LBL

[KPH]

Well they haven't posted the draw info. witch is normal I called them and they don't know when it will come out. SNAFU

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Yep.

 

[KPH]

Well someone got back to me and said the results would be Saturday. I am trying to plan a long over due vacation around this. We was going out west the year I came down with cancer, the next time we where going the COVID hit so put off another year. Now we found out we can get dirt cheep airplane tickets but we need to know when. I could for go the draw but I have put too many things off too long. I suppose the thing that really get under my skin is they had lost my account and like to never got that straighten out.

 

[scn]

It is certainly a different day over at LBL from what it used to be.

 

[Coker]

LBL is the biggest waste of money. They have definitely been on a downward spiral for the past 15-20 years. its about time some agency took it over and treated it the way it should be and not like a waste land.

 

[woodswise]

So sad to see the general decline of what use to be such a premium place to hunt. Why is it the government can't manage such a fantastic property when there is so much public support? I was there for the very 1st draw deer hunt. You can't imagine the quality and sheer numbers of trophy bucks that were taken on that hunt. The turkey hunting used to be legendary. It's declined steadily and it has to be simply poor management. I can see the eventuality of them turning it into private development for the inability to manage the resource.

 

[RUGER]

I decided to put in for it this year.
I almost wished I hadn't because I know I will get drawn this year.
Almost a waste of time.

 

[TheLBLman]

Why is it the government can't manage such a fantastic property when there is so much public support?

LBL's management has certainly experienced some recent "pitfalls", but let me tell you something major you and most TN sportsmen have missed:

When it comes to hunting, and land management issues favorable to hunting, LBL has experienced more public opposition than support.

LBL is a national recreation area, first & foremost.
To what extent we may call it a wildlife management area, that may be more about non-hunted than hunted species.

The general public seems to "support" managing more to benefit pileated woodpeckers, owls, eagles & other raptors, more so than anything we might want to hunt.

Hunting is merely one of many recreational activities allowed.
That's it.

The sad reality is that most of the "public" does not hunt, and wants the hunting to be more limited on this area, so that it doesn't interfere much at all with other activities the general public deems more valuable than recreational hunting.

Never mind that hunting may interfere very little with other activities in reality. It's more about perception from the mindset of non-hunters.

Albeit somewhat by hook & by crook, the tree-hugging environmental groups seem to have more to do with the overall management of LBL than any hunting or true conservation groups. Add the influence of other organized "recreational" groups (who do not hunt), and our hunting, and land management more beneficial to hunted species, our hunting goes to the back of the bus.

Worse, for us hunters, realistically you should expect more hunting to take the back seat on many WMA's as well, never mind they were originally set up mainly for the benefit of hunting, although that may have been our false assumption.

IMO, the only realistic way of turning this around over time, is to get more women & children into hunting. We hunters are otherwise more a dying breed, and being steadily out-numbered by members of the "public" who place more value on other forms of recreation.

At the present time, don't see much risk of LBL becoming privatized, or sold off.

If you want to hate something, hate politics, career politicians, federal agencies headed by non-hunters, and maybe some left-wing environmental groups which oppose hunting. They may collectively have more to do with LBL's management than LBL's designated "managers",
whose hands are largely tied by these powers that be.

Last but not least, sometimes some hunters are their own worst enemies, as I believe it was some "hunters" who released the pigs at LBL. Those pigs didn't get there on their own, and no one, I mean no one, wants them there, except for hunters who like to hunt pigs more than deer and turkey. So now, LBL's "management" is having to spend some of its limited resources in combating, and attempting to eliminate the feral pigs, which are greatly compromising the habitat for deer & turkey.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

LBL is the biggest waste of money. They have definitely been on a downward spiral for the past 15-20 years. its about time some agency took it over and treated it the way it should be and not like a waste land.

This is what I have been saying for ages!

 

[TheLBLman]

They have definitely been on a downward spiral for the past 15-20 years. its about time some agency took it over and treated it the way it should be and not like a waste land.

We should be careful what we wish for.
With the current administration we have in Washington, the agency most likely to "take over" LBL's management may be the National Park Service.

By the way, same goes for the Big South Fork National Recreation Area straddling the TN-KY line.

 

[KPH]

LBL's management has certainly experienced some recent "pitfalls", but let me tell you something major you and most TN sportsmen have missed:

When it comes to hunting, and land management issues favorable to hunting, LBL has experienced more public opposition than support.

LBL is a national recreation area, first & foremost.
To what extent we may call it a wildlife management area, that may be more about non-hunted than hunted species.

The general public seems to "support" managing more to benefit pileated woodpeckers, owls, eagles & other raptors, more so than anything we might want to hunt.

Hunting is merely one of many recreational activities allowed.
That's it.

The sad reality is that most of the "public" does not hunt, and wants the hunting to be more limited on this area, so that it doesn't interfere much at all with other activities the general public deems more valuable than recreational hunting.

Never mind that hunting may interfere very little with other activities in reality. It's more about perception from the mindset of non-hunters.

Albeit somewhat by hook & by crook, the tree-hugging environmental groups seem to have more to do with the overall management of LBL than any hunting or true conservation groups. Add the influence of other organized "recreational" groups (who do not hunt), and our hunting, and land management more beneficial to hunted species, our hunting goes to the back of the bus.

Worse, for us hunters, realistically you should expect more hunting to take the back seat on many WMA's as well, never mind they were originally set up mainly for the benefit of hunting, although that may have been our false assumption.

IMO, the only realistic way of turning this around over time, is to get more women & children into hunting. We hunters are otherwise more a dying breed, and being steadily out-numbered by members of the "public" who place more value on other forms of recreation.

At the present time, don't see much risk of LBL becoming privatized, or sold off.

If you want to hate something, hate politics, career politicians, federal agencies headed by non-hunters, and maybe some left-wing environmental groups which oppose hunting. They may collectively have more to do with LBL's management than LBL's designated "managers",
whose hands are largely tied by these powers that be.

Last but not least, sometimes some hunters are their own worst enemies, as I believe it was some "hunters" who released the pigs at LBL. Those pigs didn't get there on their own, and no one, I mean no one, wants them there, except for hunters who like to hunt pigs more than deer and turkey. So now, LBL's "management" is having to spend some of its limited resources in combating, and attempting to eliminate the feral pigs, which are greatly compromising the habitat for deer & turkey.

First my complaint was how little help I got when I first tried to log in. I finly keep after them even telling one I wanted to talk to who ever signed her pay check I finly found someone who cared and tried to help. Found out my account had gotten lost along with others. My thought was it shouldn't have happen and once they found out it had some one should have fixed it before I even knew about it. Now I will say the person who was trying to help out with this was good and even called me when it was over to make sure I got logged in. Next the results where suppose to be out yesterday and wasn't, I was then told they would be out Sat. Guess what they came out today I got drawn for the first hunt. I am still considering sending one person a E Mail about how I feel but may not knowing it won't do a bit of good.

 

[spoon]

results are out...got an priority point

 

[SKFOOTER]

1st hunt for me.

 

[flyinpro]

So sad to see the general decline of what use to be such a premium place to hunt. Why is it the government can't manage such a fantastic property when there is so much public support? I was there for the very 1st draw deer hunt. You can't imagine the quality and sheer numbers of trophy bucks that were taken on that hunt. The turkey hunting used to be legendary. It's declined steadily and it has to be simply poor management. I can see the eventuality of them turning it into private development for the inability to manage the resource.

I'm so far off the game but I didn't know when the application date had already come. However, I have heard the place is the poster child for mismanagement

 

[Coker]

I wonder what group spends the most money at LBL?
hunters/conservationist?
environmentalist aka bird watchers, anti hunters, etc?
Recreation groups aka hikers, campers,etc.
other?

 

[medwc]

Anyone been up there turkey hunting or heard anything from anyone that has? I think I will wonder up there this week for the heck of it. Climb some ridges and maybe do some catfishing too.

 

[wkyhunter]

I hunted the second quota. Heard 1 Wed before the rain, 2 Thur (1 was in KY).
I never remember less sign or gobbling.
Hope you have better luck!

 

[TheLBLman]

I hunted the 2nd quota hunt this past Wed & Thurs.
This may very well have been the first time in my decades of hunting LBL that I've actually hunted 2 consecutive days without at least hearing a distant turkey.

I did see a couple birds the first day, neither of which responded to my calling, neither of which made any turkey "sounds". Don't know the sex of either. The 2nd day, I did see a lone hen. I think the seasonably cold, rainy weather was reducing activity, but the main problem is there's just not a good turkey population at LBL any more.

Overall, saw very little turkey sign.
On the plus side, I saw zero sign of pigs, but that's in part because I was running ridges rather than the lower (wetter) areas pigs prefer.

I don't profess to know what's going on with the turkey populations, but we're majorly missing something, or a lot of somethings, and this is not limited to LBL, but the entire state of TN and much of the Southeastern U.S.

I suspect many the same issues that have caused quail to become near extinction, many those issues still unknown, are some of the same issues contributing to declining turkey populations. The only positive is that turkey populations are not as fragile as quail.

I keep mentioning quail because in my youth, there were lots & lots of quail all over LBL and all over most of TN. Bobwhite quail are very much like diminutive turkeys. There was a time when more Tennesseans hunted quail in TN than even hunt turkey today.

Many of the problems being blamed for the turkey declines all across TN and the Southeast are not as much factors at LBL as they're factors elsewhere.
Yet, like most other areas, turkey populations have been on the decline.

 

[medwc]

Thanks guys, sounds like I will be doing a lot of catfishing and just hanging out at the camp fire.

 

[AT Hiker]

I'm done with LBL turkeys for the foreseeable future. My money and time can be better spent elsewhere, it's a shame because I love roaming the big woods.