The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has been informed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that the deer hunts scheduled Oct. 20-21, have been cancelled at the Oak Ridge Wildlife Management Area.
The cancellation comes as a result of a security breach that occurred in July at the Y-12 facility and the ongoing safety and security evaluation on the Oak Ridge Reservation. The cancellation just applies to the Oct. 20-21 hunts. The November and December 2012 Oak Ridge deer hunts will continue as scheduled.
The DOE has been conducting the evaluation since the July incident. The decision to cancel the hunts was recently made and the TWRA received notification on Sept. 28.
With the cancellation of the October Oak Ridge WMA deer hunts, the TWRA will refund the money to all impacted hunters who paid an application fee for the quota hunt and award the impacted individual one additional priority point to his/her total. The additional priority point will be added to any priority point held prior to the 2012 WMA Quota Hunt Drawing. All hunters who are affected by the October cancellation will be receiving official notice by mail.
For any additional questions concerning the cancellation, contact the Oak Ridge Reservation Wildlife Management Coordinator at 865 241-9421 or the TWRA Region III Office at 931 484-9571 during regular business hours. In addition, the TWRA can be contacted at the Oak Ridge Check Station on Saturday, Oct. 6 from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. (EDT) at 865 576-2380. For questions regarding the priority point total and/or permit fee refund, contact the TWRA Quota Hunt office at 615 781-6621.