Photo by Ralph Hensley.

Tennessee residents now have available to them many different ways of entering all kinds of lotteries.

The lottery we’re going to talk about -- Tennessee’s deer draw hunt lottery -- won’t make you a millionaire. However, it might just get you out on a productive deer hunt, and there are much worse things than that. Also, your odds are quite a bit better of getting drawn to a successful draw hunt for deer in Tennessee than the odds are that you’ll win a million bucks in the other kind of lottery.

LOOKING BACK AT LAST SEASON
The participation in Tennessee’s draw hunts from the TWRA to federal lands may not be up, but the success is definitely on the rise. TWRA’s big-game coordinator Daryl Ratajczak said last year’s new online registration program for applying for draw hunts had a tremendous effect on participation. He said the agency saw a significant drop in applications, but they expect to see a rebound this year.

Despite the drop, the number of deer taken on draw hunts and WMA hunts overall was up in 2006, with 7,158 deer killed. That’s a decent increase over the 6,653 deer taken on management hunts in 2005. Before the 2005 seasons, the WMA harvest has not been over 6,000 deer since the year 2000. Also, Tennessee hunters had not breached the 7,000 deer harvest mark since the mid-1990s. Let’s look closer at where the increases are coming from and what can be expected in 2007.

Some draw hunts in Tennessee are just simply popular; some have legend and history behind them; and then there are those up-and-coming areas that you don’t need to overlook. It’s no secret that Presidents Island is the top draw hunt in Tennessee. The bucks found there are truly trophy-class, and for hunters successfully drawn on a Presidents Island hunt, the odds that they will kill a trophy buck are orders of magnitude better than the odds on any other public land hunt in the state.

Even so, many other public-land areas in Tennessee offer many opportunities for decent deer, as well as a much better chance of actually being drawn for a hunt.

Ratajczak said management areas like the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and Land Between The Lakes (LBL) are still quality places to take a good buck as well as top draw overall. Bigger bucks are going to be found at areas like Catoosa, Oak Ridge, and of course, Presidents Island. Ratajczak said it’s just a matter of deciding what you want to hunt.

If you want to see more deer and aren’t worried about whether they’re sporting horns or not, Ratajczak said AEDC in Region II and Chuck Swan in Region IV are good options. AEDC’s reputation is well known among hunters and Chuck Swan has a rich history. AEDC remains strong and Chuck Swan is on the rebound. Ratajczak said Chuck Swan is still a quantity destination for hunters in East Tennessee for seeing deer. AEDC and Chuck Swan still produce some pretty decent bucks for those willing to put their applications in the draw hunts there.

And, of course, there are still the popular draw hunts at Fort Campbell. This military installation is known for its fighting men first and its deer population next. Ratajczak said Fort Campbell opportunities for Tennessee hunters are good because it lies along the Kentucky border. The soils there are relatively rich and help produce big, healthy deer. Many of the bucks taken there are young deer that are just simply bigger at an early age than those found elsewhere.