the information that Luke Treewalker presented is accurate as I am still in disbelief that a WMA would pull a stunt like this. If it is not and the gates are actually open at the time of this writing I will gladly eat crow and admit that I spoke too soon. Luke, if you would like me to PM you to touch base on what else or who else can be talked to about this I am game. Messing with extremely limited PUBLIC hunting land in this manner indeed deserves some serious investigation as to what is really going on.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Woody Armor, post: 4066742, member: 16646"] I would like to 2nd the comments made by Luke Treewalker. To be quite honest I am shocked that this was posted as I have already talked with Randy about a month ago on this same issue about the dangerous conditions this creates due to SAFETY ISSUES. Even more so important to us hunters bringing kids along to expose them to the outdoors and hunting tradition. After explaining this and debating him about the SAFETY issues this would create he seemed to agree and left me with the impression that they would open the gates as they were closed at that time when I went over for some stand prep in mid August. Opening the gates up seemed to be pretty much decided for the most part per that call as far as Randy made it sound to me after I told him that I would not be hunting at Cheatham with my kids if he did that. I pretty much took him at his word that day that he would open the gates and made plans for hunting Cheatham this season. To then hear that he or his staff have decided to keep all of the gates locked a month before the opening of the 2015 hunting season is just completely unprofessional, arrogant and disrespectful to the very taxpayers/hunters that are funding the very organization that is supposed to be keeping the limited amount of PUBLIC land available accessible. [b][color=#FF0000]It is already challenging enough to hunt PUBLIC land, but when the WMA itself starts working against hunters then something has definitely gone wrong[/color][/b]. And yes, I have spoken with and had good experiences with Randy in the past so I do know of Randy and his time with Cheatham. How this came out of left field I will never understand. Now, I have not personally been to Cheatham since August to see if the gates have been opened up and I am only going by what Luke Treewalker has stated (Which was posted on 9-17-15): Which is the gates are still locked and that decision has been announced formally to keep them locked. If this is true and the current status at Cheatham is that the gates are locked then I fully submit everything that follows. With that said, I am a new member to the forum. I have always kept up with the site as a mere observer and reader as it has been a great source of information thru the years. Especially for an outdoorsman transplant to Tennessee years ago like myself (more about that in the post to come). Good people with a ton of information and knowledge. This post from Luke Treewalker frustrated and chapped me so much that it prompted me to register and make sure I could post my concerns and completely back every point made by Luke. [b][color=#FF0000]To close down PUBLIC access to the vast majority of this or any PUBLIC WMA by closing down long standing trails goes completely against what the whole definition and purpose of PUBLIC land is and why it even exists.[/color] [/b] If this is the direction the TWRA is going to start taking with the land under its control then there is no need for WMA managers. Why would there be a need for a WMA manager if the public is only going to be allowed to use a 1/4 of the available land in the WMA. There is no need for management at that point. What then are they exactly managing besides the cable locks at the trail heads? The situation with Cheatham does not adhere to any rational logic nor does it seem to pass the smell test with the random excuses given for the decision. The points presented by Luke Treewalker. 1. [u] Closing the roads for patrolling purposes and staffing budgets[/u]: Hate to break it to these folks, but if their budget was magically expanded 10 fold as of tomorrow and they increased the staff at Cheatham by 10 fold sadly enough there would still be people that violate the law. Would it minimize it...sure, but stop it. Nope. There will always be bad apples no matter how much patrolling is done. As Luke stated, many drive down foot designated trails that are not supposed to have car traffic. The foot traffic only sticks have never cut it. If they really want to keep people from driving on the trails deemed foot traffic only it will take a gate, rocks or logs etc. In the case of permanent foot trails.. they could actually benefit from gate closures. At least that has a basis in common sense. [b]But going completely overboard and closing every trail in the WMA is just ridiculous overkill[/b]. Regardless, there would still be trash laying around, baiting, poaching etc. etc. with more patrols. If they are going to cut the WMA down this substantially in size to the few dozen parking spots on only the main roads going thru the park then there is not enough of an area to justify spending the already tight funds on a manager for the area. For that matter there does not need to be any staff on site for planting plots or road maintenance etc. There is no need for equipment for road improvement...The roads are locked with no access!! If this is going to be the new conditions of the WMA then the TWRA is really not using its funding in the best interest of the taxpayer. Sell off the equipment, lay off most of the staff and maintain a few patrol officers. Nothing more is needed if the gates are going to be locked. If the majority of the WMA is going to be closed then all that is needed are some patrolling positions. The southern gate is always locked so there is only one main route into the park and then Wiley Pardue is the main east west crossroad. It will not take a manager on site or a sizeable staff to patrol the limited parking spots available along those main routes throughout a season. Also, Randy's retirement has been no secret and has been in the works for the past few years. It is not as though it was a spur of the moment decision that was sprung on his staff or the TWRA. He has made mention of it for the past few years openly. 2. [u] Mature bucks in the bottoms[/u]: I have hunted Cheatham religiously for the past 3 seasons as it is the only land I have available to hunt within my proximity and I have been successful all 3 of those years. While others mileage may vary, every buck that I have harvested at Cheatham has not been taken anywhere near the bottoms. All of my deer (and they have been nicer bucks as that is what I choose to harvest) have come no more than 1/3 down any ridge. That is thru all of the seasons, even late season and all types of weather conditions. That is not opinion, that is a fact of personal experience. This angle (limiting deer access and micro managagement) seems probable to me for the reason for not opening the roads up from some of the comments that were made during my conversation about the gates not being open back in August. I figured Randy had just not gotten around to getting them opened and I called to find out when they would be opened up so we could do final prep for the season. Only then did I learn of this possible ridiculous decision about not opening them at all. That is when I called back after about 10 minutes of thinking about the dangerous safety ramifications for me and my kids of an extremely poor thought out decision. It sure seemed that the topic of SAFETY and close proximity of hunters next to each other never entered into their decision process that, at that time, had not yet been finalized. From the surprised reaction that I seemed to get stemming from my concerns as a hunter and parent as to that being a very UNSAFE set of conditions directly being created by the WMA itself certainly never appeared to cross their minds. They were still in meetings about it and my concerns seemed to give Randy enough pause to say that he would more than likely open the gates after all. Rational reasoning seemed to prevail by the end of the conversation. I will say that deer size and better hunting were mentioned in that conversation as a knee jerk response to my immediately bringing up the "what in the heck are you thinking" with regards to forcing hunters on top of each other creating unsafe circumstances when there is no need for it due to the long standing trails that have been available for years and years. My thoughts now and at the time of that conversation a few weeks ago have not changed one bit: More deer or better hunting should never ever trump SAFETY. EVER. PERIOD. While I have always had good experiences with Randy as well as his advice and help thru the years this decision to lock all of the gates was directly his decision as I asked him directly who was responsible for the final decision on the call after voicing my concerns about the safety ramifications of such a decision. He directly and specifically said that he would be the final say on whether they were to be locked or opened. Luke stated that the staff was responsible for the decision in his conversations. I talked directly with Randy only and that is what I was personally told. Either way perhaps they want less hunters in the WMA to allow the staff better hunting opportunities for themselves. Closing all but 2 or 3 roads in the entire WMA will certainly put a damper on the number of hunters that decide to use Cheatham. I know Randy has always had several friends come to stay in the trailers at his headquarters during hunting seasons and many of the staff at Cheatham hunt the WMA. With Randy retiring I am more prone to think his current staff may have their own motives. I certainly hope EVERYBODY will be adhering to the Main Roads. I would certainly like to hope that these kinds of thoughts would be baseless, but with a change as big as this to a WMA that has had PRECEDENCE WITH TRAILS FOR YEARS AND YEARS weeks before season with random reasoning creates a trust vacuum. 3. [u] Food Plots[/u]: While the food plots may or may not contribute to the benefit of the deer herd one thing is for certain at Cheatham. There are acres and acres and more acres of white and other various oak trees PREDOMINANTLY throughout the entire WMA. Let's just say the deer herd there has access to some of the best natural food sources available among any natural forest land that exists. Those acorns are some of the best sources of energy, fat and nutrition that are available regardless of any additional plantings. Everyone has their own preference on how to hunt whether at Cheatham or any other WMA, but food plots would be my absolute last resort for a stand location due to all of the available natural food and water sources available at Cheatham (I think most people that have had experience hunting the plantings realize that chances are pretty good that they are going to run across either a. more hunters or b. car traffic while hunting these plots. I would hardly think that would come as a surprise to anyone). Ironically, most of these areas and food sources of acorns are now closed off and for the most part, if we are being honest and reasonable here, are not really accessible due to road closures that do not seem to based on any solid reasoning with regards to PUBLIC land or any hunter input. One of my biggest issues with this whole mess is first and foremost SAFETY. Luke hit on this point as well quite rightly. There are only so many limited parking possibilities on the main roads. As correctly pointed out by Luke this crams an unnecessary number of hunters into these confined areas. Sure, they will say you can hike back as far as you would like to get away from other hunters, but conjecture and reality are two entirely different worlds. People will still be walking thru and around hunters (with guns) as there is always a typical radius around parking areas that will congregate people. Now, I have ran into many hunters at Cheatham that are good, safe and ethical hunters that respect others and make sure dangerous situations do not occur due to good common sense and respect for other hunters. But, I have ran across a good many that I would not want to walk in front of, near or anywhere within a 1/2 mile of at dawn, dusk or during broad daylight. Their attitudes and visual cues of unsafe and disrespectful habits give me all I need to know to move on and find a safer place to set up. Most of which are on the gated secondary roads that get deeper into the WMA away from many of these types of hunters. So are people going to start taking handsaws and cutting out new parking spots along the main roads where possible to regain some safe distance from crowded trail heads and avoid arguments on trying to squeeze on top of other vehicles that are trying to park first thing in the morning? Perhaps it should be solved by heading straight to the managers house at 4:00 in the morning to plead the case and determine who was there first to park and let him come down and sort it out. Who knows, but nothing ever seems to stay static in the real world when drastic changes are made versus the tidy explanations of decisions that always are explained as good intentions, yet lack sound judgment in theory or on paper. The Buck only management that has been implemented has a grounding in sound judgment. Very simply, herd is down in big numbers due to disease die off....let's implement a buck only strategy in gun/muzzleloader seasons to allow the herd to grow again. That is a rational course of action that hunters can understand and work with as it meets the definition of logic and common sense. There is also the issue of some of us that are bringing youngsters along with us throughout the season, many of which are still too young to actually hunt or are just coming of age. Supposedly that is one of the topics that always gets a lot of press and is touted as highly important with regards to the TWRA wanting to bring more youth into the outdoors. It is the TWRA and WMA's future existence that depends on new youth getting involved after all. Cheathams latest decision on locking down all existing secondary trails certainly is not walking the talk. It is one thing for adults to make sure they keep an eye on their surroundings and make sure they avoid an unsafe situation and only have themselves to keep track of. Taking youngsters along though carries far more responsibility and vigilance in keeping the day safe. Many times the younger kids (for whom we already have a hard enough time keeping them interested in the outdoors and hunting tradition with all of the other distractions) do not have the stamina to hike a mile back into the woods beyond the crowded areas that will now be present which is the situation that Cheatham WMA has itself created. That is a situation that I am not only uncomfortable with, but will not be part of with my kids. Can I choose to go elsewhere. I could, but to drive over 1 1/2 -2 hours to go to another WMA with some scruples and common sense when I have a PUBLIC WMA right in my back yard really seems like it is worth the time to have some input into what is going on here at Cheatham right now. Now, I have moved to Tennessee from Michigan (yeah another northerner :-)) and started going out in the woods alongside my dad deer hunting as long as I can remember up there. If Cheatham WMA thinks they have anything remotely approaching problems compared to where I moved from heaven forbid they actually get a serious amount of trouble to deal with. Michigan hunters probably harvest more deer every year than the number of total hunters that exist in Tennessee each year. When talking about public land up there compared to the size of Cheatham it is not even in the same universe. Cheatham is a tiny piece of ground comparably. Very tiny. And the current staff claims it cannot handle it?? The ratio of wildlife agents to acres in Michigan is stretched way thinner than anything even close down here in Tennessee. Closing down available land due to a staffing issue hardly seems like a plausible reason. My point being that there is already an extreme shortage of available PUBLIC land for Tennessee hunters. Even with the gates open at Cheatham, it took some work and time to find those out of the way spots that would be safe for me and my kids while still being respectful of other hunters and the areas they choose to hunt. Granted, nowhere near the amount of pressure up in MI. That is something that most folks down here would not believe or comprehend. But to take one of the few tracts of PUBLIC land available and shut most of it down is hard to even fathom a wildlife department or manager doing. In Conclusion: Something just does not seem to add up with the reasoning I am hearing. I don't know any more than the next person as to what their true intentions or agenda is on deciding something this impacting a few weeks before season opening. I have my suspicions. I myself had taken several days off from work during last winter scouting and setting up stand sites for the upcoming season. And yes all of them are on the secondary trails that are now locked down according to Luke Treewalker. And I will repeat again, Randy left me with the impression after discussing the safety issues that the gates would be opened back up. After getting a pretty solid answer from that call on opening the gates I then purchased several pieces of gear for Cheatham as it is demanding terrain for getting deer out of the hills which can be very, very tough as I learned thru the past 3 seasons getting deer out of there with young ones at dark. I took Randy for his word and continued preparing for this season getting things such as deer carts and pulley rope systems etc. to help with the recovery of deer in that tough terrain. This is my only available place to hunt so I do not have opportunities to go elsewhere within reasonable driving distance. Had somebody at Cheatham explained that something this drastic was going to happen in a professional and timely manner, PERHAPS AROUND THE TIME OF LAST SEASON, I would have not wasted so much time and money out at Cheatham WMA to prepare for this year. All of my scouted areas are several miles back on the side roads which now has ended up being a major waste of time and valuable money. Lets not forget, Randy has been planning for retirement for at least 2 years that I know of from him mentioning it. If I knew that he was retiring that far in advance, there is no way that his staff or the TWRA can claim they did not know about it. And most would say, no wonder why you are complaining. You are upset that you spent a bunch of time and money preparing to hunt on secondary roads. You are darn right I am complaining. I did my homework (I am an ardent student of the John Eberhart method to hunting public land) and had my act together at the end of last season and thru the winter in organizing my hunting situation and game plan for the upcoming year unlike the Cheatham WMA staff which suddenly decided to go off on a whim and tangent mere weeks before season with off the wall changes. I do not have the luxury of leasing private land and this is the PUBLIC WMA that I am very close to and have the ability to spend the very limited time I do get to hunt on. Unlike the staff at Cheatham WMA, I don't do things haphazardly. This is the type of decision that is put in place well in advance for a following year, not weeks before season. I am a very serious hunter that takes the extra time to scout and work hard for my deer. I work hard on being extremely picky about scent control and impacting an area as little as possible and teaching my kids to respect the land and animals, especially on a valuable asset such as PUBLIC land. This is only possible by having proper access to the available land in the WMA to be able to spread out. It is a must on PUBLIC ground. If Michigan taught me anything it was that extreme competition on PUBLIC ground required putting in the extra mile for success and safety. Also, while I enjoy pursuing quality bucks and applaud the buck only harvest during the later seasons to help build the herd back up, that is my choice. Not all hunters have their minds set on nicer racks. Many actually hunt to acquire venison for their freezers and as somebody that chooses to be patient for a quality deer I have to respect that in the context of PUBLIC land. As long as that individual is not violating any laws to harvest their deer then that is their prerogative. Maybe my style and theirs differ, but that is how PUBLIC land works. The land is set up and available for all taxpayers as a place to pursue the outdoors and hunting. That is it's only existence. If the intention is to try QDM beyond harvest limits by closing down the majority of the WMA, it is my opinion that they have completely lost perspective of what they are. PUBLIC land is NOT a Texas Hunting Ranch that is to be micro-managed for trophy bucks. If that is the desire of a particular department or WMA manager then perhaps they would be better served working on a ranch with those possibilities to fulfill their personal desires as a WMA is not the proper venue for that. While many hunters in recent times have come to expect more quality deer on their outings, this is a choice that that particular hunter has to weigh in choosing a leased piece of land that they can control the variables on or choosing to pursue deer on PUBLIC ground that may have more competition and require more work. The difference is some can afford to lease the land and go that route and many cannot. Those that cannot have a limited amount of acres available currently in Tennessee as it is and now putting more limitations in place is not helping or good for the future generations of hunters we must bring up. QDM may or may not be a deciding factor in this weird and irrational decision by Cheatham, although several little comments made to me by Cheatham staff thru the past few years seem to point in that direction. Perhaps it is a budget issue, but that is a state matter as Luke Treewalker correctly pointed out. But if the size of racks has become the priority in lieu of SAFETY and basic hunter access on OUR land, which also includes having a safe place to take future generations of hunters to learn and carry on the tradition of hunting (and appreciate the already limited PUBLIC land opportunities) then this WMA has so lost its way in responsible stewardship of PUBLIC land as a PUBLIC source of hunting available to all taxpayers that it is in need of some very serious review and scrutiny. Pronto! I will not hunt at Cheatham any longer if this is going to be a standing change, but I can tell you this much. I will be monitoring the hunting habits of the staff at Cheatham as to where they are choosing their hunting stand sites that is for sure. Can anyone even imagine Governor Prentice Cooper ever foreseeing a time when the majority of the WMA that his administration established and set aside for hunters in 1939 would have such restricted access? I certainly hope the information that Luke Treewalker presented is accurate as I am still in disbelief that a WMA would pull a stunt like this. If it is not and the gates are actually open at the time of this writing I will gladly eat crow and admit that I spoke too soon. Luke, if you would like me to PM you to touch base on what else or who else can be talked to about this I am game. Messing with extremely limited PUBLIC hunting land in this manner indeed deserves some serious investigation as to what is really going on. [/QUOTE]
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Cheatham Secondary roads to remain closed!!!
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