By BEN GARRETT
TnHunting.Com Publisher

Just weeks after the closing of a Middle Tennessee wildlife refuge that sparked anger among hunters across the state, a group of sportsmen are taking the initiative to remove a Tennessee Wildlife Resources commissioner that many feel played a major role in the closing.

The controversy over Commissioner Tom Hensley, who resides in Jackson and represents all of Tennessee on the commission, began at the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission's May meeting, when Wilson County property owner David McMahan approached the commission about trespassing problems on his 80 acres of property, which adjoins the Lock 5 wildlife refuge on Old Hickory Wildlife Management Area along the Cumberland River.

The end result was the TWRC voting narrowly to close 440 acres of Lock 5 to hunting. Previously, archery hunting and spring turkey hunting had been permitted on the property, which is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At its June meeting, the commission voted to allow youth hunting only on the property for a few weekends each spring and fall.

During discussion prior to the commission's vote, Hensley told the commission that McMahan was a "friend." Later, Commissioner Jeannette Rudy, who represents the area surrounding Lock 5, said that she felt Hensley was "doing a friend a favor" in helping bring the issue to a vote to close the property.

Hensley has long been considered a burr under the saddle by many sportsmen, having repeatedly been at the source of controversy on the TWRC. Previously, hunters had merely grumbled their dissent with Hensley's actions on the commission but this time, apparently, decided that "enough was enough."

The petition was started by a pair of hunters posting on different Internet discussion forums. The effort was undertaken by Howard McClung, who moderates the Tennessee Flyway forum on the popular Refuge Forums Website.

The petition states that the TWRC has "lost the confidence of the hunters in Tennessee" and requests that Governor Phil Bredesen "make a public statement committing to restore hunter confidence in the TWRC beginning by asking Mr. Hensley to resign and if he will not, using all powers at your disposal to remove him from the commission."

The petition goes on to request that future appointments to the TWRC "be filled by appointing hunters that will represent the interest of Tennessee hunters."

The petition alleges that Hensley, who is a powerful lobbyist at the state level, cast an image of impropriety by aiding McMahan, who is also a political lobbyist, with his request that the property be closed to hunting.

Hensley was not the only commissioner to draw criticism from the May meeting. TWRC Chairman Buddy Baird also had personal ties to McMahan. Baird's sister-in-law is McMahan's business partner. Baird, who was adament about the need to close the property and even stated that all 900 acres of the Lock 5 property should be closed to hunting, was accused of misrepresenting the amount of property closed by the decision. He had stated that 100 acres would be closed, when the actual amount closed was in excess of 400 acres.

Proponents of the petition say that collecting several thousand petitions may encourage Governor Bredesen to take action on the issue, while critics point out that politicians rarely give credit to online petitions. An online petition prior to the TWRC's June meeting collected nearly 1,000 petitions asking the commission to overturn the Lock 5 decision, to no avail.

The petition can be found online by clicking here. The petition has a goal of 10,000 petitions. It had collected 87 as of Thursday morning.

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