Hunting Areas

rschuster54303` · Post by **rschuster54303`** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 8:52 am

Hi All,

I have to drive to Tennessee to make a pick up. I am thinking about hunting while I am down there or at the very least hunting on the way back.

My question is has anyone hunted Tennessee, Kentucky or Missouri? Being from Wisconsin my normal areas to hunt are North and South Dakota, Iowa and even Montana, so this area is all new to me. I would be looking for public land so any information on that would be helpful.

I know this seems open ended but I had planned on just heading to Iowa on my way back and hunting there, but I figured I was so far south I would ask others for some advise.

Regards,

Rob

Post by **Greg Jennings** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 9:42 am

Lots more public land in MO. Better quail population.

My suggestion is to hunt quail on the public lands in MO, then wander up to IA to hunt ditch parrots.

The non-resident hunting licenses are very reasonable in MO. IA doesn't sell a short term one. It's all season or nothing.

Best,

rschuster54303` · Post by **rschuster54303`** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 10:36 am

Do you happen to have a link to public land maps in MO?

I looked at their website and could not even find any hunting information.

Thanks,

Rob

Wagonmaster · Post by **Wagonmaster** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 1:03 pm

some states have a Department of Natural Resources, which has nothing to do with hunting. in most states it is called Department of Game and Fish. in our state, MN, we have no "Department of Game and Fish," we have a DNR. so it depends on what you call it. What i do, is perform a google search on "[name of state] game fish" (without the quotation marks). seems to work everytime, regardless of the name of the department in the particular state.

rschuster54303` · Post by **rschuster54303`** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 8:59 pm

Hey Greg,

I was reading about Missouri quail population and the raod survey didn't look so hot. Have you been out hunting quail in Missouri this year?

BTW thanks all for the tips.

Regards,

Rob

Birdhunter1 · Post by **Birdhunter1** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 12:27 am

You're more than welcome to stop by here in Southern IL. Where are you headed to in Tennessee, cahnces are you'll pass through very close to where I am located.

rschuster54303` · Post by **rschuster54303`** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:46 am

I am driving to either Nashville, or Knoxville, we havn't decided yet. i am cordinating this with a guy from Florida.

If there much hunting around you BridHunter1?

Regards,

Rob

QCBirddogs · Post by **QCBirddogs** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 10:19 pm

You are welcome to swing over a bit more west if you want as well. Oklahoma seasosn starts this Sat, and our bird populations looks good!

Phil
REO

Post by **Greg Jennings** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:09 am

It's been two years since I quail hunted in MO. My V's breeder was a wildlife biologist there and pointed me to some good places when I was up there visiting.

I'm originally from the Nashville area and am back there every other month or so. The bird population there is abysmal and there are few public lands to hunt on.

Now, Knoxville and Nashville are worlds apart. You might be able to find some grouse hunting in East TN. But I don't know diddly about it.

If you've got time, I'd recommend visiting Phil in OK. If I wasn't tied up for family health reasons, I'd already have planned a visit.

Best,

rschuster54303` · Post by **rschuster54303`** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:47 pm

I really appreciate the offer Phil, but my father is joining me and the idea of 12 hours to Nashville, and the another 11 hours to Perry would just be to much driving for us. I may take you up on you offer later this year or early next year though

How late does the quail season run in OK? Any snakes this time of year?

Pleasant Ridge · Post by **Pleasant Ridge** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 8:26 pm

Dependening on where in Tn. that you end up will decide where and what you will hunt. If you traverse through the Knoxville area, you will find Big South Fork N.P. located about 40 mi. north of Knoxville off of I-75. The forest will take in both TN. and Kentucky.
The terrain is rough to say the least and you will be hard pressed to get much more than .50 flushes per hour with good dog work. However it is a beautiful place to see. If you do a google search you will find out alot about Big south fork. You may also want to check into Tackett creek WMA and Royoal Blue WMA, which are located in the same general area. If going to the Nashville area you will want to check into some paper company land and some smaller WMA's as well for Quail hunting( grouse hunting is closed west of I-65 I think).
If you happen to come North east part of the stat you will find hundreds of thousands of acres to grouse hunt.
Hope this helps

QCBirddogs · Post by **QCBirddogs** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 6:36 am

RS,

You are welcome to stop in whenever you can!

Our season for Quail ends on Feb 15. In our area I have seen 3 snakes in two years. Where I hunt up north they are pretty prevalent in the early part of the season. Although, I haven't seen one personally.

If you are worried, we could get ya some snake vaccine prior to coming out.

Phil
REO

tnduxcaller · Post by **tnduxcaller** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 11:13 am

Call me. I live 45mi. from Nashville and mostly private land hunt. If the timing is right, I will take you. My cell is 615-542-9131. The cell is free on weekends. I will be out tomorrow. Opening weekend here. Leave a message if I don't answer. It ain't OK or TX but there are a few birds if you know where to go. Forget public around here. Some decent. Most not. Have a great weekend. tnduxcaller

rschuster54303` · Post by **rschuster54303`** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 1:16 pm

Phil,
This fall we encountered 2 rattlers in western ND. The first one was just a young one that had yet to grow a rattle. The second one was much more interesting. As my dog went in on an odd point the crept in a bit, as i was about to yell, the dog jumped about 4 feet in the air. I yelled and the dog came to me, I check him over and he was fine but when I went to see what he was pointing I saw about 6 feet of a rattler that was still comming out of a gopher hole. Needless to say we were done hunting at that spot for the day.

Tnduxcaller:

Thanks for the offer, I think we have planned on trying Missouri quail on our way to Iowa. Seeing the permit is only about 10$ a day it really isn't bad. We are then going to hunt a few different places in Iowa.

Thank for all the advise.

Regards,

Rob

Birdhunter1 · Post by **Birdhunter1** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 12:30 am

rschuster54303` wrote:I am driving to either Nashville, or Knoxville, we havn't decided yet. i am cordinating this with a guy from Florida.

If there much hunting around you BridHunter1?

Regards,

Rob

There is a preserve I am a guide at, we can hunt as much as you can afford. I promise you'll have a godo tiem and get more than you're money's worth if you'd be interested. as far as wild birds there are some but on most of my ground I'm limited as to the number of folks I can take with me but depending on when we'd go I could offer a good hunt.

Wesley Boothe · Post by **Wesley Boothe** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 1:54 pm

What part of Iowa are you planning on hunting? I have been having extremely good luck in the central part of the state and "ok" luck in the eastern part. Have heard the NW part of the state is also doing well this year. Good luck,

Wes

rschuster54303` · Post by **rschuster54303`** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 6:50 pm

Wes,

We are going to start Mid-Missoiri looking for quail and work our way North. If we have much luck in Missouri finding quail we may dally for a day or 2 other wise we will be working north thru Iowa. I have heard North West is have a good year but, I will be limited to public hunting areas. We will probably stay more east depending on how the hunting is.

Bird,

Thanks for the offer, I appreciate the offer, but I have this thing against paying to hunt. If I was going to pay to hunt I could do that here. Thank you for the offer.

Regards,

Rob

Wesley Boothe · Post by **Wesley Boothe** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 7:03 pm

Rob,
Send me a private email and I can get you some details on two good public hunting areas depending on where you end up. One that I hunt quite often is 10 miles from my house and is 13K acres of public hunting. Last Saturday I put up 7 hens and 3 roosters in about 2 hrs. Would be happy to personally "guide" you through the better spots.

Wes