The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission will set the state’s 2016-17 hunting seasons at its May 12-13 meeting. The meeting will be held at the Gossick Leadership Center near Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma.
The meeting will begin on Thursday, May 12 at 1 p.m. with the committee sessions. The formal meeting starts at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 13.
At the TFWC’s April meeting, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency staff presented recommendations for the 2016-17 hunting seasons. For big game hunting seasons, recommendations included changes to the deer antlerless season, deer hunting units, changes to the elk seasons and permits that allow for take on private lands, and lowering the fall turkey bag limits in 18 Middle Tennessee counties.
For TWRA Wildlife Management Areas, the most notable recommendations are establishing seasons for newly proclaimed areas. Exclusive of WMAs, two changes are proposed, one that increases raccoon and opossum hunting opportunities on bear reserves and another that provides expanded raccoon and opossum hunting on private lands only beginning July 1.
Several commissioners made additional recommendations. One would increase the bag limit for the Young Sportsman Turkey Hunt from one bird for the two-day hunt to one bird per day to match the statewide daily bag and provide additional youth opportunity. Another would open the raccoon season on private lands earlier, from July 1 at sunset until sunset the Friday before Thanksgiving (when the regular season opens) and allow one raccoon per party, per night.
The commission asked the agency to redefine antlered bucks. “Antlered deer are male or female deer with antlers protruding above the hairline. Antlerless deer are female or male deer with no antler protruding above the hairline.” The new definition would result in all antlered bucks counting toward a hunter’s annual bag limit of two.
In other agenda items, Chuck Yoest, TWRA Wildlife and Forestry Division assistant chief, will present the Agency’s Chronic Wasting Disease response plan.
The public is invited to attend. To view previous TFWC meetings, visit the TWRA website at www.tnwildlife.org and click on the commission link.