Tennessee's deer hunting buck limit lowered to 2

Hunters from across the state will be allowed to kill only two whitetail deer bucks this season after the bag limit was lowered Friday by the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission.

The commission voted unanimously on a proclamation to reduce the limit of three, which had been in place since 1999, at its monthly meeting at the Ellington Agriculture Center, which was open to the public.

A discussion had taken place Thursday, which included a summation of more than 8,500 public comments that had been submitted on the matter.

The goal of reducing the buck limit, said commissioner Jeff McMillin, who served as chairman of the wildlife committee that made the recommendation to lower the limit, was to increase the number of mature bucks in the state.

"There's a lot of people who would like to reduce the limit to one, but I don't think we'll ever do that," McMillin said. "I've been on the commission for seven years, and I've been hearing this from hunters for seven years, 'Please reduce the number of bucks to try to increase the age class.' "

The wildlife committee made the recommendation in April, McMillin said, after it had asked biologists with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency how the mature buck population could be increased.

"We were told by the agency that there were three ways we can try to make an impact by trying to increase the age class of our bucks," McMillin said. "One is to shorten the season, which we didn't want to do. Another was antler restrictions, which we didn't want to do. So the thing that we thought was the least invasive or potentially hinders the opportunity for hunters was to reduce the bucks from three to two."

McMillin said the new plan calls for keeping the two-buck limit in place for a minimum of five years.

"We're hoping to do it for at least five years so we can get some results and see what the results would be," McMillin said. "If you just do it for a year you're not going to be able to determine anything from the research."

The wildlife committee asked members of the TWRA staff in April to draw up the proclamation, which was voted on Friday.

It was the TWRA that also solicited the public for comments on the matter, and those comments did not show that there was a consensus for or against the new limit, said wildlife chief Daryl Ratajczak.

The unusually large number of comments that were received did, however, indicate there was great interest in the matter.

"What the comments coming in for this statewide buck limit showed the agency and the commission was that it's an extremely important topic to the hunters of Tennessee," Ratajczak said. "They are very passionate. Typically, we only receive 400 to 500 comments in any given year. This year because of the buck limit issue we extended it and did a couple of different comment periods to make sure we heard from all of our hunters, and in that time period we received just over 8,500 comments that came in specifically about deer hunting."

Ratajczak said the comments were nearly split evenly, with half for and half against lowering the limit.

The TWRA did not take a position on lowering the buck limit, Ratajczak said.

"We didn't have a recommendation to change the limit, so our recommendation was to just keep it the same," Ratajczak said. "But a good number of the public's been asking for this, and the commission has heard what they've been asking for."

As a biologist, Ratajczak said the new limit will increase the number of older bucks while also also helping to control areas that are overpopulated with doe.

"There is no doubt this move will increase the number of bucks in the standing herd, so that will definitely be a positive for our hunters," Ratajczak said. "And there are definitely signs that it will increase the doe harvests because you're taking away a buck tag. In areas where we're concerned about maintaining the doe harvest, or actually increasing the doe harvest, this move should allow us to do that."

McMillin said the fact that the TWRA did not formally suggest changing the buck limit did not weigh into the equation.

"Obviously, we always take into consideration what the agency recommends, but there's a lot of people inside and outside of the agency that was bending our ear a little bit," McMillin said. "So we went with what we felt like was the best opportunity. Sometimes you don't want to just sit status quo for years. Sometimes you want to try to improve things, and that was our objective. We've raised our deer herd and we've got it in great shape. Now we are trying to improve the quality of it also."

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 and on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.