Anyone know anything about northwest Wayne county? I have the opportunity to pick up some property in that part of the world and am curious if anyone knows what kind of quality can be expected there. What does it compare to?

Get it, I'll help you go see what's on it.

Seriously alot of people want to hunt Wayne co. and Lawrence Tenn. They have good #'s of deer, bound to be a good one there somewhere.

Nighthunter, is that around lutts? Let me know what town its close to and I may be familiar. I had several leases in Wayne at one time.

I used to hunt Wayne a long time ago. Has some big deer there. We were close to natchez pkwy. I'd jump on it in a second if I was closer.

i hunt up that way. pm me if you need to talk.

Used to be some awesome quail hunting up there.

I hunt just west of Waynesboro on my in-laws land up there every year, mainly turkey hunting, but according to all my in-laws that area you are talking about is loaded with big deer. My wife's Uncle has several deer that he killed in North Wayne County several years back that look like they came out of the mid-west. PM me if you would like I can find out whatever you need pretty quickly.

I own properties in that area and I lease them to local hunters. I have never had any trouble leasing the lands. I am even overpriced, or I would think I am on the lease properties. I ran an ad about 4 years ago to lease some property there that I owned and my phone rang nonstop for three weeks. Your best bet would be to buy property up there if you could find some. I have a 45 acre tract that I haven't been on in several years that I would sell for 50 thousand-firm. It is leased out for this hunting season for 400.00. That is a good lease price and the same husband and wife have leased this for the last 5 years. I just don't need it and I think I want to downsize some.

Comparable to Lauderdale and Colbert Co's in AL. Very much the same.
All my family lives there. We own a farm there and lease land there.

North of Waynesboro is rough. The whole northern part of that county is bad rough. Most is straight up and straight down and deep unless you can get some land on the Buffalo River that has bottoms.

There are some good deer in Wayne but I wouldn't even rank it in the top 15 counties in TN. In fact, for counties on the state line, Wayne might be the worst for big bucks from Memphis to Chattanooga. Hardin would be right there with Wayne. Mostly rocky ridges and rocky creek bottoms with few exceptions. The big buck boom was in the late 80's through the mid 90's when numbers were still lower and there was a lot more agriculture. Like most places, farmers died and bean/corn fields turned to pine thickets. There are still some 150" deer killed up there from time to time. Check out the TN Deer Registery and the picture album on Tndeer.com.

Numbers are decent in some areas but 20psm is about average. Compare that to lots of areas of Alabama where 30+ is the norm. It might be in the top 15 in TN for numbers....might be. The northern part of the county is bad prone to EHD outbreaks also every 5-7 years. 2007 did a bad number on areas north and west of Waynesboro. I know guys on Indian Creek that found almost their entire herd. Eagle Creek gets it bad also. Really not sure why that area gets hit harder than the southern part.

County record is around 170" but as a scorer for that county, I can tell you that 130" is huge. I scored a 164" public land deer from there two years ago. I'd say your average mature buck in Wayne will score 115-120 with some on the higher and some on the lower.

So yes, I hunt there, have since I was old enough to hunt. Got farms all over the county. There are some nice deer and numbers are good (not great). I live 2 miles from the state line. If I was going to drive an hour to hunt, it wouldn't be in Wayne Co, TN. Heck, if we didn't have that big farm I don't know that I would hunt up there. To many better areas of Alabama and TN to hunt. Lawrence has some big deer in areas but they have a lot of agriculture.

And don't assume it has turkeys. Some pockets still have a bunch but I know of a bunch of clubs/farms all over the county that has about 10% of the flock they had back around 2000. TWRA finally listened and have reduced fall tags although fall hunting wasn't the reason.

I know one guy that hunts them in the fall up there and I know a bunch of turkey hunters. (Although I'm sure there are more)

Thanks for the info guys. I may go take a look at the place this weekend. The plus side is it is over 1300 acres in one block but 700 has been clear-cut. We will see.

I agree completely about lack of agriculture, it seems like the whole dang county has been clear cut and planted in pines and most fields are pasture with cows. One farm I hunted on 64 going west towards Savannah would be a hunting mecca if they would get rid of those cows and plant some corn or soybeans, its surrounded by cutover and pines. I believe this is also the main reason my in-laws land has been loaded with turkey the past few years, every where else around them has been clear cut and planted in pines except them, they have open pasture and rolling hardwoods.

I hunt there every year and have for 35 years. Took a hit with disease about 4 years ago but has recovered nicely. Hohenwald, Linden, etc....

Tider,

Yes, that area of Perry Co got absolutely hammered. My parent's neighbor is from there and his family found dozens on their farm back in 2007. I do think it has recovered for the most part according to him now.

The southern half of Perry County had it a lot worse than the northern half.