12 Bowhunting days removed from Season in TN/KY Rec. Area

[BobinTN]

Hey outthere;

If any of you guys have heard of Land Between the Lakes in TN/KY border, it is 45 miles long and approximately 4 miles wide of hunting heaven.  It is managed by the USDA Forest Service.

The bow season used to run from the last weekend in September to the 3rd Monday in January.  Except for 3 weekend gunhunts.  The day before each gun hunt was a no-hunting day.  This season, with no public notice, the 1-day no bowhunting day before the weekend gun hunt was extended to a 5-day no bowhunting before a weeknd gun hunt.

The reasoning is explained below in a summation of my conversation with a LBL biologist (written by me and edited by him).

My talk with Steve Bloemer.  Lead LBL Biologist

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 12noon to 1PM

I finally got to talk with Steve Bloemer.  He is the lead LBL Biologist and one of the driving factors of the change in the LBL bowhunter hunting seasons.

He seems to be a good fellow, not jaded or lackadaisical in his manner of defending LBL bowhunting season decisions.

Mr. Bloemer stated that with the changes in LBL management (TVA to USDA Forest Service) and having to develop a new area plan and accompanying environmental assessments has led to delays in modernizing the LBL Quota Hunt process (e.g. online applications) along with managing the seasons.

Mr. Bloemer stated that public notification was done during development of the area plan in LBL publications and local papers of record where LBL is required to post such public notifications (though the public notices were not specific to hunting seasons, but stating that the ‘LBL Land & Resource Management Plan was open for public review).  Also LBL’s 2007-2008 Deer Hunting Information Sheet under “New for 2007” stated that the Forest Service was conducting a hunting program review including evaluation of QDM, crossbows, quota hunts and current season structures, and invited hunter comments.  

Several changes were made to deer hunting as a result of the program review, including an LBL-wide one buck bag limit, all either-sex permits for quota hunts (past hunts had many buck-only permits), legalizing crossbows for a portion of LBL’s archery seasons in KY, and extending the one day closure before quota hunts to 5 days to allow a rest period between hunts (it’s actually 4 days if the quota hunt begins on Friday rather than Saturday).  

According to Mr. Bloemer a number of factors led to the 5-day no hunting prior to a quota hunt decision.

1.   Historically on LBL, archery seasons closed ahead of gun hunts and remained closed until December.  Several years after liberalizing archery seasons right up to the day before each gun hunt and extending into January, gun hunters began reporting seeing fewer deer, even though the deer sign was often there.  This was especially a concern during youth hunts, with some youth hunting the weekend and not even seeing a deer.  The nature of the gun hunts being 2 days long and the nature of many gun hunters not to go too far off the beaten path has lead to concern that the bowhunting pressure has driven the deer to change their patterns to the point that our young future hunters are finding it too hard to even see a deer let alone shoot it.  This is a special concern of the biologists for they want hunting to flourish in our youth.
2.   Some deer were not getting an opportunity to breed during the first rut cycle in November.  Biologists have been seeing more late born fawns leading to lower deer weights.  This is likely due in large part to the buck/doe ratio, and led to the change to all either-sex permits for quota hunts.  However, the bowhunting season starting the last weekend in September and ending the third Monday in January could be a contributor due to continued hunting pressure through the entire period.  
3.   Some quota hunt hunters have complained that the bowhunters have taken up many of the good hunting locations (vehicles parked along access points, stands left in the woods) during the week before the quota hunt so the quota hunt hunters cannot properly scout and put up deer stands before their hunting weekend.  Quota hunters have also commented that they have only two days for their LBL hunt while bowhunters have four months.


The flow of the decision making process appears to be as follows:

1.   A ‘LBL Hunting Review Team’ (this is a new group, which was formed to get more input on LBL hunts) presently made up of LBL staff (biologists, law enforcement, recreation, and environmental education) evaluates public and hunter input and makes season recommendations.
2.   The recommendations are reviewed by the ‘LBL Leadership Team’ that is made up of different LBL Department Managers.
3.   The hunting recommendations for TN are passed on to the state of TN TWRA Biologist Review Board.
4.   Then are voted/approved by the TWRA Hunting Review folks.


The Forest Service supports hunting, and is trying to balance the needs and desires of all hunters, along with all the other outdoor recreationists who use LBL.  
The Forest Service wants your input on LBL hunts.  You can go the LBL website at  www.lbl.org  for more information (hunting is under “Recreation”), and make comments (go to Sitemap/Contact Us).    


I am trying to get some unbiased opinions.  Since this greatly effects my hunting because I live close, my opinion may be biased. But the 12 extra days are right around and in the rutting periods which makes these 12 days valuable.