South Cherokee Harvest Data

[timberjack86]

I confess I probably have yet to graduate from googan-ism, myself. I've only killed birds on private. Still waiting to punch a tag on public.

Love South Cherokee wma, the bird in my avatar came from there. Tough hunting for sure and seldom see a hunter

 

[timberjack86]

Go ride around Chillhowee mountain in Polk and on the bear reserve south of the Ocoee. It gets hunted pretty hard but very few venture more than a mile from the road.

 

[tacotim]

I've been looking through harvest data, looks like there were 185 bucks and only 7 does harvested for this past season out of South Cherokee.

I have never hunted South Cherokee, but why is that data so skewed towards bucks? Am I missing something?

Where do you find the harvest data for the WMA's?

 

[Turkeychaser]

Hunters toolbox on www.tnwildlife.org

 

[redblood]

Definitely. I've spent a ton of time hunting those mountains. Outside of the various trailheads and accesses, it is rare to run into another hunter. It's also possible to not see even a single deer for an entire season. But.... when you do, you'd better be ready. There's a good chance it'll be nice.

Poser used to have some great write-ups about his backcountry hunts there, but they all were wiped out when he got canned.

Which one was poser? Was he one of the west side food snobs? Maybe headed west? Seems there was a joker too.

 

[Rancocas]

There is a volunteer trail maintenance crew that works out of the Tellico Ranger Station. I was a part of it for about 12 years, but I was hit by cancer in 2020; plus just plain getting too darn old, and I lost my strength and stamina and so I had to quit the trail work.

It was hard work sawing fallen trees out of the trails, trimming back overgrown brush, and sometimes digging in the dirt to repair washouts, but I sure did enjoy it, plus I got to hike every trail in the Tellico Ranger District. I got to know that area well.

It is all volunteer work. No pay. In the designated wilderness areas nothing motorized is permitted, not even chainsaws. So, there we used two-man crosscut saws to remove the fallen trees. Some of those trees were near 4 feet in diameter. That is a lot of hand sawing!

After chemo and radiation treatments, in 2021 I was declared cancer free. I'm working out regularly at the YMCA to build my strength and stamina back up. However, since I live near Cleveland, closer to the Ocoee Ranger District than to Tellico, I have been staying down here. I mostly roam between the Hiwassee River and the Georgia State line, mainly south of the Ocoee River. So, if you see an old man hobbling along among the mountains down this way give him a wave; it might be me.

 

[timberjack86]

There is a volunteer trail maintenance crew that works out of the Tellico Ranger Station. I was a part of it for about 12 years, but I was hit by cancer in 2020; plus just plain getting too darn old, and I lost my strength and stamina and so I had to quit the trail work.

It was hard work sawing fallen trees out of the trails, trimming back overgrown brush, and sometimes digging in the dirt to repair washouts, but I sure did enjoy it, plus I got to hike every trail in the Tellico Ranger District. I got to know that area well.

It is all volunteer work. No pay. In the designated wilderness areas nothing motorized is permitted, not even chainsaws. So, there we used two-man crosscut saws to remove the fallen trees. Some of those trees were near 4 feet in diameter. That is a lot of hand sawing!

After chemo and radiation treatments, in 2021 I was declared cancer free. I'm working out regularly at the YMCA to build my strength and stamina back up. However, since I live near Cleveland, closer to the Ocoee Ranger District than to Tellico, I have been staying down here. I mostly roam between the Hiwassee River and the Georgia State line, mainly south of the Ocoee River. So, if you see an old man hobbling along among the mountains down this way give him a wave; it might be me.

Will do, I'm out all the time between the hiwassee and Georgia state line. Good to hear your cancer free.

 

[Antler Daddy]

There is a volunteer trail maintenance crew that works out of the Tellico Ranger Station. I was a part of it for about 12 years, but I was hit by cancer in 2020; plus just plain getting too darn old, and I lost my strength and stamina and so I had to quit the trail work.

It was hard work sawing fallen trees out of the trails, trimming back overgrown brush, and sometimes digging in the dirt to repair washouts, but I sure did enjoy it, plus I got to hike every trail in the Tellico Ranger District. I got to know that area well.

It is all volunteer work. No pay. In the designated wilderness areas nothing motorized is permitted, not even chainsaws. So, there we used two-man crosscut saws to remove the fallen trees. Some of those trees were near 4 feet in diameter. That is a lot of hand sawing!

After chemo and radiation treatments, in 2021 I was declared cancer free. I'm working out regularly at the YMCA to build my strength and stamina back up. However, since I live near Cleveland, closer to the Ocoee Ranger District than to Tellico, I have been staying down here. I mostly roam between the Hiwassee River and the Georgia State line, mainly south of the Ocoee River. So, if you see an old man hobbling along among the mountains down this way give him a wave; it might be me.

Not allowing chainsaws for a maintenance crew....that's just ignorant and serves no purpose.

Glad your healthier now.

 

[Willysman]

Glad you are cancer free. They should have written in exceptions for the wilderness areas. Imo. Surprised they even allow the trails to be maintained.

 

[redblood]

There is a volunteer trail maintenance crew that works out of the Tellico Ranger Station. I was a part of it for about 12 years, but I was hit by cancer in 2020; plus just plain getting too darn old, and I lost my strength and stamina and so I had to quit the trail work.

It was hard work sawing fallen trees out of the trails, trimming back overgrown brush, and sometimes digging in the dirt to repair washouts, but I sure did enjoy it, plus I got to hike every trail in the Tellico Ranger District. I got to know that area well.

It is all volunteer work. No pay. In the designated wilderness areas nothing motorized is permitted, not even chainsaws. So, there we used two-man crosscut saws to remove the fallen trees. Some of those trees were near 4 feet in diameter. That is a lot of hand sawing!

After chemo and radiation treatments, in 2021 I was declared cancer free. I'm working out regularly at the YMCA to build my strength and stamina back up. However, since I live near Cleveland, closer to the Ocoee Ranger District than to Tellico, I have been staying down here. I mostly roam between the Hiwassee River and the Georgia State line, mainly south of the Ocoee River. So, if you see an old man hobbling along among the mountains down this way give him a wave; it might be me.

Awesome news friend

 

[farm208]

Very hard hunting. Not like the bean and corn fields in middle and west Tn. Ocoee is ridge after ridge. If you don't mind climbing hills till you are breathless you can do it. Hunted there since the 70s when Bradley co didn't even have a season. I've taken several but you work for them. The south side of Ocoee is the part so of hwy64 and it's the bear sanctuary. More bear there now than ever and you can't kill them. They need to eliminate this restriction. Been that way for years and it hurts the deer population. You will see lots of bear when deer hunting. Only plus side is you can kill a hog during deer season.

 

[Willysman]

Very hard hunting. Not like the bean and corn fields in middle and west Tn. Ocoee is ridge after ridge. If you don't mind climbing hills till you are breathless you can do it. Hunted there since the 70s when Bradley co didn't even have a season. I've taken several but you work for them. The south side of Ocoee is the part so of hwy64 and it's the bear sanctuary. More bear there now than ever and you can't kill them. They need to eliminate this restriction. Been that way for years and it hurts the deer population. You will see lots of bear when deer hunting. Only plus side is you can kill a hog during deer season.

Agree 100% on being able to kill a bear.

 

[timberjack86]

Agree 100% on being able to kill a bear.

Yep almost Everytime I hunt in there I see a bear. Saw 2 this year that would have been a slam dunk with a bow

 

[CATCHDAWG]

All the TWRA personnel I have spoken with agree that bear reserve is no longer needed. The problem is that it would literally take a act of congress to remove it. It is neither TWRA's or the USFS decision to make. So unfortunately, the reserves probably aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[tacotim]

Very hard hunting. Not like the bean and corn fields in middle and west Tn. Ocoee is ridge after ridge. If you don't mind climbing hills till you are breathless you can do it. Hunted there since the 70s when Bradley co didn't even have a season. I've taken several but you work for them. The south side of Ocoee is the part so of hwy64 and it's the bear sanctuary. More bear there now than ever and you can't kill them. They need to eliminate this restriction. Been that way for years and it hurts the deer population. You will see lots of bear when deer hunting. Only plus side is you can kill a hog during deer season.

Are you referring to the Big Frog and Cohutta Mountains area?

 

[farm208]

Yes. That's what is considered Ocoee.

 

[CATCHDAWG]

Are you referring to the Big Frog and Cohutta Mountains area?

Cohutta is across the line in Georgia. Ocoee is between the Hiawassee river and the state line. Tellico is north of the Hiawassee to the park (or the little T). That's historically speaking. Now it's all called South Cherokee and combined on the season's. They used to be separate and could get pretty confusing, glad they combined them!

 

[farm208]

That's right Cohutta is in Ga. When you go in by Jacks river on the Tn side you come to the bridge below Big Frog . When you cross the bridge you r in Ga. Lots of horseback riding on that side and they even have campground for your horses and stay. Sorry I didn't make this more clearer earlier.

 

[Willysman]

All the TWRA personnel I have spoken with agree that bear reserve is no longer needed. The problem is that it would literally take a act of congress to remove it. It is neither TWRA's or the USFS decision to make. So unfortunately, the reserves probably aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Who created these bear reserves. Wasn't it the TWRA? If not who? Don't understand why it would be hard to reverse it. Is it because of wilderness areas?

 

[Chickencoop96]

All the TWRA personnel I have spoken with agree that bear reserve is no longer needed. The problem is that it would literally take a act of congress to remove it. It is neither TWRA's or the USFS decision to make. So unfortunately, the reserves probably aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

State Organizations and Wildlife Agencies don't get much say about things like that, especially on federal lands