New rules for Saturday’s duck blind drawing

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Saturday is the annual drawing day for duck blind sites on Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s wildlife management areas across the Volunteer State. Big Sandy will be swamped with hunting enthusiasts all day as one of the drawings will take place at the city park.

Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA) said in a release, “Waterfowlers will flock to the location of their choice on Saturday morning, along with an army of their fellow hunters hoping luck is on their side. Registration will be held from 7-10 a.m. at all locations with the actual drawing getting underway at 10 a.m.”

They further stated, “And what are the odds of hearing your name drawn? For the last several years over 2,000 people have entered the draw. Last year there were 2,534 signing up and hoping to hear his or her name drawn. That number was up by 114 over the previous year. So, the odds are not in your favor but that hasn’t deterred area waterfowlers from showing up and tossing their names in the wire baskets. The mere chance at getting one of the top blind sites for the upcoming season is well worth the price of admission despite the odds, at least in the eyes of most duck hunters.”

There are some differences that will be noticed this year. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is reminding waterfowl hunters of adjustments that have been made for the Aug. 3 handheld duck blind drawings. As usual, onsite registrations for individuals will be conducted in the traditional format from 7-10 a.m. However, new this year, is the two-stage drawing. For the first drawing, an application is drawn from the barrel. The successful applicant comes forward along with all sign-ons, creating a party. This is completed before the blind locations are selected. The person drawn (party leader) and all signs-ons will surrender their registration to TWRA officials. The party leader drawn fills out a second registration card and places that card into a second barrel. This procedure continues until the required number of names in the second barrel matches the number of blind sites.

After this procedure, the second stage of the drawing begins. No sign-ons will be added during or after the second drawing. A card is drawn from the second barrel and the party leader will pick a site. The “blind holder permits” for the pre-established party are completed using the information on the cards collected from the party during the first stage of the drawing. The drawing from the second barrel continues until all names are drawn.

Any unclaimed blind sites at the end of the second drawing will be designated as temporary blind sites and available on a first-come, first served basis throughout the waterfowl hunting season. Hunting from these locations will be by boat blind or wade-in only and no blind will be built.

There are no changes in how blinds are occupied during hunting season and is detailed on page 48 of the 2019-2010 Tennessee Hunting and Trapping Guide.

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