By TNHUNTING.COM
TnHunting.Com Staff

Tennessee's 2006 archery harvest is ahead of the 2005 archery harvest heading into the final weekend of the archery season's first segment.

Tennessee hunters had checked a total of 16,605 deer at big game checking stations throughout the state as of this morning. Through Thursday preceding the final weekend a year ago, hunters had bagged a total of only 13,611 deer, putting the harvest this year more than 17 percent ahead of the harvest a year ago.

Eight days remain in the first segment of archery season, which closes on Friday, October 27, to allow for the two-day youth hunt that will take place on October 28 and 29. Archery season will reopen on Monday, October 31 and continue through Friday, November 3. Muzzleloader season opens on November 4. A third segment of archery season follows the eight-day muzzleloader hunt.

Last year, Tennessee hunters bagged 17,167 deer in the first segment of the archery season, including some 3,500 deer in the final eight days that ran from one Friday to the following Friday. Hunters in '06 will surpass that mark if they tag just over 550 deer between now and next Friday.

Before the start of the hunting seasons, TnHunting.Com's whitetail forecast predicted that 2006 deer harvest totals should increase over last year's totals and that some records might be set. Last year's total archery harvest was 20,146. The record archery harvest in Tennessee was set in 1997, when 22,897 deer were checked in at checking stations.

Of the 16,605 deer harvested so far this season, figures released by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency indicate that 6,500 were bucks and 10,105 (61 percent) were does. Does traditionally make up a lower percentage of the harvest than a true count of "anterless" deer, since antlerless deer includes buck fawns (button bucks). In 2005, the total antlerless harvest in Tennessee's countywide hunters was 51 percent, while the total doe harvest was 42.7 percent. The data released by TWRA for 2006-to-date is a doe harvest and not an overall antlerless harvest. Regardless, that number — 60 percent — represents a larger-than-usual proportion of does included in the harvest. However, more does (in terms of percentages) are typically killed in archery season than any other season. In muzzleloader season, hunters in Unit B can harvest does only three days. In rifle season, hunters in Unit B cannot harvest does.

Of bucks harvested so far, those aged at checking stations indicate only a small percentage of "mature" deer being killed by Tennessee hunters. Of the 195 bucks aged, 81 were fawns, 71 were yearlings (1.5-year-old), 32 were 2.5-year-old and only seven were 3.5-year-old.

Interestingly, of the 284 does aged, the largest percentage was not fawns or yearlings, but 2.5-year-old deer, with 79 killed. A total of 73 fawns and 73 yearling does were killed. Some 36 3.5-year-old does were killed, along with 10 4.5-year-old does and 13 5.5-year-old does.

County-by-county harvest data is not yet available from TWRA.

According to TWRA's figures, 13,398 Tennessee hunters have been successful in bagging a deer so far this season, with 10,885 killing only one deer and the rest killing between two and eight deer. Not surprisingly, hunters in Unit L have been the most successful, with 4,617 bagging deer so far. Some 4,577 hunters have killed deer in Unit A, and 3,535 hunters have killed deer in Unit B.

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