TOPIC: Hunting in the Appalacian Mountains

My question is for the Appalachian Mtn hunters: I am an Illinois hunter and this year will be my 2nd year. Last year I found 3.2oz in Illinois, which, as a new hunter, I was fairly happy with. Several weeks ago, I was in Tennessee on vacation and decided to have a look around. I checked out a forest. The ground was covered in pine needles and I didnt see much vegetation, needless to say, didnt find anything that resembled ginseng either. Maybe I was looking in the wrong area?

Don't take this the wrong way but you don't need to be in Tennesse digging if you live in Illinois. Dig where you live and don't dig here, the last thing anyone wants to tolerate is an out of town digger without land or permission to dig.

aj,
I'm going to add a little to that last post. If you happened to be in the National Forest and thought of digging there, you need to know it requires a permit and it only last until the end of the month. There is only one county open North of the GSMNP and one county South of the Park. Both areas require a permit and the drawings have already taken place. The fine, if you get caught is pretty serious. Think in terms of next year. Good luck.

Hugh

aj1651 wrote:

My question is for the Appalachian Mtn hunters: I am an Illinois hunter and this year will be my 2nd year. Last year I found 3.2oz in Illinois, which, as a new hunter, I was fairly happy with. Several weeks ago, I was in Tennessee on vacation and decided to have a look around. I checked out a forest. The ground was covered in pine needles and I didnt see much vegetation, needless to say, didnt find anything that resembled ginseng either. Maybe I was looking in the wrong area?

Gonna have to moderate this for both parties. I once was stopped in TN while moving my youngest son to San Antonio, TX. We meandered a backroad and came upon a state park, and I too hiked in the woods \"looking\" for seng. Had zero intentions of digging a plant. Only was taking in the beauty of the deep woods (and high humidity and skeeters). It's ones intentions that matter. I did have my camera to shoot a seng or two but didn't find any before them darn skeeters started lifting me away to who know where. Now if you were there to dig (poach), shame on you. You definitely should stick to your neck of the woods and only with permission as there are some crazies out there that set up tripwires and such! There is plenty in Illinios.

If you were in pines I would say you were way off course. Maybe the occasional wild hemlock or white pine is ok, but a slew of pines is never going to support seng. Look for the companion plants and trees.

Jim

Such friendly people in the Appalachians......

Hugh, you are exactly right about being limited to where one can hunt in east tn. I live in blount co. and I am growing/hunting on private land. We have the biggest problem I believe in the nation with people poaching in the park. I hate poachers no matter if its ginseng or animals and the smokies are infested with them, even out of towners. The park service has come up with unique and creative ways to monitor and mark gensing there and one would have to be crazy to try to dig in the park, but I know of a lot of hollers and ridges not in the park that are around 1000+feet in elevation that produce good gensing so private land is what one wants to get permission to hunt and will often be rewarded.

Yes we are very friendly and will give the shirts off our backs to strangers. We just protect whats ours and don't take too kindly to poachers who will steal anything they can dig.

Im not gonna argue on the internet, its pointless. But you came out swinging on the guy for no reason and I found it rude. He said he is new to digging and was on vacation. When I go on vacation I look around.

If you drove through the Midwest and stopped to look at a huge whitetail off the side of the road, should I assume you were there to poach it off the road?

I never said that \"HE\" was poaching and if I came across that way then I do apologize. I even offered his best solution to hunting in east Tn which was to find private land. I simply stated that east Tn is limited to where one can hunt and we have a poaching problem in the park with various kinds of poachers. When I'm on vacation in another state I always obey the rules in the area like stay off the sand dunes, stay on the trail and such. Good luck to you.