TWRA Making Cases Against Those Who Chose to Hunt Illegally With Bait

The first week of the archery-only deer season turned out about 99.9 percent of hunters following the law as they excitedly greeted a new hunting year, but a tiny number of people chose to hunt illegally and greeted the opening weekend with costly tickets.

“We made about a dozen baiting arrests in the part of Middle Tennessee that we refer to at TWRA as Area 21,” noted Cape Taylor, the law enforcement supervisor over the Area 21 that includes Davidson County.”

The cases were made against people who set up to hunt around corn placed on the ground to attract deer to them, something that has been illegal in Tennessee for decades.”

“Baiting is not allowed in our state, but it is amazing that every year we will make numerous cases against people who are just too lazy to hunt like they are supposed to,” Taylor said. “A good hunter knows how to pattern game, spends time studying a deer’s eating habits and going after the deer rather than baiting the deer to him.”

Hunters who bait for deer pay fines and court costs of approximately $200, but also stand the chance of losing their hunting gear and equipment.

“We have a large deer population in Tennessee so there is no reason to cheat,” Taylor said. “We also have a long deer season and there is a lot of time ahead for hunters to be successful.”

The first segment of the archery-only season will end in late October. It will be followed by a series of gun hunts and additional segments of archery-only seasons.