Hunting seasons approaching

Here come the hunting seasons. Saturday is the opener for squirrel with a daily bag limit of 10. It is also Free Hunting Day all across Tennessee. No license or wildlife management area permit is required that day for all ages.

Resident Canada goose season is Sept. 1-15 for East Tennessee; the daily bag limit is five. The resident wood duck/teal season is Sept. 13-17; the daily bag limit is four with a maximum of two woodies. The first segment of mourning dove is Sept. 1-26; the daily bag limit is 15 birds and collared doves are not counted.

- The results of the big-game quota hunt drawings are ready — already. The computerized process is delivering the goods about three weeks faster than the old paper process that ended just three years ago. You don’t have to wait for the ticket to arrive in the mail; go to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s Website www.tnwildlife.org and select “Check Your Quota Hunt Application ... ” on the right side of the page.

This year, there were 20,991 applicants, which was down 1,606 from 2007.

There were five drawings held this year, beginning with those with three priority points (103 selected), then two points (58 selected), then one (1,514 selected). The regular drawing gleaned 15,285 successful applicants. The remaining 6,553 permits went into the vacancy drawing and 6,342 were selected for a second permit. The 211 left over after all the drawings will be made available to the public on Sept. 10 on a first-come basis. Go to www.tnwildlife.org for more details.

Those applicants not receiving a permit this year will have a priority point added to their names. Next year there will be 474 with four points, 499 with three points, 1,114 with two points, and 12,019 with one point.

- The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission met last week in Nashville and set the 2008-2009 waterfowl season. The Reelfoot Duck Zone will have a 60-day season, Nov. 15 through Nov. 16 and Nov. 29 through Jan. 25. The statewide zone will be 59 days with no split: Nov. 28 through Jan. 25.

The major changes in bag limits from last year include: The wood duck bag limit has increased from two to three ducks per day; scaup bag limit has been reduced to one per day; the hen mallard bag limit has been reduced to one per day; and canvasback season will be closed this year.

TWRC approved the daily bag limit of six ducks that may include no more than four mallards (maximum one female), three wood ducks, two redheads, and one each black duck, pintail, and scaup. The daily bag limit of merganser is five, only two of which can be hooded mergansers.

The statewide zone dates for Canada goose are Oct. 4 through Oct. 11 and Nov. 28 through Jan. 30; the Northwest Zone dates are Nov. 15 through 16 and Nov. 29 through Feb. 8. The daily bag limit for both zones is two geese.

- The TWRA proposed its recommended changes in the fishing regulations to the TWRC, which will decide on the changes at its meeting in October. The changes will go into effect on March 1, 2009.

TWRA is recommending that the tooth patch test for spotted bass be dropped, since largemouth and smallmouth bass can also have a tooth patch. There are better ways to differentiate amongst them, including the spots below the lateral line and the size and shape of the mouths.

Some of the possible Region IV changes: Three more rivers, South Fork Holston, Tellico and Little, would get the slot limit of 13 to 17 inches for smallmouth; Melton Hill Lake’s daily creel limit on striped bass/Cherokee bass would be two in combination; on Boone, Norris and Watts Bar lakes Cherokee bass should adopt the statewide creel limit of two 15 inches minimum year round, and striped bass winter limit would remain at one fish 36 inches minimum; Douglas Lake’s regulations on walleye/sauger would extend to all of its tributaries.

- A hunter-education class for Blount County will begin at 6 p.m. on Sept. 8 at Lanier Elementary School. Participants should bring a pencil and their Social Security Number.

Tom Wiest welcomes news, questions and comments from readers. Contact him via e-mail at his new address, wiest.tom@gmail.com.