Can you elaborate more ? I assume you mean just the number of hunters at John Tully
Tully has been managed with an antler restriction for nearly 15 years and under very restrictive doe harvest for the past 5-10 years. While the type of antler restriction/management approach wasn't optimal it did have a positive effect. There has been a number of good deer killed off the WMA but since TWRA discovered a single cwd positive deer near the bluff, all those years of management have gone to crap unfortunately. What once was a fine WMA is being destroyed with TWRA's negligent approach on CWD.
I cut my teeth in deer hunting these bottoms. I've seen Tully go through many changes from when Anderson Tully Co owned it, when the whole WMA was cut by ATCO, and sold to the Nature Conservancy about 20 years ago and transferred to TWRA ownership. I really saddens me to see what has taken place.
Typical of the Mississippi River bottoms, Tully has a low deer density, it's not loaded with deer. Usually a low harvest of 10-20 bucks and around 10 does harvested was common from year to year. Last year 70 bucks and 40 does were killed.
I hunted Tully hard last year and seen and heard a TON of pressure, more than I'd seen in 20 years.
I'd still hunt Tully over the Forest any day though! I live 20 mins from Shelby Forest and just can get into hunting that place.