Ladys man
Well-Known Member
No worries let me know there's some good ones there.
Fall creek falls mid December
- Thread starter Ladys man
- Start date
I hunted it hard the early November hunt and killed a heavy horned 9pt. The thickest base was 6.75". Dressed weight 177. Now that being said I didn't get him until near the end of the hunt and the ONLY buck I seen with more than 4 pts. Sit a few times and didn't even see a deer. The problem this year is there are zero acorns! Don't want to discourage you, but just be prepared the rubs and scrapes are very far and few between...unless...you hunt near the private property some have mentioned on here. I know a lot about that property including how they hunt it (for another discussion). They have at least one full time guy that does nothing but manage food plots, stands, etc. If you look at it on OnX you'll see the massive food plots galore, some close to the park boundaries. Because there are no acorns in that area this year, the food plots are like a magnet and pulling most the deer off the park. The closer you can get to their boundary the more sign you'll see, but as the rut dwindles down they are hugging the food sources and not venturing into the barren woods on the park much anymore. I've been up there twice this week just trying to find some acorns somewhere to hunt next week...NOTHING! Walked 5.1 miles one day and 3.5 the next day. Yes, there are some very nice deer in the area, but most of them will be on the neighboring property eating their buffets. Keep in mind EHD slammed that area in 2017, so don't expect to see anything older than 4.5. It's possible a few 5.5 might be roaming, but my understanding it wiped out almost all the high end bucks. However, a 4.5 in that area is generally a very solid TN trophy. Good luck. I may sit out this upcoming hunt due to the projected rain...and well, no food sources. Oh, and worth mentioning, as I was driving out near dark earlier this week, there were numerous deer about every 100 yds standing on the sides of the road eating grass...what does that tell you?
I agree with the ehd die off for sure.
Yeah I believe most of it is on the East side of 284 and South of the Fire Tower Rd.
Last year we had to check in prior to hunting at the gift shop near the swimming pool. Checking in was just putting your name and some info in a 3 ring binder sitting outside of the shop and could be done at any point beforehand. So if you are up there scouting the day before you can go ahead and do that. Good luck up there.
Just to add a little more information here...there's also a large area left of Park Rd all the way up to the lake and then pretty much everything south of the lake. Also, the check-in has moved to the Park Ranger's Headquarters which is pretty much across of the entrance to the golf course. Good advice there that you can check-in prior to the day of the hunt, and you only have to check-in once no matter how many days you're hunting...you just have to note which days on the first check-in...and there's no check-out required.
Shot the biggest deer of my life there in 2016. Before I got to him someone had cut his head off and run for their truck. The last few years have been very slow due to an EHD break out in 2017-2018. Good luck if you go!
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That is heartbreaking,
Yes it was and still is! I was really disappointed for a while over that one. Crazy thing is, my buddy shot a big 9 about 35 minutes before I shot mine. After I shot the buck I got down to go help my buddy drag his to my tree. We drug his buck close to my tree and went to track mine. We track probably 150 yards and I could see a white belly. I pulled my binos up and couldn't see any antlers but I could see my lighted knock in the deer. I was very confused lol. We walked up on the buck and found that the head had been cut off. I honestly could have cried because I was so mad and sad at the same time. I just don't understand how a hunter could do another hunter like that. I'd give anything to have that buck,
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I would've cried, that would make me hunt someone down. Some people man.smh
