HOG FROM THE HOLLER-Fishing has been excellent this winter on Dale Hollow with multiple trophies being caught, including this 22.5” 6.3-pound smallmouth landed by Terry Everett of South Pittsburg, TN. (photo submitted)

CLAY COUNTY-Recently released numbers by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) show Tennessee’s overall deer harvest was down almost 10% this year, and numbers here mirrored the statewide trend.
The state’s harvest this year totaled 143,981, which is a drop of 9.12% from last year’s total harvest of 157,806. Clay County historical numbers show 872 deer were killed in 2016-17, while only 801 were reported in 2017-18—representing a 9.18% decline locally.
Tennessee outdoor writer Richard Simms penned an article that appeared online and in many area newspapers titled “Tennessee deer harvest lowest in 10 years,” and the writing quoted TWRA chief of wildlife Mark Gudlin explaining what he though was behind the harvest downturn.
“We had unusually warm weather during muzzleloader season,” Simms quoted Gudlin saying. “The harvest in that season alone was down 23 percent.
“Extreme warm weather has a tendency to keep hunters out of the woods, because it’s uncomfortable and more difficult to properly care for harvested deer.”
Besides the weather conditions, Simm’s work also explained EHD (Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease) was a factor.
The article said it was worse in East Tennessee, but also explained several were reported dead here in TWRA Region III on the Cumberland Plateau.
For complete deer harvest information, visit https://hunterstoolbox.gooutdoorstennessee.com.

Local hunting club
announces award
The Broken Horn Hunting Club, which has existed here locally for over 40 years, recently released their annual report outlining this season’s award winner—which was submitted by a member of the club and summarized below in his own words.
Through the years, the Broken Horn Hunting Club has seen a lot of changes, including many new members, changes in hunting regulations, and changes on where you can hunt, but members new and old still drop in from time to time to eat and catch up on the news.
It used to be that you could get permission on lots of places, but now that’s not the case and we also used to have a lot of young hunters, but now no-one shows up. Camp has changed dramatically through the years, as it got its start in tents on the creek bed, bounced around to campers on Dry Creek, to the tool shed at the barn, and to the old house.
For many years now, camp has given an award voted on by the members called the “Desperate Award,” and this year’s winner didn’t come without debate.
The group’s leader Glen “Rollerskater” Scott heard heated back-and-forth about who should win between two cousins over coffee at Happy Sak, but all members were not present to take up for themselves.
With no set ground-rules for the award, many factors have played into winners being chosen in the past, including harvesting very small deer, decoy shooting, not killing one at all, and many others that can’t be discussed.
Finally, with the season coming to an end, two members—Bill “Never Get Out of the Truck” Hilton and Doc “Huh” Bailey emerged as the leading candidates.
With the vote tied and only one member left to vote, Jimmy “Cornpile” Russell voted for Doc to put him over the top this year as the 2017-18 “Desperate Award” winner.