The six persons who will participate in the 2015 Tennessee Elk Hunts were announced during the August meeting of the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission held at the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Region IV headquarters.
Four of the sportsmen were winners selected in a computer drawing conducted by the TWRA. The four Tennessee residents selected were Trevor Childs (Knoxville), Roy Bivens (Tellico Plains), Andrew Coffey (Crossville), and Forest Landers (Afton). Chuck Yoest of the TWRA Wildlife and Forestry Division made the announcement of this year’s participants.
Those selected will participate in Tennessee’s seventh ever managed elk hunt to be held Oct. 19-23 at the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area. A total of 9,285 persons applied for this year’s hunt. The application period concluded in July each of the past three years.
The fifth permit was donated to a Non-Governmental Organization which was the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Foundation. The permit was auctioned on eBay in July. Nicholas Nelson, from Fayetteville, N.C., had the high bid of $11,101 and increase from the 2014 successful bid of $9,788. Fund-raising proceeds raised from the bid are designated for the TWRA Elk Program.
Following the elk hunt, the third Tennessee Young Sportsman Hunt will be held the weekend of Oct. 24-25. Jacob Parker, a 15-year old from Sparta, is the second boy that has been selected for the youth hunt. The first two participants were girls who each had a harvest.
Last year, four of the five participants in the regular hunt had harvests. All three of the participants in the youth hunt have had harvests since that hunt was established. There have been a total of 27 elk harvests since the annual hunt began in 2009. Tennessee residents have harvested all but one elk.