Region III
Ben Layton, one of Tennessee’s most noted big-game biologists now working in Region III, said the best WMA for killing a mature buck (defined as those 2 1/2 years old or older) is undoubtedly the Catoosa WMA. He added that since the Quality Deer Management (QDM) program started on the area in 1998, one of the goals of the program was to harvest over 200 adult bucks. In the 2006 season, Catoosa hunters harvested 222 bucks 2 1/2 years old or older and for the first time broke the 200-buck barrier in that category.

As far as a Region III WMA that has an increasing deer herd, Layton said most of the WMAs have deer herds that are relatively stable. Catoosa is showing some growth, but it is slow. The main attraction for Catoosa, however, is the population of older bucks rather than the density of the deer population as a whole.

On the other hand, Layton said the agency is trying to decrease the number of deer on the Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant in Chattanooga. The area has two quota archery hunts, but those may be expanded to increase the harvest. He said some good bucks have been seen on this area, but none greater than 120-inch-class bucks have been harvested.

Another WMA that produces good bucks and is “under harvested” is Fall Creek Falls WMA. Layton said this WMA is open for one quota hunt and one non-quota hunt in November around the time of the statewide muzzleloader hunt. Both of these hunts are archery only. Most years, at least one Pope and Young buck is taken off this area.

As for just killing a deer for the freezer, probably the best in the region would be the Oak Ridge WMA. This area has quota archery and quota gun hunts. Higher deer populations are found in the archery areas than the gun areas. The archery areas are designated as archery-only due to safety concerns over using guns in these sensitive regions. Layton said a hunter wanting to see a good number of deer would be best served by applying for hunts in the archery areas. Oak Ridge also has a good population of older aged bucks due to the combination of the QDM program in place and the lack of hunting pressure in some of the archery areas.

Layton said if he had to pick a WMA for himself to hunt, he would pick Oak Ridge for the deer numbers and the chance of killing a mature buck. His second choice would be the VAAP because of deer numbers. This area has a denser deer herd than Oak Ridge, and there are some good bucks there also. Region IV

TWRA’s Region IV deer biologist Dan Gibbs said if you’re looking for a WMA that stands far above the rest, you might have to look outside of as well as within Region IV. However, it all depends on what you want out of a hunt.

If your goal is just to see deer, Gibbs said he would consider hunts at Chuck Swan or Cheatham WMAs. These two areas have traditionally been high-harvest WMAs and have the reputations of being good places to see many deer while hunting.

Gibbs has also seen really nice deer come out of Campbell and Anderson counties in Region IV (Royal Blue/Sundquist WMAs) the last couple of years.

He said if you’re looking for an older buck, then Oak Ridge and Catoosa are places to consider. At these highly productive WMAs, antler restrictions have been able to protect a large number of 1-year-old deer: About 60 to 70 percent of the deer taken here are 2-year-olds, and 15 to 20 percent are 3-year-olds in any given year.

In Region IV, a WMA that’s on the comeback trail is Chuck Swan. Legendary in its heyday, this WMA was once a top destination and is now making its way back to its once lofty status. Gibbs said there were over 400 deer taken at Chuck Swan during last season’s hunts, and the harvest figures for Chuck Swan are definitely on the increase. Gibbs noted that while recent harvest numbers don’t rival those from the late ‘80s, they are much better than the WMA saw in the last decade, when the harvest had fallen well below 300 deer per year.