Late-season small-game hunting opportunities in Tennessee show some striking similarities across the state, despite the vast habitat differences.

First, the status of a prime small-game species, the squirrel, is excellent. In addition, while rabbit populations are not quite as stable as squirrels, there are enough of them across the state to provide good hunting.

Roger Applegate, Small Game Coordinator for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), said that overall these two species are doing well on a statewide basis.

"Actually, both squirrels and rabbits are doing quite well and both species could actually handle more hunting pressure than they're receiving now," Applegate said. "Both species potentially offer plenty of hunting action and are great ways to introduce youth to the sport of hunting. Particularly on squirrels, I'd say we have areas that are simply under-utilized. That may surprise some, but those enjoying these hunting resources generally have plenty of room in terms of competition from other hunters."

Applegate said that another trend statewide is the lack of quality quail hunting.

"There are isolated pockets of good quail populations, but overall, the basic habitat requirements on a large scale are missing," he said. "It is an issue we are aware of and addressing."

When looking at the overall picture on a region-by-region scale, the local wildlife mangers are able to put some specific local trends into the mix. Plus, they have excellent suggestions for specific wildlife management areas to focus your hunting effort for specific species.

REGION I
In the West Tennessee area of Region I, Jim Hamlington, the TWRA Small Game Coordinator for Region I, said the status of both squirrels and rabbits is good.

"The squirrel population took a beating from the late spring freeze a couple years ago," Hamlington said. "However, the numbers have rebounded and are increasing this year. The negative impact of that freeze was destroying the mast crop for that year. That hurt the short-term squirrel population, but they've rebounded very quickly," Hamlington said. "Overall, the rabbits are doing well. However, the habitat requirements are more critical in one sense in that the good huntable populations of rabbits are more scattered than the squirrels."

Hamlington said the rabbits need plenty of heavy cover to thrive anywhere in the state.

"But the good news is there are good pockets of rabbit-hunting territory in our portion of the state for rabbits," he said. "A prime place would be three- to five-year-old cut­overs from pine forests. This would be about prime re-growth for providing great rabbit habitat. There are some areas where hunters will be able to find this situation on some of our WMAs.

"A couple that I'd suggest would be John Tully and the Wolfs River WMAs. At John Tully, there should be a good number of swamp rabbits. At the White Oak WMA in Hardin County, there should be good numbers of both swamp and hill rabbits in the appropriate areas. Of course, all along the Tennessee River bottom you'll find areas where the habitat is ideal for good rabbit hunting. There are areas there that have outstanding hardwood bottoms and drains that provide ideal habitat for squirrels as well."

Hamlington added that the Natchez Trace and Chickasaw state forests both have the type habitat he described as being excellent for rabbits right now. He said that hunters will need to scout the area to find these places, but they should provide good opportunities.

As for squirrels, Hamlington said the population in Region I is very good and the hardwood stands that support high squirrel populations are more widespread and abundant than good rabbit habitat.