Ani-Kituhwa-gi, A Nation within a Nation ( Part 1 ).

Days pass, seasons change and years come and go all to fast. People live their lives on a daily routine and most of them never notice the changes that have taken place around them. Though many of us can see these changes happening in todays society it was the changes of long ago that actually created the lands we all call home. Over 11,000 years ago in the hills of Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee lived a nation of people within a nation. At the end of the Ice Age, their ancestors hunted the great mastodons with spears in those very mountains that we now call The Great Smoky Mountains. Over the years the " Ani-Kituhwa-gi " or Cherokee people flourished throughout the mountains creating towns and villages. The men hunted and fished, helped in the fields and pursued trade, diplomacy, and war required to maintain an empire that included 36,000 people within 140,000 square miles covering eight present-day southern states. The women enjoyed respect and honor, running the household and working the land while the men cultivated friendships. Generosity was a cardinal virtue, meaning that anyone hungry was fed, anyone traveling was housed and for the first 200 years of contact with the European settlers, starting with De Soto in 1540, the Cherokees offered hospitality to newcomers who needed help. The Cherokee people became literate only months after Sequoyah developed a written language of the Cherokee alphabet and presented it to the Cherokee National Council in 1821. This written language of the Cherokee people was called " Talking Leaves ".By 1838 the Cherokee people had proven themselves to be neighborly, industrious and open to outside ideas but with the onrushing settlers and the U.S. government , the Cherokee people were forcably removed from their lands and into the east to Oklahoma, which was known in our history books as The Trail of Tears. One quarter to half of the Cherokee people who began this long journey to Oklahoma died of exposure, disease and shock of exile. Today, from those who hid in the hills ,defying removal and from those who returned, many on foot, live the 14,000 Cherokee of the Eastern band in North Carolina on a 100 square mile tract called the Qualla Boundary.

Two Historic Events with a Great Future Ahead.

December 2000, 50 elk were released into the Cumberland Mountains of East Tennessee marking a historic return of the elk to Tennessee's landscape. This year a second historic event will take place making the Elk Restoration Program a large success. This year 5 lucky applicants will be drawn to participate in an elk hunt in the Cumberland Mountains scheduled to take place on October 19th - 23rd. Tennessee residents and non- residents of Tennessee may apply for the Elk hunt either by Tennessee license agents or online at Tennessee wildlife Resource Agencies home page found at http://www.tnwildlife.org. or at http://www.tnelkhunt.org. Young adults ( under 16 years of age ) may also apply for the elk hunt but must be accompanied by an adult non-hunting companion 21 years or older. The fee for the application is $10.00 non-refundable regardless whether drawn or not plus all other hunting licenses applicable. All permits are non- transferable and no refunds will be made to anyone issued a permit. Of the 5 permits to be drawn for the elk hunt, 1 will be donated by a NGO ( Non- Governmental Organization ) with the proceeds designated to the TWRA ELK Program. Non-resident applicants will be restricted to no greater then 25 percent of the drawn permits. Photos of the Tennessee Elk herds can be seen at http://www.tnelkhunt.org as well as other information about the elk herds and the application instructions. Hopefully with the help of the Elk Restoration Program it will only be a matter of time before the Tennessee Elk can roam the woods and fields of open ranges as the whitetail deer do now.

Basics to Hunting Wild Feral Hogs.

When you start thinking of feral hog hunting where do you start? For anyone just starting out hog hunting ( like myself ) probably the best place to start is at your local wildlife agency. Asking the right questions can give you alot of useful information to getting you headed in the right direction. For most of us just starting out probably the first and most important thing to hog hunting is locating a place with a substantial group of hogs on it. Most wildlife agencies can tell you all the management areas with feral hog populations on them and may even give you a list of farms or ranches. Almost every management area is open to hog hunting during the deer hunting season only and ranchers charge a fee to hunt game on their ranch so if you can, try to locate a farm that borders a management area with feral hogs and ask the owner for permission to hunt wild feral hogs on their farm. If you get permission to hunt hogs ask the owner if he can tell you any places he's seen hogs consistently or if there's any fields that the hogs are destroying. Once you've located a farm to hunt and created a good repoor with the owner your next objective should be to look over the farm and decide from the signs and sightings the best place to ambush the hogs. Decide whether you want to hunt from a stand, a blind or just standing by a large tree. If your going to be using tree stands be sure to get permission to use them and never attach them to the trees with nails or any other damaging hardware and the same goes for using screw-in steps, get permission first. Now that your set-up is complete, make sure you acquire all the proper licenses for hunting wild feral hogs. Here in Tennessee, law requires a hunting license and a big game license (either gun, archery or muzzle loader depending on the weapon you hunt with. ). Once you've taken a feral hog it's not mandatory to check it in at a checking station here in Tennessee however, the wildlife agency would appreciate notification of the location and quantity of hogs taken. Okay now, you've taken your first feral hog so now what? Do you take it to a local processor or do you process it yourself? This would depend on you and your abilities, do you have the right equipment? Do you have the knowledge to properly process and package the hog you've taken? Is there someone that can guide you through the process and help you? If you have any doubt about processing your hog properly then perhaps it would be best for you to carry your hog to a processor until you can gain the knowledge to do it yourself. Well your now armed with some of the basics for getting started into wild feral hog hunting so get out there and help thin out the feral hog population and enjoy yourself while in the woods and fields this year and good luck.

Trophy Buck Scouting

October 1, 2008, Today I wanted to go hunting after working 12 hours but decided I was to tired and the wife needed the truck for some shopping with our daughter. Plans changed quickly after reaching our daughters house and I ended up doing some scouting with my future son-in-law who had been telling me that he was finding big buck rubs in his neck of the woods. We headed out the door at 9:00 a.m. and upon getting into the area he told me had all rubs I couldn't believe my eyes there was big rubs everywhere and tracks and trials that looked like a herd of 50 or more deer where in the herd. The woods were under selective timber cutting by the owner and was all steep hills. I could tell the area hadn't been hunted for years and supported a large number of deer in the area. As we walked and climbed up and down the hillsides my hunting buddy told me he and my grandson had jumped two monster bucks just before bow season started with really wide and tall racks on them and that the best he could tell the smaller of the two bucks was either and 8 or a 10 pointer and wasn't sure about the other one but that it was even larger. After seeing the tracks, trials and the rubs for myself, I decided to put up some stands and see if I can help him take one of these trophy bucks. I 've never seen bucks in our hunting area here in Tennessee rubbing trees as these bucks are until late October or November so these bucks are for sure worth hunting. The brush on these hills are really thick but has some areas where the woods just kind of open up and will make for some great rifle hunting when time comes. I should be able to limit out on this farm with no problem and if I do I'll be sure to donate a couple of my deer to the " HUNTERS FOR THE HUNGRY " program as I challenge all hunters to do this year.

Elk Restoration in Tennessee

On March 8, 2008 the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency will be moving 36 Elk from Land Between the Lakes ( LBL )in Kentucky to the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area in Campbell County, Tennessee. The Royal Blue is part of Tennessee's 670,000 acre Elk Restoration zone which was started in 2000. Over a four year period 167 Elk have been released to the restoration zone and the release of these 36 Elk brings the Elk herd standings to approximately 200-250 animals. 31 of these Elk being released are fitted with radio collars for future research on the herd. This release will be a joint effort between Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, LBL Bugle Corp., LBL Association, U.S. Forestry Service, Campbell Outdoor Recreation Association ( CORA ), the UT Veterinary School, USDA, Animal Planet Health Inspection School ( APHIS ), and Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency staff and volunteers. The public is invited to attend the release of these Elk Saturday March 8, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time ) at Massengale Mountain in Campbell County, Tennessee.