Anyone hunted Reelfoot lake?

D. Hinton

Active member
I?ve been having a hankering to go. Been crappie fishing up there 2x.
From what I can gather most everything is guide run? almost mafia like by the ?local families?

Would really prefer to do free lance hunt if is a viable solution. Not opposed to paying a guide, but just really want to hunt with myself, one good buddy and my dog
 
Large (300+ magnums plus motion) permanent spreads are the MO on Reelfoot. You must be at least 200 yards from any other blind to freelance. It is pretty dangerous to navigate in the dark if you don't know the boat ditches and the open water can get rough in a hurry. Portions of the lake are federal refuge closed to entry. All in all, it's probably easier to "pay the mafia."

There are public blinds that are drawn for season-long and short hunts that would be possibilities as well. Season long draw blinds can be used if no one is present at legal shooting light but I wouldn't show up banking on just grabbing a killing blind. These blinds are big- usually 8 shooting holes plus the boat hide on the back.
 
I hunted there two years ago and think it might be one of the hardest places to freelance hunt that I know of. Some of the blinds are privately owned while others are state owned and you can enter into the annual draw to try and secure one for the season. I think they may have some draws for shorter spans too. Boat hunting isn't something I saw when there and I kind of got the impression if you boat hunted and encroached on a blind there could be retribution. NW TN has quite a bit of public hunting on other WMAs that is very accessible for freelancing. You might look into those.

Eric
 
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