Interesting article

[JHS76]

But this quote stood out to me.


“I believe those opportunities are going away with this program. I’m an avid waterfowl hunter. I’ve been hunting once for two hours and I used to hunt every single day,” said Powley.

On the video clip he appears to have a dependable boat and motor. I don't know the guy but I'd assume he also has a dependable vehicle.

If he has only been once for two hours...that is a fault of his own. Still plenty of places to free lance hunt across the state on public grounds. He has a whole big TN River in his back yard not to mention plenty of other TVA, TWRA, and other public lands. Does he only know draw blind hunting?

The rest of the article is interesting. That quote just stands out to me as his own fault. I'm still glad I've discovered 999 other options other than draw blinds and blind hopping.

https://fox17.com/newsletter-daily/...say-theyre-ruining-the-sport-middle-tennessee

 

[AppalachianHollers]

Once you’re stuck in a pattern, it’s hard to imagine doing anything else.

In my teen years, my dad and uncle were part of a deer/turkey lease in Lincoln County. Once we left it because the landowner decided to run cattle again, I basically quit hunting all through college. Never even occurred to me that it could be worth hunting public. Even then, what eventually brought me back to hunting was an opportunity to hunt a relative’s land in Virginia. Awareness of public land was still to come.

All of that to say, I hope this guy realizes he’s not done. But if I were in his shoes, I cannot say for certain I’d have been savvy enough to hunt open units.

 

[bill cooksey]

Crispin is a good friend of mine, and we've hunted, and cooperated on many industry projects together over the last 15-20 years. His career is in the fishing industry, and bass are the main focus. He moved back to Camden when he started a family because of the local fishing AND other outdoor opportunities. Fishing and hunting opportunities, other than duck, is about what it's been for much of my life. When he was young, he tried to draw a blind, and he blind jumped when he didn't. As he got older he often signed on for a blind to hunt local and took trips to hunt other places. Then came kids, and he'd hoped to raise them doing what he'd done with an occasional local blind, blind hopping when their school and sport schedules allowed and maybe taking a trip now and again. The odds of an individual drawing a season long blind have never been lower than under the current rules. The best blinds in his region are now not legal to hop, and that takes away one of the main reasons he moved back there to begin with.

He's not done, and now that his kids are old enough he has leased a place in MO to take his kids duck hunting next year. Sadly they won't get the quick morning or afternoon hunts around the kid's schedules he'd shaped his life to enjoy. Also, he won't need to purchase a TN waterfowl permit.

I'll also note the lack of knowledge people who support the new Tier structure have regarding freelance opportunities in West TN is one of my biggest gripes. That's what the first survey should have asked about.

 

[Small Bore Hunter]

Same song second verse. He complains about thanking the tier 2 blinds out of draw and he has no where to hunt. How many blinds are at Camden on regular draw and he is talking about three that he might not get to hunt. I HAVE SAID OVER AND OVER ON A TIER 2 SITE THE HUNTERS WILL NOT LEAVE THE BLIND EARLY OR NOT HUNT ALL OF THE DAYS UNLESS THERE IS A REASON, MAINLY THERE WERE NO DUCKS. He complains that someone left 2 hours early and he could have hunted. Was he sitting in a boat waiting for people to leave all day. How many other blinds at Camden could he have hopped. He is sore that TWRA took some of the best blinds but move on. He did not mention the selling of these good blinds. I do think the 60 day blinds should be an in person draw but I doubt this will return. I know my opinion will chap some peoples a__ but it's my opinion. From wat little I have discovered from hunters of the tier 2 sites, they were satisfied with the system but all said there we few ducks in the area when they were hunting.

 

[riverrat47]

I've got no skin in the game, but I can see where the guy is coming from. On pools in my portion of the Miss, there are 65 permanent blinds, give or take a few. Of those, about 4-6 are killers, another half dozen are decent, a dozen more are OK if there are beaucoup ducks in the area, and the rest are just places to park the boat, hoping that a blind will empty. Now, you take half or more of the killer blinds away from being jumped, and I ain't gonna be out there, at all. In fact, without the chance of jumping a killer or decent blind, I'll bet at least half of the poorer location blinds wouldn't get built.

In over 50 years of hunting this way, I have had exactly ONE minor run in with other hunters, and that would have been avoided had they showed themselves to let me know they were in the blind. Having worked for IDNR, and working closely with Game Wardens from several states, I've noticed that they often sit around dreaming up scenarios of how things COULD go south, then run with it. PLUS, knowing that some are going to try to jump those Tier 2 blinds are going to lead to easy tickets.

I'm going to make a prediction. As it is my understanding that most of the sites, 60 day blinds have big spreads that are left out. Most hunters accessing the Tier 2 blinds are not going to deploy enough decoys to compete with the annuals. Within a couple of years, top blinds that were put in Tier 2 will be bottom feeders, so those promoting that system will grab up the new top blinds to put in Tier 2, to "give everyone an equal opportunity." IMHO, it appears that the leaders aren't smart enough to realize that unless you are there almost every day, you are ALWAYS going to suck hind tit.

Small Bore, as you have been such an ardent defender of the Tier 2 system from the early posts, are you one of the Commissioners?

 

[Small Bore Hunter]

No I am not a commissioner. Just a 71 YO duck hunter that has hunted west TN all my life. I have hunted private a lot of my life mostly thru leases on the Obion river and up until last year in MO. I have hunted Reelfoot off and on most of my life. Went to drawings on Reelfoot almost every year with at least 6 people to sign on. In my younger years out of a Reelfoot lake boat pushed into the grass. This was the time when blind burning was popular on Reelfoot. We drew a 60 day blind on south end of Reelfoot (the first successful draw in 15 years) this season. My hunting partners & I averaged less than 1.5 ducks per day on days we hunted. IMO the tier 2 sites are good for those hunters who do not hunt every day but wish to have some availability to hunt a good site hopefully a couple of times per season. The lottery draw for these blinds gives middle and east TN hunters the same chance this I have for these blinds. Yes including middle and east TN hunter to draw for Region One does decrease my chances for success. In person drawings are better for the local hunters especially since Region One is where the best duck hunting is available. Chances of getting drawn is very slim unless your have a super large party to go in on the draw. I hunted OOS as much as in state this year due to few ducks on south end of lake. Most WMA's in other states don't allow personal full season blinds. Riverrat47 you are right that only a small portion of these blinds at any WMA are actually producers.

 

[JHS76]

Crispin is a good friend of mine, and we've hunted, and cooperated on many industry projects together over the last 15-20 years. His career is in the fishing industry, and bass are the main focus. He moved back to Camden when he started a family because of the local fishing AND other outdoor opportunities. Fishing and hunting opportunities, other than duck, is about what it's been for much of my life. When he was young, he tried to draw a blind, and he blind jumped when he didn't. As he got older he often signed on for a blind to hunt local and took trips to hunt other places. Then came kids, and he'd hoped to raise them doing what he'd done with an occasional local blind, blind hopping when their school and sport schedules allowed and maybe taking a trip now and again. The odds of an individual drawing a season long blind have never been lower than under the current rules. The best blinds in his region are now not legal to hop, and that takes away one of the main reasons he moved back there to begin with.

He's not done, and now that his kids are old enough he has leased a place in MO to take his kids duck hunting next year. Sadly they won't get the quick morning or afternoon hunts around the kid's schedules he'd shaped his life to enjoy. Also, he won't need to purchase a TN waterfowl permit.

I'll also note the lack of knowledge people who support the new Tier structure have regarding freelance opportunities in West TN is one of my biggest gripes. That's what the first survey should have asked about.

I'll gladly admit I do not know the Camden area too well.

Is there no other place on that large river that passes by the town that one can't take a boat of his size and set up for a quick morning or afternoon hunt to fit the schedules? No TVA lands, no boat blind hunting or walk in non blind hunting WMA's? No hunting allowed NWR's?

You personally know the guy. I do not. I'm sure he is an excellent stand up guy. Most outdoorsman are. I support putting the draw like it was in the past. However the interview sounded very dramatic and scripted to sound like accessibility is so horrible now. Talking about going from hunting numerous days and hours to only hunting 2 hours this past season.

Majority of us hunters have jobs and children who have extracurricular activities . We've never drawn a blind and have found ways to hunt more than 2 hours an entire season.

I'm sure he had other life factors that prevented him from hunting more. That happens to majority of us. Blaming the commission is just dramatic IMO and I'm personally against the new system.


This year I can't figure out what is more dramatic. Tennessean's forgetting how to hunt without access to a blind or Arkansans who know no other hunting than an artificial flooded GTR that wasn't artificially flooded due to trying to save trees.

 

[bill cooksey]

I'll gladly admit I do not know the Camden area too well.

Is there no other place on that large river that passes by the town that one can't take a boat of his size and set up for a quick morning or afternoon hunt to fit the schedules? No TVA lands, no boat blind hunting or walk in non blind hunting WMA's? No hunting allowed NWR's?

You personally know the guy. I do not. I'm sure he is an excellent stand up guy. Most outdoorsman are. I support putting the draw like it was in the past. However the interview sounded very dramatic and scripted to sound like accessibility is so horrible now. Talking about going from hunting numerous days and hours to only hunting 2 hours this past season.

Majority of us hunters have jobs and children who have extracurricular activities . We've never drawn a blind and have found ways to hunt more than 2 hours an entire season.

I'm sure he had other life factors that prevented him from hunting more. That happens to majority of us. Blaming the commission is just dramatic IMO and I'm personally against the new system.


This year I can't figure out what is more dramatic. Tennessean's forgetting how to hunt without access to a blind or Arkansans who know no other hunting than an artificial flooded GTR that wasn't artificially flooded due to trying to save trees.

He chose to move his family to Camden partly because he loves hunting the Camden Bottoms. About the time his kids got old enough to take advantage, the rules changed on the best blinds in the area to benefit people who've never even seen the place. I can understand the frustration. I haven't watched the interview, and I havent talked to Crispin since it was done, so I really can't speak to how accurate the final product was. Always a big risk to speak to traditional media about a subject they aren't familiar with.

As to other places, he could hunt just about anywhere on KY Lake. He could also set up in my yard in Jackson with similar expectations. I have a house 20 minutes south of Camden. My wife lives there and would love me to do the same. A big part of my not doing so is the fact the only decent duck hunting available around there is in those WMAs. There are a lot more options within an hour of Jackson.

 

[JHS76]

He chose to move his family to Camden partly because he loves hunting the Camden Bottoms. About the time his kids got old enough to take advantage, the rules changed on the best blinds in the area to benefit people who've never even seen the place. I can understand the frustration. I haven't watched the interview, and I havent talked to Crispin since it was done, so I really can't speak to how accurate the final product was. Always a big risk to speak to traditional media about a subject they aren't familiar with.

As to other places, he could hunt just about anywhere on KY Lake. He could also set up in my yard in Jackson with similar expectations. I have a house 20 minutes south of Camden. My wife lives there and would love me to do the same. A big part of my not doing so is the fact the only decent duck hunting available around there is in those WMAs. There are a lot more options within an hour of Jackson.

All fair answers.

I come close a few years ago of moving close to Colt, AR because I loved the diversity and accessibility of Pine Tree WDA. They almost sold that last year if you remember that controversy. I didn't move close to it but I'd been devastated had they did. Would have been extremely irate if I lived close to it and it would've been sold.

I do understand his frustration, you are use to one thing and then it's totally turned upside down.

 

[JHS76]

No I am not a commissioner. Just a 71 YO duck hunter that has hunted west TN all my life. I have hunted private a lot of my life mostly thru leases on the Obion river and up until last year in MO. I have hunted Reelfoot off and on most of my life. Went to drawings on Reelfoot almost every year with at least 6 people to sign on. In my younger years out of a Reelfoot lake boat pushed into the grass. This was the time when blind burning was popular on Reelfoot. We drew a 60 day blind on south end of Reelfoot (the first successful draw in 15 years) this season. My hunting partners & I averaged less than 1.5 ducks per day on days we hunted. IMO the tier 2 sites are good for those hunters who do not hunt every day but wish to have some availability to hunt a good site hopefully a couple of times per season. The lottery draw for these blinds gives middle and east TN hunters the same chance this I have for these blinds. Yes including middle and east TN hunter to draw for Region One does decrease my chances for success. In person drawings are better for the local hunters especially since Region One is where the best duck hunting is available. Chances of getting drawn is very slim unless your have a super large party to go in on the draw. I hunted OOS as much as in state this year due to few ducks on south end of lake. Most WMA's in other states don't allow personal full season blinds. Riverrat47 you are right that only a small portion of these blinds at any WMA are actually producers.

As in one post, why can't the guy in the interview just find another option instead of making it sound like it's so bad you only got two hours to hunt all season vs finding other options. My reply to your reasoning on middle/east TN opportunities to hunt.

Their are plenty of more options then some tier 2 blind. I mean go to the Upper and/or Lower Hatchie NWR. Go to KY Lake. Go to John Tully. Go to the walk in area at Tigrett. Etc etc etc.

In all of this belly aching the most that has stood out of the east Tennessean's claiming they finally have a fair shot to hunt West TN. They always have. Always will.