East Tennessee hunting's good 'n' plenty

Black bears have long been a symbol of East Tennessee. These days they are also a symbol of successful wildlife management.

Bear hunters once harvested a handful a season and talked about the days when their grandpas were kids and the mountains were supposedly full of bears.

For bear hunters these were the good old days.

Just like the state's deer and turkey hunters, bear hunters continually watch their annual harvest totals rise. This year, hunters bagged 308 bears, tying 2005 as the second-best year on record.

When the record of 370 bears in a single hunting season was set a decade ago, many critics of bear hunting said populations were being devastated. These days a harvest of more than 300 bears a year is considered average.

The presence of black bears ensures that hunters in East Tennessee have the most opportunity for diverse hunting experiences anywhere in the state. Not only are black bears rare west of Interstate 75, but also grouse and wild hogs are game that East Tennessee has in good numbers, which are scarce in Middle Tennessee and nonexistent in West Tennessee.

That diversity of hunting opportunities will only grow in the fall of 2008 when Tennessee holds its first legal elk hunt in more than 150 years.

Despite recent setbacks getting more elk from Canada to supplement the herd in and around Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is proceeding with plans for the hunt. Interested hunters will fill out quota-hunt applications and then be entered into a lottery for an elk tag.

The presence of Royal Blue, Sundquist and other wildlife management areas gives East Tennessee more than 750,000 acres of public hunting land, much of it within a 90-minute drive of Knoxville, the state's only major metropolitan area with two WMAs - Forks of the River and Fort Loudoun Lake - within the city limits.

Licenses needed to hunt in wildlife management areas in Tennessee vary depending on the season. Not only is the $28 hunting and fishing combination license needed, but most wildlife management areas require a WMA permit as well.

Hunters who hunt a variety of game can buy an all-inclusive Sportsman License that costs $136 but covers any type of state hunting or fishing license, permit or stamp.

Wildlife management areas within a 60-mile radius of Knoxville include:

• Royal Blue: Its 48,000 acres in Campbell County offer excellent deer and turkey hunting as well as a variety of small-game opportunities.
• Chuck Swan: In Union and Campbell counties near Maynardville, its 24,000 acres provide some of the state's best deer and turkey hunting.
• Don Sundquist WMA: In Campbell and Anderson counties, 84,000 acres that provides small game, grouse, deer and turkey hunting.
• Cherokee: Basically the Cherokee National Forest, it's the state's largest wildlife management area. The Cherokee Forest runs along the Tennessee-North Carolina state line and is divided into north and south portions by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A myriad of separately managed units and reserves exist within those two broad divisions.