LBL Quota Hunt question

[BULL MOOSE]

Maybe it is just me, but the LBL quota hunt application is a bit confusing. There is a ML hunt listed for Area 11. I assume they are simply emphasizing that Area 11 is muzzleloader only and that you must draw a permit? Why is the area ML only...for safety or experience? Are there bigger deer in that area?

Conventional Gun-Nov. 14 - 15 (Fri, Sat) 920
Area 11 Muzzleloader
Either Sex

Muzzleloader-M Nov. 14 - 15 (Fri, Sat) 80
Area 11
Either Sex

 

[TheLBLman]

Conventional Gun-Nov. 14 - 15 (Fri, Sat) 920
Area 11 Muzzleloader
Either Sex

Above is a misprint ---- someone at LBL screwed up.
They should have simply not mentioned (2nd line) anything about muzzleloader or Area 11.
Below is correct.

Muzzleloader-M Nov. 14 - 15 (Fri, Sat) 80
Area 11
Either Sex

At some point many decades ago, a group of true muzzleloader enthusiasts (something that hardly exists today) talked LBL into having a "special weapons" area just for them, so that they didn't have to mix in with those hunting with modern rifles. I have friends that use to go on the LBL "muzzleloader hunt" wearing traditional buckskins and using their flintlock rifles.

It never had anything to do with deer management or safety, and everything to do with a special interest in particular antique weapons. Why they still have those muzzleloader-only hunts is somewhat a mystery, since they are not in addition to anything, and coincide with with all the modern "rifle" hunts.

 

[TheLBLman]

I assume they are simply emphasizing that Area 11 is muzzleloader only and that you must draw a permit?

Somewhat correct. For the 1st quota gun hunt each year, Area 11 is muzzleloader only. For the 2nd quota gun hunt each year, Area 12 is muzzleloader only, while Area 11 becomes part of the "any gun" areas. (During the 1st quota gun hunt, Area 12 is part of the "any gun" areas).

To gun hunt anywhere on LBL, you must be drawn per a quota hunt. It's just that some areas are sometimes limited to muzzleloaders only, while most areas are not.

Are there bigger deer in that area?

Any differences from one area to another are negligible. All the areas have shoreline with either the Tennessee River or the Cumberland River, and all the areas are more similar than different.

The best areas are whichever areas you have spent the most time in and know best.

Everything stated above is regarding the TN portion of LBL.

For larger antlered bucks, I believe the KY portion of LBL offers a little better opportunity. Am saying this mainly because there is only one (1) single quota gun hunt on the KY portion, while there are two (2) quota gun hunts on the TN portion. In essence, there is about twice as much gun hunting on the TN portion of LBL as the KY portion.

That said, I believe opportunities are pretty much the same from one hunt compartment of LBL to another, assuming you're comparing TN compartments to TN compartments, and KY compartments to KY compartments.

Kentucky's Area 8 is muzzleloader only during their single annual quota gun hunt.

Because gun hunting opportunities are so limited on both the TN & KY portions, LBL is mainly a bowhunting opportunity, as most of LBL is open to archery hunting simply by purchasing the appropriate hunter/user permits. For older bucks, I believe the odds are in favor of the archery hunters who hunt near and in the safety zones (scattered all over LBL) rather than in any particular hunt compartment. Many of the safety zones are open within to archery-only hunting in December.

One thing that's gotten a few LBL hunters in trouble recently:
LBL has a 1-buck limit, period.
If you kill a buck while bowhunting there in October, and are drawn for a gun hunt in November, your gun hunt is "antlerless only" even though your quota hunt gun permit says "either-sex".

 

[Roost 1]

But you forgot to mention.....there aren't any deer in LBL..

 

[TheLBLman]

Oh, yes, there are very few deer on the KY side of LBL. There are so few deer on the KY side, they only let the hunters gun hunt a single weekend.

Even the whole state of KY only has a 1-buck limit. And those jokers have now imposed their 1-buck limit on the all of LBL. Can't figure out why anyone would want to go hunt in KY.

 

[Boone 58]

 

[BULL MOOSE]

thanks!