The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission on July considered and approved two revised proclamations to restore Wildlife Management Area–specific permit language after the agency withdrew a proposed license rule.

The proclamations—Proclamation 25-09 (wildlife management area, public hunting area and refuge hunting seasons, bag limits and miscellaneous regulations) and Proclamation 25-10 (statewide big game hunting seasons and bag limits)—reinserted WMA-specific permit names and clarified where additional access permits apply, agency staff said. Chief of the Wildlife Division Joe Benedict recommended passage of both proclamations and the commission approved them by voice vote.

Agency staff said the revisions were needed after the department withdrew a broader license rule during a recent appearance before the Joint Government Operations Committee. Director Maxedon told the commission that members of that legislative committee expressed reluctance to approve the proposed license increases and instead indicated they would seek alternative funding measures. As a result, the previously proposed license changes will not take effect and current license fees remain in place, agency staff said.

Proclamation 25-09 restores references in several locations so that the required permit language reads, for example, “WMA small game permit,” “WMA big game permit,” or “WMA non-quota big game permit,” rather than a single combined WMA permit the agency had proposed earlier. The proclamation also adds explicit reference to the Reelfoot Lake preservation permit in the Reelfoot Lake sections and restores prior language governing designated field trials for Tellico, Percy Priest and Wolf River WMAs. Staff said these edits are clerical and revert the proclamations to the permit types currently sold through the agency’s licensed vendor.

Proclamation 25-10 makes a parallel edit by adding the words “big game” into the WMA permit name where appropriate in the big-game proclamation; staff characterized the change as restoring the prior language used last year.

Commission discussion focused on confirming the Reelfoot preservation permit remains required where applicable. A commissioner asked for the permit amount; staff cited a figure during the discussion but the record included inconsistent statements about the exact dollar amount. The commission did not change any license fees as part of these proclamations, and staff reiterated that no hunting or fishing license increases will take effect at this time.

The commission approved Proclamation 25-09 and Proclamation 25-10 by voice vote. No roll-call tallies were recorded in the meeting transcript for these two proclamations.