Oak Ridge Quota

[Buck_West]

Anybody else hunting this weekend? My first time here and couldn't make the scout trip, yet to see a deer. Any help would be great.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

I see most of the deer in the badged areas lim


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Buck_West]

I don't think I will pass as 5'2, 115lbs and female or I would just take my wife's in the morning.

 

[SES]

22 checked out yesterday, 9 checked out as of 3:00 today. Mark my words, IF Oak Ridge has a hunt next year, it will be a lot lower quota amount and buck only. I was out there scout day and all this weekend. I was on my feet walking most of the time. Saw no sign of deer anywhere, except for one set of tracks on a power line trail.

 

[Buck_West]

Killed 2 does this morning and called it a hunt. I didnt really find anywhere I would even hunt based on sign on private property and these were the only 2 deer I saw. Apparently they want all deer gone from the highways was the vibe I got.

 

[jb357]

22 checked out yesterday, 9 checked out as of 3:00 today. Mark my words, IF Oak Ridge has a hunt next year, it will be a lot lower quota amount and buck only. I was out there scout day and all this weekend. I was on my feet walking most of the time. Saw no sign of deer anywhere, except for one set of tracks on a power line trail.

Nope. They want them gone

 

[Winchester]

Exactly, mission accomplished if the deer were virtually gone off the area, as the ONLY reason DOE spends the money to have these hunts is to LOWER the population as much as possible.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

2016 - First Hunt
59 Antlered deer
3 Antlerless bucks
33 Does
95 Total deer killed

2017 - First Hunt
5 Antlered deer
5 Antlerless bucks
21 Does
31 Total deer killed

Data from Hunters Toolbox

 

[TheLBLman]

Mark my words, IF Oak Ridge has a hunt next year, it will be a lot lower quota amount and buck only.

Mark my words, ain't going to happen.

However, you may see a total elimination of the OR hunts being made available to the general public.
Instead, it may be more "politically correct" to have government employed "sharpshooters" decimating the deer there year round.
They do this at night, over bait, using small-caliber suppressed rifles.

Don't blame this on TWRA, as it's more a federal government "control" issue, and most these people in charge are not hunters, but have been willing to "use" hunters up to a point. They are generally not "hunter-friendly" people, and many would actually be pleasantly amused that you "hunted" on the land they control, and simply wasted your time. This situation contrasts very differently than what we might see on most TWRA-controlled WMAs.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

I don't get why some feel that DOE is so hunter unfriendly. Not my experience with the DOE folks that handle this at all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SES]

Mark my words, IF Oak Ridge has a hunt next year, it will be a lot lower quota amount and buck only.

Mark my words, ain't going to happen.

However, you may see a total elimination of the OR hunts being made available to the general public.
Instead, it may be more "politically correct" to have government employed "sharpshooters" decimating the deer there year round.
They do this at night, over bait, using small-caliber suppressed rifles.

Don't blame this on TWRA, as it's more a federal government "control" issue, and most these people in charge are not hunters, but have been willing to "use" hunters up to a point. They are generally not "hunter-friendly" people, and many would actually be pleasantly amused that you "hunted" on the land they control, and simply wasted your time. This situation contrasts very differently than what we might see on most TWRA-controlled WMAs.

I thought they might not have a hunt there next year that's why I put a big "IF" in there. From the letter I have that came with my permit, the land is a TWRA controlled WMA. I know TWRA does what there told on the Ridge, and National Security trumps deer hunting, but Aubrey Deck, WMA Manager, stated in the letter I received that the doe harvest changes that were made should significantly improve the quality of the hunt and the overall health of the deer herd. Also quota numbers will be adjusted determined by hunter success and doe harvest rates. 31 deer out of 450 hunters is a success rate of 6.8%. Hunts will be cut way back or done away with.

 

[Winchester]

Mark my words, IF Oak Ridge has a hunt next year, it will be a lot lower quota amount and buck only.

Mark my words, ain't going to happen.

However, you may see a total elimination of the OR hunts being made available to the general public.
Instead, it may be more "politically correct" to have government employed "sharpshooters" decimating the deer there year round.
They do this at night, over bait, using small-caliber suppressed rifles.

Don't blame this on TWRA, as it's more a federal government "control" issue, and most these people in charge are not hunters, but have been willing to "use" hunters up to a point. They are generally not "hunter-friendly" people, and many would actually be pleasantly amused that you "hunted" on the land they control, and simply wasted your time. This situation contrasts very differently than what we might see on most TWRA-controlled WMAs.

I thought they might not have a hunt there next year that's why I put a big "IF" in there. From the letter I have that came with my permit, the land is a TWRA controlled WMA. I know TWRA does what there told on the Ridge, and National Security trumps deer hunting, but Aubrey Deck, WMA Manager, stated in the letter I received that the doe harvest changes that were made should significantly improve the quality of the hunt and the overall health of the deer herd. Also quota numbers will be adjusted determined by hunter success and doe harvest rates. 31 deer out of 450 hunters is a success rate of 6.8%. Hunts will be cut way back or done away with.

Just the opposite is more likely! DOE does appear so far to actually be pretty hunter friendly, that said it costs them a lot to have these hunts as security is beefed way up with lots of overtime being paid to the guards. So far DOE has been content to let TWRA manage the hunts, and try to keep the population as a whole low enough to keep car collisions down, which is 99% of the reason these hunts even exist. The weather this wknd is why the #'s are so terrible, look for the kill #'s to triple this wknd if the forecast holds.
I may be wrong but I dont think DOE is to the point of hiring and paying to Q clear enough Professional hunters to kill these deer. It may come to that but I think they plan to at least try the antlerless only and larger quotas first.
They def wont just cancel the hunts without a plan in place to keep the deer Population down.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Your right Winchester. The odds of DOE incurring more cost on that are so so slim. Let's just try to keep accidents and security issues to a minimum and not make the hunts a liability for DOE. Like I've said before, I'll eventually be over the hunts on the reservation from the DOE side and it'll all be ok.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mattmillard510]

Does Oak Ridge think they got hit with any EHD being so close to the river? Those kill totals are unbelievably low. Which I understand that buck tags were cut in half


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Does Oak Ridge think they got hit with any EHD being so close to the river? Those kill totals are unbelievably low. Which I understand that buck tags were cut in half


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

yes multiple dead deer were found around Melton Hill.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mattmillard510]

Does Oak Ridge think they got hit with any EHD being so close to the river? Those kill totals are unbelievably low. Which I understand that buck tags were cut in half


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

yes multiple dead deer were found around Melton Hill.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Interesting


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SilverFox]

I found one in my yard with no visible trauma like from a vehicle. I don't know if it was EHD or not. She was a little bloated as I'm guessing she was there a day to a day and a half. I'm on the west side of Oak Ridge near the gun range. I also heard stories of a bunch being found in the lake and ponds in this area. TWRA said they had too many calls to come check every deer.

 

[Winchester]

Yea several reported dead on ORWMA but river has nothing to do with it except easy to find them there. Its all over the area not just along river.