I've been hunting TN public Land for a while and can tell you it's going downhill fast. I've ran into more people this yr than ever before. Delaying the opening didn't stop people from other states as I've seen a bunch of them already. I hunt mainly middle TN around Nashville. I've also never seen as many people flying up and down on boats chasing gobbles its ridiculous. I'd say I see 2 boat hunters to every person walking in by foot. I agree with the comment above about some new "cool" factor.
I think the rise in WMA hunting is from two things. The first thing is that so many people post their land and do not allow hunting. In the good old days, most people didn't care. Now it is SO hard to get permission to hunt. I've seen people with a dozen deer in their yard-no hunting allowed. They don't realize that their property is out of balance. It is even hard to find a place to hunt squirrels! That used to be the big thing when I was a kid. I LOVED the first day of squirrel season!
The second thing is the rise of the hunting lease and paying to hunt. It is becoming a rich man's game in many ways. Now not only do you have to have all of the stuff to hunt, you need to have several hundred more dollars to get on a lease. I've paid to hunt a few times and don't object to it, but then again I am old and have money. The young me could never have afforded to do that.
You may even throw a little shade on all of the articles on public land hunting and television shows. There used to be a few shows that were only filmed on public land.
What I would like to see in Tennessee is a "Walk In" property system like in Kansas. It works out there, and the landowner gets some compensation for doing it, even if it is just a tax write off.
So my advice is that you will just have to tolerate the antics on public land or pay or get permission to be on private land. Let's also hope that forums like this one will educate people on how to act when they are around other hunters.
