Totally in agreement with FTP and a few others. I have been going out there for the past 12 years. Randy was superb+. I cannot even begin to unpack the way the place has went downhill since Eric was put in place. Through my experiences in various places I would say it is one of the worst ran WMA's I have been on in the southeast (and I mean beyond just Tennessee). The quota hunt outlay they have put in place is a disaster. A WMA of that size and the make up of the terrain to be off limits for a large portion of the season is a special kind of stupid.
Randy had figured out about as close to a perfect balance of herd management and access to the WMA as it could be and it was a very enjoyable place to hunt. He had it set up for a normal archery season for the most part, no doe during the ML and FA season. Helped get the herd back in shape with plenty of quality deer numbers and good bucks. Was my absolute favorite in middle TN by far.
They now have a complete mess out there since Randy's departure. I was appalled at the amount of trash and crap strewn through the woods last season. Again, I have been out there for 12 years exclusively for entire seasons and know it inside and out from top to bottom, side to side. The quota hunts are little window weekends here and there with a week squeezed in here and there. Then it is opened up wide open for does only after the quota hunts which seems to attract every slob "brown is down" hunter in the area that seems to get a kick out of applying their favorite hobby of turning the WMA into a dumping ground for trash. Yanahli already had that covered, but I guess Cheatham did not want to be outdone for trying to attract disrespectful "hunters".
I saw an interview with some TWRA staff a while back talking about how they wanted to get "more people" to utilize the WMA so they came up with this current quota scheme to supposedly accomplish that. (Which Eric said was his intention from day one years ago when he took the WMA management spot over. I think he has plenty to do with it from the direction he talked about during the transition from Randy to him). Being out there for so many years and so much time of each of those entire seasons, I can tell you that many of the serious hunters have thinned out a lot thru the past 3 or 4 seasons and "more people" have definitely entered the picture. There were plenty of good bucks there during Randy's last few years. I have always done very well there through the years. Actually, it has been getting to the point that a few more does could have been taken beyond the archery season as the pressure was very minimal during archery. It would have made far more sense to have added a doe tag drawing to help harvest some more does in a far more controlled manner and avoided the absolute mess that was made last year in the woods along with a good many jerks in the woods that had no concern for any others around them. There have always been a few undesirables here and there through the years out there. That happens everywhere, but last year out there was just far too many to deal with. Luckily I walk a ways to get away from those types, but I finally ended up going to Yanahli as I got tired of the circus out there the way it is now.
It is pretty sad actually to have such a great piece of land in a location, that is pretty accessible to the middle TN, be such a mismanaged WMA that only a few years ago was one of the better WMA's of the state. It is a large continuous piece of land with a variety of hills, habitat and variety. It is rugged, but that is what allows the deer to grow the herd and work around the majority of hunters. (Even when all of the roads were open).
Deer are not the problem at Cheatham. The management is the problem at Cheatham. They act as if a normal deer season is just far too out of bounds for the WMA. With their logic and thought process it is almost impossible to believe that there is 1 deer left in a place like Yanahli with the massive massive amounts of pressure and such disregard for the WMA/land from many people that really don't seem to care about the few precious areas left for the sport. Yanahli gets slammed month after month after month in a season. Yet there are plenty of deer out there every year. Go figure.
The perfect balance is how Randy had it. Archery season at Cheatham always tended to consist of hunters that leaned to the more serious and hard working type, the ML and FA season with a buck only restriction kept most of the slobs out of there that trash the woods up and disrespect hunters around them because they decided to amble out there and are downing anything and everything that walks in front of them. So, for me, it is nowhere near as safe as it used to be to take younger kids out there the way it is now.
Like I said, it is hard to unpack and explain to newer people wanting to go out there how it used to be compared to the sad state of affairs it has turned into for a great piece of land that could be excellent with the correct management. Now, not so much.
I will sum up my spiel with this. I can either go to Cheatham or Yanahli as far as fairly even driving distances. I have chosen to move to Yanahli the past few years as I finally gave up on Cheatham and this new quota "experiment" they have put in place. Are there better bucks at Cheatham. Yep. But at Yanahli I can actually get the proper time to spend in a season to utilize it. You only get so many seasons in a lifetime and when working and everything else going on in life you have to get the time when you can. Quota weekends and weeks here and there are the exact opposite of helping to enjoy as much season as possible. It is really a shame.
. I don't expect much but I feel like I should be seeing more. Would you mind if I ask you in a message about some spots I have been going to get your feedback?
