Early Velvet season this year?

[CliffordN]

Will there be a velvet season this year?

 

[Tn Joe]

Aug 25-27

 

[Andy S.]

Yes, same weekend as squirrel opener. Dates shown above. Different rules and regulations depending on which Unit you are in.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Yep. @Andy S. Posted a link here the other day https://www.tndeer.com/threads/2023-24-twra-hunting-season-planner.438297/#post-5664601

 

[Planking]

Different rules and regulations depending on which Unit you are in.

Yep, here you can hunt them from the road during the velvet hunt as long as you use a thermal. I learned that last year watching all the road hunters that showed up and were scanning mine and my neighbors fields during the velvet hunt.

 

[Team Yuma]

Gonna be hot. Cant wait!

 

[redblood]

Good luck to all those that go…..


But i refuse to bowhunt until the calendar says October

 

[BSK]

Velvet hunt was the worst decision the TWRA has made in some time, especially allowing rifles in the CWD zones. I can't think of time where more damage can be done to buck age structure than allowing rifle hunters to pick off the mature bucks while they're still on their summer ag field patterns.

 

[knightrider]

Velvet hunt was the worst decision the TWRA has made in some time, especially allowing rifles in the CWD zones. I can't think of time where more damage can be done to buck age structure than allowing rifle hunters to pick off the mature bucks while they're still on their summer ag field patterns.

You gotta realize who your talking about no actions will be taken without biological data and benefits to back it up they definitely have gone to pot in last 15 years

 

[deerhunter10]

Wish they would do away with it.

 

[TheLBLman]

Velvet hunt was the worst decision the TWRA has made in some time

Very few hunters wanted it, even fewer now "participate".

It helps illegal hunters kill a buck far more than legal hunters.
This is in large part because most legal hunters don't participate,
and such a high percentage of the velvet bucks are taken illegally.

. . . . . especially allowing rifles in the CWD zones.

Yep. In the CWD zone it's not just hunting illegally over corn piles with a bow.
It's hunting from the roads with rifles when bucks are more frequently just out feeding in fields (very unlike during the rut).

Yes, I know many hunters do it legally, by the book.
But the illegal "harvests" are jaw-dropping as a percentage of what gets killed,
and perhaps as a percentage of the hunters afield.

And the illegal poaching aspect of the "velvet" hunt is only getting worse.

 

[TNTreeman]

Good luck to all those that go…..


But i refuse to bowhunt until the calendar says October

I agree and add " cool" October which is usually late in the month.

 

[redblood]

Velvet hunt was the worst decision the TWRA has made in some time, especially allowing rifles in the CWD zones. I can't think of time where more damage can be done to buck age structure than allowing rifle hunters to pick off the mature bucks while they're still on their summer ag field patterns.

I thought it was an ofd decision myself, but at least it wasnt a bonus tag. I guess if people are willing to sweat over a beanfield to kill a fuzzy horned, doe necked, red mangey tick taxi and use one of their tags- more power to them. I do hate they coupled it with the squirrel opener and the free fishing weekend (i believe). Too many deer obsessed dads will choose chasing deer over taking their kids squirrel hunting or fishing.

 

[deerhunter10]

I thought it was an ofd decision myself, but at least it wasnt a bonus tag.

Agree with this.

 

[Planking]

You gotta realize who your talking about no actions will be taken without biological data and benefits to back it up they definitely have gone to pot in last 15 years

You can say that again. The whole deer season is some sort of night poacher orgy in my area. It's not just the worst thing to happen to hunting, it's the worst thing to happen to our community in the history of it's existence. A bunch of criminals have taken it over.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

I enjoy it. It's the perfect way for me to jump head first into the hunting season. I squirrel hunt during the cool mornings and try to intercept a deer headed to a food source in the afternoons. Now, if I could only talk my inlaws into building a pond on the farm I hunt, I could waste away the middle of the day fishing.

 

[Boll Weevil]

I can't think of time where more damage can be done to buck age structure than allowing rifle hunters to pick off the mature bucks while they're still on their summer ag field patterns.

Except the fact that virtually no one hunts it. The last few years has seen harvest during the velvet season in the teens in my county.

 

[TNGunsmoke]

I thought it was an ofd decision myself, but at least it wasnt a bonus tag. I guess if people are willing to sweat over a beanfield to kill a fuzzy horned, doe necked, red mangey tick taxi and use one of their tags- more power to them. I do hate they coupled it with the squirrel opener and the free fishing weekend (i believe). Too many deer obsessed dads will choose chasing deer over taking their kids squirrel hunting or fishing.

Free fishing day is in June. Free hunting day is the overlap in August, but it is squirrel only. Still gotta have a big game tag (or qualify for the land owner exemption) to be legal to hunt deer that weekend.

 

[holstonangler]

Not sure about the CWD areas, but it is a great addition to the hunting season to other parts of the state.

 

[mike243]

Not sure why only bow hunters get that perk, my lifetime license should cover it with a rifle lol