The sixth place spot is going to have to be shared by Catoosa’s and Chuck Swan, both of which produced 345 deer for hunters. The Tennessee NWR deer harvest was down slightly again in 2008, but hunters there were able to maintain their hold on the eighth spot among WMAs with a deer harvest of 311 whitetails. Eagle Creek and Cross Creeks NWR fought it out as usual for the last two spots in the top public land hunts. In 2008, hunters at Eagle Creek took 248 deer while hunters at Cross Creeks harvested 228 for the final spot among the top 10.

The 2007 WMA harvest of 5,983 deer was well below the 2006 harvest of 7,156 whitetails, but the good news is that after only one season following the biggest EHD outbreak in a hundred years, deer hunting on public lands bounced back with a total harvest of 6,272 deer in 2008.

The top 10 remained relatively unchanged other than a few areas that flip-flopped positions. Oak Ridge made the biggest move from sixth place in 2007 to the fourth spot in 2008. LBL fell from first in 2007 to third in 2008 while Fort Campbell moved up one spot, as did AEDC (moving from third to second). Other than that, the rest of the top 10 WMA hunts remained basically the same from 2007 to 2008.

The role of public lands in deer hunting has changed over time. Early on in the modern deer restoration program, a high percentage of the deer in the state were on public lands. Thus, if you wanted to hunt deer, you were likely to be dependant on public land. Obviously, for most hunters, that has changed; the vast majority of deer killed nowadays are taken on private land.

However, Ratajczak said the Agency is pleased that the WMA system gives hunters places to go and opportunities to deer hunt that those hunters might not otherwise have. Biologists are also quite pleased with the WMA harvests considering that the WMA system as a whole is not experiencing as much as hunting pressure as it did in the past.

Ratajczak also said to keep in mind that many smaller WMAs are lessening their restrictions this year by allowing hunting openings that will be similar, if not identical, to statewide seasons and limits. Be sure to double-check this year’s hunting guide for locations near you with increased opportunities.

TOP COUNTIES BY HARVEST PER SQUARE MILE
All other things being equal, the bigger a county is the higher the deer harvest it will have. But for an individual hunter sitting in a deer stand and hoping to fill a tag, the most important question is not how many deer are killed in the large county he’s hunting in, but rather how dense the deer herd is in the area he’s hunting now.

In other words, if you’re trying to put some venison in the cooler, deer density where you hunt is more important than the size of the county you’re hunting in.