Tennessee

Tennessee provides rich deer hunting opportunities from the Appalachian peaks in the east to the Mississippi River bottoms in the west. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) manages the state under progressive deer units, highlighted by Unit L in Middle and West Tennessee with generous antlerless bag limits.

Top trophy counties include Giles, Lincoln, Hardeman, and Fayette, where agricultural row crops and rich river drainages foster impressive body and antler mass. The late-November muzzleloader and modern gun openers coincide with peak chasing behavior across timbered hollows and cedar glades.

Tennessee consistently ranks among the top spring turkey states in the Southeast, boasting abundant flocks across all 95 counties.

TWRA conducts a six-week spring season running from mid-April through late May. Top public lands include Cherokee National Forest, Land Between the Lakes, and numerous state WMAs. Hunters navigate rolling timber ridges and green field edges to challenge strutting Eastern gobblers.

The rugged Blue Ridge and Great Smoky mountain foothills of eastern Tennessee support a burgeoning black bear population.

TWRA manages bear hunting across five Bear Zones, offering archery, dog-hunting, and non-dog gun hunts in the Cherokee National Forest. Bears congregate on high-elevation oak ridges feeding on white oak and chestnut oak acorns prior to denning.

Restored to the Cumberland Mountains in 2000, Tennessee's wild elk herd now numbers over 400 animals roaming across North Cumberland WMA.

TWRA conducts an annual computerized lottery for limited bull elk and antlerless permits. The September archery and October gun seasons provide an extraordinary chance to pursue giant bugling bulls in the Appalachian hardwood highlands.

Feral hogs inhabit mountain hollows and river basins across eastern and southern Tennessee. TWRA permits control hunts on private lands and designated hound hunts on selected WMAs.