Got Drawn for President's Island Dec. Buck Hunt

[TheLBLman]

I got drawn for the President's Island Dec. Buck Hunt
back in 2016.

Haven't applied since.

Good luck for those still pursing the island

 

[ZachMarkus]

I've got 7 points

 

[Lincoln Co Archer]

I've got 7 points

Same for me

 

[DoubleRidge]

Im at 10 points.... guessing it will be another 2 or 3 years before having a chance....if not longer.

 

[fairchaser]

I'm at 2 points and 64. How much you want to bet I'll never make it back? I'm just accumulating points just in case.

 

[bobbuck]

I've got 11 points. Should draw in a year or two.

 

[rodeojoe]

8 @ 62

 

[CBU93]

I got drawn for the President's Island Dec. Buck Hunt
back in 2016.

Haven't applied since.

Good luck for those still pursing the island

Me too…for the third time. Not put in again since.

 

[Deer Assassin]

I have neve understood waiting 11-12 years for it. Cant shoot 150 inch 8 point. There are plenty of good draws with good opportunities. I remember the year PMC got drawn freaking ice storm . He sent pics of ice sickles off the blind.

But that what make the sport fun... not everyone has the same goals or wants

 

[TheLBLman]

When I was drawn in 2016 (which may have been the very worse year ever for these hunts?),
I believe I had 13 or 14 preference points. I had been putting in since the first year of the hunts.

Although I was disappointed with my experience there, there were really no other TWRA WMA quota hunts found appealing, so nothing lost (to me).

As to the other two friends hunting with me, they said they would have rather not forfeited all those other quota hunts over the years, just for this one trip to PI. Neither of them saw a deer while hunting.
I was lucky in seeing a 130-class 3 1/2-yr-old 10-pointer, but unlucky in recovering him. That happened early the 1st of three mornings. Because of my trying to find him, I didn't really hunt much again until the 3rd morning. Didn't see a deer on the 3rd morning, and left the island around mid-day with no plans to ever return.

For those who get drawn, I highly recommend your camping out on the island.
IMO, the daily coming & going drive thru downtown Memphis is just too unpredictable.

 

[TheLBLman]

I have neve understood waiting 11-12 years for it. Cant shoot 150 inch 8 point.

But that what make the sport fun... not everyone has the same goals or wants

I agree.

Over the years of applying, and hunting other areas, some of them public lands, I gave a pass to several bucks larger antlered than the one buck I saw at PI.

On the PI scouting day, having seen so little sign, and realizing there really just weren't many bucks there in 2016, I lowered my standard a bit. My initial plan was to release an arrow only on a buck appearing 4 1/2 or older (with 9 or more points). But when a 130-class 10 appearing 3 1/2 walked right under me @ sunrise the 1st morning, the arrow was released.

 

[DoubleRidge]

I have neve understood waiting 11-12 years for it. Cant shoot 150 inch 8 point. There are plenty of good draws with good opportunities. I remember the year PMC got drawn freaking ice storm . He sent pics of ice sickles off the blind.

But that what make the sport fun... not everyone has the same goals or wants

In TN I mainly hunt Private land.... So President Island is the only draw hunt I'm interested in.....putting in for other hunts, that I likely wont make it too, would only remove an opportunity for someone else to hunt...so if I wasn't putting in for PI....I wouldn't be putting in for anything....so I miss out on nothing.

And it's like you said....we all have different goals and wants....and it's a good thing that we do.

 

[EJ1]

11 points for me and think I'll have 12 in a week or so after the drawing.

 

[EJ1]

Once I'm drawn I won't put in for it again.
We used to have some fun hunts at Oak Ridge and other areas

 

[TheLBLman]

Shame TWRA doesn't see the need to have other similar hunts on some other WMAs.
And it's BS that some other WMA's couldn't be somewhat comparable (if they had the same amount of annual hunting that's allowed on PI).

In fact, half of Catoosa WMA COULD be turned into a trophy buck managed area.
Just half of Catoosa is about 4 times larger acreage than PI?

Via so many hunters ONLY applying for PI, isn't that what many hunters are saying they want in terms of opportunities?

Also, the similar antler restrictions TWRA does have on a couple other areas does not make those areas anything like the management of PI. What makes PI such a good opportunity is all about a lack of hunting, near nothing about antler restrictions.

 

[bobbuck]

I have neve understood waiting 11-12 years for it. Cant shoot 150 inch 8 point. There are plenty of good draws with good opportunities. I remember the year PMC got drawn freaking ice storm . He sent pics of ice sickles off the blind.

But that what make the sport fun... not everyone has the same goals or wants

The reason I started was I had decided I did not want to go on any other quota hunts in the state. However, at the time there were a lot of big deer being killed every year at PI. So I started putting in for it, and at this point I have so much time invested I just have kept on entering every year. I really don't even care to go on the hunt cause it will cost me several thousand dollars, but I hate to piss the points away.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

If TN was managed like Georgia, there would be more of these opportunities. GA is one DNR, with wildlife and state parks under the same umbrella. That's how GA is able to open state parks to hunting for quality quota hunts. TN is so divorced with TWRA and the rest of state gov being separate that we just seem to not allow any hunting on public lands where we certainly could have some more of these quality opportunities. Plenty of state park land, TDEC land, etc that could be opened for limited opportunity quality hunts.

 

[TheLBLman]

TN is so divorced with TWRA and the rest of state gov being separate that we just seem to not allow any hunting on public lands where we certainly could have some more of these quality opportunities. Plenty of state park land, TDEC land, etc that could be opened for limited opportunity quality hunts.

Somewhat agree & disagree.
I agree TWRA could do more WMA management with a greater bent towards quality than quantity, but not sure there's a whole lot more of significance TWRA (or the State anything) could do to provide a lot more hunting on other "state" lands.

TWRA is assisting in the management and hunting opportunity on most the larger state parks, right?
Talking about some like Natchez Trace State Park, Pickett, Prentice Cooper, Chuck Swan, etc.
Are there any of large size now that don't have hunting?

Just thinking that most "state" lands currently offering no hunting are relatively small?

To TWRA's credit, they also have made arrangements on some federal lands such as the Oak Ridge WMA. MOST our complaints regarding Oak Ridge are not TWRA's fault?

 

[TheLBLman]

As an aside, it's my understanding that TWRA doesn't really "manage" PI WMA for "trophy" bucks so much as they just follow the guidelines via the City of Memphis, which mandates no gun hunting, and extremely limited archery-only hunting for the primary purpose of controlling the deer population on this island (which is very close to Downtown Memphis).

When this arrangement began, PI was very over-populated with deer.
The relative scarcity of deer there now was caused more by Mother Nature (flooding) than by anything else.

And, PI is also not "state" land either.
Not sure if it's owned by the City of Memphis or the Memphis Port Authority, but it's not "state" land.

 

[Antler Daddy]

Somewhat agree & disagree.
I agree TWRA could do more WMA management with a greater bent towards quality than quantity, but not sure there's a whole lot more of significance TWRA (or the State anything) could do to provide a lot more hunting on other "state" lands.

TWRA is assisting in the management and hunting opportunity on most the larger state parks, right?
Talking about some like Natchez Trace State Park, Pickett, Prentice Cooper, Chuck Swan, etc.
Are there any of large size now that don't have hunting?

Just thinking that most "state" lands currently offering no hunting are relatively small?

To TWRA's credit, they also have made arrangements on some federal lands such as the Oak Ridge WMA. MOST our complaints regarding Oak Ridge are not TWRA's fault?

I disagree.

I think most state parks should have some limited hunts at least every few years....regardless of size. Some of these parks are completely over browsed and there is very limited legal hunting around them. For instance, Davy Crockett SP is one and there are others.