Rare Tennessee Game Species

[Joey O'Reilly]

For all the hunters on here, what is the rarest game species you have taken in Tennessee?

[A.J. Holst]

Call me Joe Exotic, captured (or he captured us) one of those mythical and elusiveTN Black Panthers. 

He is carefully hiding in the lower right.

Not a hunter, but have spotted elk and bear in the park, a herd of buffalo, turkey at my in-laws, deer in my backyard and the occasional red fox.

Other than coyotes, it appears East TN has a healthy ecosystem and TWRA does a pretty nice job with land management.

Edited May 17, 2020 by A.J. Holst

[KahrMan]

Not really rare but I have taken a bobcat.  They are just not hunted around here like they are up north or out west.

[chances R]

People always laugh, but I use to routinely hunt, kill and eat snipe.

[Raoul]

2 hours ago, chances R said:

People always laugh, but I use to routinely hunt, kill and eat snipe.

Mmm....bbq'd snipe. 

[chances R]

28 minutes ago, Raoul said:

Mmm....bbq'd snipe. 

BBQ might help.  I wrap them in bacon like dove.  They have a tinge of dirt taste.

[gregintenn]

I have killed a snipe, and I suppose it is the most rarely seen local game animal here.

You don’t see many gray foxes anymore either.

[Quavodus]

I've never killed any but, I used to see a few Ruffed Grouse. Not seen one in years. Quail are almost like that.

[leroy]

On 5/18/2020 at 2:09 AM, Quavodus said:

I've never killed any but, I used to see a few Ruffed Grouse. Not seen one in years. Quail are almost like that.

The " Rarest of the rare " Brother... I grew up with a few regular grouse hunters.  Grouse are wily and live in extremely rugged terrain.  They are masters of camouflage and hiding, and they use their extreme skills very well.  If you know a grouse hunter that regularly brings some home; ya know a real, seasoned, in shape bird hunter.

leroy

[Henry347]

1 hour ago, leroy said:

The " Rarest of the rare " Brother... I grew up with a few regular grouse hunters.  Grouse are wily and live in extremely rugged terrain.  They are masters of camouflage and hiding, and they use their extreme skills very well.  If you know a grouse hunter that regularly brings some home; ya know a real, seasoned, in shape bird hunter.

leroy

I've only killed one grouse in my life up here in Scott Co. And the fan mount went on the wall with a couple Turkey mounts of mine. A beautiful bird no doubt, I've only seen 4 in my life. One of which was this Turkey season. You dont see them much anymore.

[TomInMN]

I didn't know there were grouse in TN. They're a whole lot of fun to hunt. I've never had hunting dogs, so I mostly still hunt them like deer. I give myself two chances to shoot them in the head with a .22 and either ruin no meat or have a totally clean miss.

[chances R]

Use to hunt grouse.  Not that mad at them anymore.  Tough hunting. Killed a couple out off Lovell rd in about 1970.  Several in Sneedville area and clinch Mtn.  Some say the turkey population hurt em pretty bad.

[Raoul]

Afraid I'm not much of a hunter. Never had anyone to teach me when I was a young man. Probably enjoyed pretending to Bird hunt as much as anything.

[TomInMN]

You know @Raoul, I'm not completely convinced that a nice day afield with no game bagged isn't actually the best day hunting. No extra cleaning to do when I get home...

Of course, no extra eating either.

[gregintenn]

I’ve never seen a grouse in Tennessee. Kudos to you guys!

[Lumber_Jack]

I've seen maybe a dozen grouse in TN in the last 15 years.  Mostly while walking timber stands in the Mountain of Morgan and Scott Co.  I only see them when they busted up and scared the #### out of me

 

[TomInMN]

7 hours ago, Lumber_Jack said:

I've seen maybe a dozen grouse in TN in the last 15 years.  Mostly while walking timber stands in the Mountain of Morgan and Scott Co.  I only see them when they busted up and scared the #### out of me

 

Yeah, it's a lot of fun to see them launch up from underneath someone else's feet.

[Quavodus]

I don't know if you would call Armadillo a game species or not but, I see them ran over on roads. Never seen a live one. They're like possums, they don't do  well with roads.

[chances R]

On 5/21/2020 at 9:43 PM, TomInMN said:

Yeah, it's a lot of fun to see them launch up from underneath someone else's feet.

try walking under a big turkey roost when it's a pitch black morning.  You would think the trees are falling....

[A516]

Stepped into a covey of quail while out coon hunting at night many years ago.  Didn't have to clean out my britches but took a few minutes to get back my senses.

[JimFromTN]

 

On 5/24/2020 at 10:37 AM, Quavodus said:

I don't know if you would call Armadillo a game species or not but, I see them ran over on roads. Never seen a live one. They're like possums, they don't do  well with roads.

We got them all over the place in Henry county.  They pretty much only come out a night.  You can't legally shoot them at night.  I am thinking night vision and spears.

[JimFromTN]

Haven't been in decades but I used to see grouse in the Big South Fork.  I actually saw coveys back in the early 80's.

[Quavodus]

Does anybody ever see black bear? They've been spotted and videoed a few miles from my house. I've not seen one except in the Smokies. They've expanded a lot in the last 20 years or so. An old man told me about 15 years ago about some that was trapped in the Smokies and transported to Big South Fork. Thats got to be where a lot of the bears West of there are coming from.

[Johnny reb]

The grouse populations are hurting do to idiots in control at the forestry department. They need to selectively log and do controllled burns on the National Forest.  Which will open up the canopy and allow new growth, and provide better habitat. 

[Ronald_55]

My Dad says that his granddad used to raise grouse, pheasants, and quail to release around his property. He even sowed the pasture with stuff that they liked. Never seen any of them at all on that land. House cats kill any of them that are small, quail especially. That coupled with lots of open fields becoming housing developments does not give me hope that they will come back.