News Release

Twitter IconFollow     RSS IconRSS     Print IconPrint     Flickr IconPhotos     YouTube IconVideo     Share IconShare
Media Contact: Fred Strohl
Communications and Media Relations
865.574.4165


Oak Ridge Wildlife Management Area turkey hunts set in April

 Audio Clip  
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Jan. 14, 2006 — The first two weekends in April will mark the 10th year of wild turkey hunts in selected areas of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Environmental Research Park.

Hunts will be held April 1-2 and April 8-9. A map of the hunting areas is available at http://www.ornl.gov/sci/rmal/huntinfo.htm

Hunters may not enter the area prior to one hour before sunrise, and hunts will end at noon. There will be 175 hunters participating each weekend, according to Neil Giffen, wildlife management coordinator for ORNL's Environmental Sciences Division.

Hunters, who were previously selected from a draw conducted by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, will be limited to one catch. Hunters will also have to check in at the reporting station on Bethel Valley Road on the eastern end of the reservation to have their turkeys checked for possible radioactivity.

Signs will be posted on roads open to hunters. Driving vehicles into the woods, fields, pastures, foot trails or rights-of-way are prohibited.

Legal hunting equipment for the hunt consists of 20-gauge or larger shotguns and muzzle loading shotguns, along with long bows and compound bows using legal hunting arrows with broad heads. Rifles and handguns are prohibited.

A scouting day will be held from 6 a.m. until noon Saturday, March 25 for hunting permit holders only. The check station will be open from 7 a.m. until noon during the scouting day to answer any questions hunters may have. No friends, relatives colleagues or others will be permitted to scout. Hunters may not possess hunting equipment during the scouting day.

ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.