Foothills wma…

[Chickencoop96]

I hadn't been up here in a while, but man that parking lot has never been this full that I know of. Met two hunters leaving as I was going in and had two others try to walk in on me. Pretty crowded in comparison to previous seasons

 

[Griswold]

As private access continues to go away its only gonna get worse

 

[MickThompson]

That's some incredibly beautiful but rough country

 

[PickettSFHunter]

The WMA near me was absolutely overrun this year like I've never seen. It's steadily getting worse. TWRA is going to have to revisit these romp and stomp WMA's, the resources are being depleted.

 

[Chickencoop96]

That's some incredibly beautiful but rough country

I love it up there. I was reminded quickly today why there aren't more access points. It really helps keep the place from being overrun

 

[MickThompson]

I love it up there. I was reminded quickly today why there aren't more access points. It really helps keep the place from being overrun

I think it was on purpose

 

[Chickencoop96]

Don't get me wrong, there was still plenty of room for as many were up there today, it's just suprising for that wma to have more than 2 trucks in the lot. I remember 4 years ago when I started hunting it I was about the only one for weeks at a time lol

 

[Chickencoop96]

I think it was on purpose

Agreed

 

[EastTNHunter]

I used to be able to put my boat in the river and go up and down the river with very little pressure on the small pockets of public. Not anymore. And they're often not big enough to just go a little ways away if someone is already in the spot. Not to mention ruin the adjacent landowners treating the property like it's theirs. Public land hunting is definitely getting tougher, especially with it being en vogue now

 

[killingtime 41]

Public is getting lots of pressure these days. Believe it or not the ones I've talked to have lots of private to hunt. And they say you've not done anything unless you've killed a public land hammer. I told them I wouldn't be here if I had lots of private to hunt. Thinks it's mostly to do with all these podcasts and YouTube videos. About public land hunting. Must be a fad these days. Not to mention cameras all over the place. It's seems around here after the first weekend or 2 of gun. It tends to calm down around here.

 

[WORM82]

This year I went in north cherokee on opening day and was surprised at how few vehicles were in there.

 

[Chickencoop96]

Public is getting lots of pressure these days. Believe it or not the ones I've talked to have lots of private to hunt. And they say you've not done anything unless you've killed a public land hammer. I told them I wouldn't be here if I had lots of private to hunt. Thinks it's mostly to do with all these podcasts and YouTube videos. About public land hunting. Must be a fad these days. Not to mention cameras all over the place. It's seems around here after the first weekend or 2 of gun. It tends to calm down around here.

I am right there with you on it being a huge fad. I only hunt public land now because grandad had to sell the farm after grandma died. I had no where else to go after that. So I had to either become a public land hunter or not hunt at all.

 

[Chickencoop96]

This year I went in north cherokee on opening day and was surprised at how few vehicles were in there.

That's cause Cherokee tough to hunt and most don't want to hunt like that. I personally love it.

 

[Bone Collector]

Public is getting lots of pressure these days. Believe it or not the ones I've talked to have lots of private to hunt. And they say you've not done anything unless you've killed a public land hammer. I told them I wouldn't be here if I had lots of private to hunt. Thinks it's mostly to do with all these podcasts and YouTube videos. About public land hunting. Must be a fad these days. Not to mention cameras all over the place. It's seems around here after the first weekend or 2 of gun. It tends to calm down around here.

This is exactly what it is. I have 38 acres of private land. I spend most of my time hunting that. However if I am over hunting I will go to public. These younger guys think it validates them if they kill a deer on public. Most of them cannot hunt and have little to no woodsmanship skills. 1/2 of them steal equipment (cameras, etc.). Same thing with turkeys. Everyone wants to kill a public land bird, so they can tell everyone they killed one on public. It's all about validation.

 

[MickThompson]

I hunt public quite a bit and it's mainly because in years past, I had access to better hunting there than on the private tracts

 

[WORM82]

I used to have a good private place to hunt but now only 7 acres that I take my son on but back in the 90s when I was a kid there were no deer around our house until around 2008 or so and the only place with deer near us was the cnf in unicoi/Washington and Green countys. I grew up in those mtns and always take a week of vacation during rifle season to go back in the big woods knowing I will be lucky to see 1 deer during that week but I will keep going back as long as I can.

 

[Chickencoop96]

I used to have a good private place to hunt but now only 7 acres that I take my son on but back in the 90s when I was a kid there were no deer around our house until around 2008 or so and the only place with deer near us was the cnf in unicoi/Washington and Green countys. I grew up in those mtns and always take a week of vacation during rifle season to go back in the big woods knowing I will be lucky to see 1 deer during that week but I will keep going back as long as I can.

Well I'll say this about hunting pressure on public, don't have to worry about those public properties going anywhere as long as there's folks using it.

 

[Birds03Z71]

Public is getting lots of pressure these days. Believe it or not the ones I've talked to have lots of private to hunt. And they say you've not done anything unless you've killed a public land hammer. I told them I wouldn't be here if I had lots of private to hunt. Thinks it's mostly to do with all these podcasts and YouTube videos. About public land hunting. Must be a fad these days. Not to mention cameras all over the place. It's seems around here after the first weekend or 2 of gun. It tends to calm down around here.

Yall remember there are some of us new faces that don't have private to hunt as well. I just started last year and hunt foothills. I hunted every saturday from December to the end of the season and only ever saw 3 other hunters. Not 1 once I got about 3 miles back in there. Then again, I may have just walked right by them lol.

 

[lawdog]

Yall remember there are some of us new faces that don't have private to hunt as well. I just started last year and hunt foothills. I hunted every saturday from December to the end of the season and only ever saw 3 other hunters. Not 1 once I got about 3 miles back in there. Then again, I may have just walked right by them lol.

The better question is how many deer did you see on those trips?

 

[Birds03Z71]

Oh, none.

The better question is how many deer did you see on those trips?

None

 

[lawdog]

Oh, none.

None

That is another reason you saw to few to no other hunters.