Helene destroyed my hunting season

[wagif704]

Sorry to hear about this devastating story, hope you and your household are good? I pray for quick recovery of the deceased and other properties lost. Please stay safe dude

 

[timekiller13]

The damage this storm did is unfathomable. Even if you see it you can’t believe it.

I have a friend flying helicopters up there trying to rescue people. He said “If you asked me to describe what the end of the world would look like, it wouldn’t be as bad as this.”

There are thousands of people missing and hundreds already confirmed dead. Entire mountain communities simply no longer exist, they have washed away. Reports of up to 45” of rain in some areas of WNC. We may never know how high the rivers truly got as most of the flood gauges and equipment was destroyed.

And it’s a logistical nightmare trying to get help to people. I-40 is impassable from Old Fort to Black Mountain. I-40 has collapsed at the NC/TN line. Those of us coming from the east to try and help can only get about half way there. I have a friend who has set up at warehouse about 40 miles from Asheville and he is leap frogging supplies up the mountain and also using drones to drop supplies to places that vehicles can’t get to.

I have some friends I still haven’t heard from. I’m hoping they are safe and it’s just they don’t have cell service.

 

[robtattoo]

Truly horrific. There are towns that are completely land locked in east TN, all roads in & out are totally gone. No power, no water, no fuel & no way of getting any there for "the foreseeable future"
I can't believe how lucky we were, just 80 miles away in the Mid State.

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[KyleR1985]

things are bad. I’m from south Louisiana and have dealt with this my whole life.

Not diminishing that.

But if you’re looking for a silver lining: whitetail deer hunting will likely improve demonstrably in areas that the storm has torn up.

Your access might be different, maps useless, trails gone, equipment lost, etc. But if that many trees are down and that much canopy has been opened, it’s going to improve carrying capacity of the land a lot. And it will be a hard reset for many hunters who won’t bother to figure it out quickly.

I’m speaking from experience on this front.


Wish everyone well. Hopefully in a few years when there’s some sun on the horizon in real life, having more deer to shoot will be part of that improvement.

 

[Yoder]

I don’t think Dollywood suffered any damage. Some of the others sure did but not Dollywood.

It's already open.

 

[Poser]

I've just never spent any time contemplating what a hurricane can do to mountainous regions. I have a lot of friends/ acquaintances and social connections in the E TN and W NC areas: Seveir and Greene Counties, Chimney Rock, Black Mountain, Asheville and the imagery is difficult to wrap my head around. I have to imagine there isn't a lot of flood insurance coverage in those areas either.

If you live in this area, I think this is one of those times in life where you have to put hunting away for awhile and spend no time lamenting the fact that you aren't hunting. I'm sure the game population was wildly impacted by this short term, however, long term, there will be some excellent new wildlife habitat created by this destruction once things start to regenerate in the spring.

 

[chanson_roland]

It's hard to fathom what over 30" of rainfall can do in the mountains.

Hard to tell what all has happened, seems a lot of communication is limited to ham radio, but it's sounding like some areas are pretty terrible.

A Facebook post that was sent to me:


The few things here that are open and or have supplies are maxed out and empty.

Roads closed. You can literally cross a bridge and turn around and come back and it’s “closed”. Ask us how we know.

There are no words for the amount of water that was in some places. Or the power it hit with. Jaw droping.

No phone service.

No hotels.

No water

No power.

It took us an entire day to move what should have amounted to 40 miles

Literal towns wiped off the map. All infrastructure gone and will have to be completely rebuilt.

Oh, and as usual. The government can mess up a wet dream. Never have I ever been more terrified of the words “I’m from the government and here to help”. Get your cash. Carry your guns. Be self sufficient. Always.

Thanks for everyone helping support us.

Interesting you mentioned ham radio. My best friend just got his technician's license, and sent me a coupon to study for mine. I have the requisite Baofeng or two, but this seems like a prime time to study for it. When things like this happen, cellular infrastructure (in the mountains no less) is one of the first things to go.

 

[go_deep]

We had an EF-3 go directly through my dad's land where we hunt years ago in Wisconsin, had to throw up some ladders on the few remaining trees to replaced stands that were taken out, but the hunting was fine.

The effects on personal property and life are hard to wrap your head around unless your right there in a storm like this, pictures and videos can help, but never do the situation true justice of the magnitude.

 

[Boarmaster]

I hunted in Wayne National Forest in Ohio for decades. One year they had a heck of an ice storm. Busted up the trees in the big timber really bad. Not unlike what a hurricane does to a woods in Florida. It took 15 for that woods to get back to normal. With the canopy destroyed the understory took over and big timber became like hunting a three year old clearcut. We still killed deer but we had to change our methods.

 

[Choupique]

Storms suck, but hunting won't be as bad as you might think. We get them pretty often down here. Give it a little while to dry up and get back normal-ish. Its going to take a decade for all the downed trees to start flattening out and the undergrowth will get thick. Deer love that stuff.

 

[loganwayne]

Haywood county resident here as well. this storm is truly 1000x worse than anyone can imagine. My old house that flooded 3 years ago that had 1' of water in it had water over the roof line. in 2004 it only had 4ft of water in it. my uncles house... just gone nothing there. We moved after the last flood. our property now has a small creek on it 4ft wide ankle deep with 6' banks on both sides. i had 8" of water in my shop. Im still trying to get in contact with all of our friends since phone service is mostly down.