By Helina Bailey

On October 13th, Covey at Hinds Creek Hunting Preserve officially opened to the public. After a slight delay pushed them back a couple weeks, causing them to miss the opening of hunting season by a few days, their grand opening was officiated with a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. The Covey at Hinds Creek Hunting Preserve is a family run 15-acre hunting field for upland birds, located in Maynardville on a 90-acre plot of land that has been in the Langley family since 1931.
Tyler and Victoria Langley have been dreaming of creating this hunting preserve for over two years and are excited to see their dream come to fruition. The love birds were wed in April of 2020 and shortly after, in May of 2020, decided they would dedicate a portion of Tylers’s family land to their bird venture. The couple take pride in being one of the only upland bird hunting preserves in the area and are eager to let locals begin hunting quail and chukar on the preserve. In the future, the preserve will expand to include pheasant and other land fowls, but for now the quail and chukar are ready for the dogs.
When asked what led him on the path to creating a hunting preserve, Tyler explained, “Since we got married, we have wanted to provide an enjoyable and price effective way for people to bird hunt in our area. We already had the perfect land for it, and now after two years of hard work and help from our family and friends we are so excited to say that we have done exactly that. We are so thankful and excited to see where this adventure takes us and hope to be able to share our love of upland bird hunting with our community here.”
For those unfamiliar with upland bird hunting, the birds are released into the fields before each scheduled hunt. Well trained pure-bred bird dogs locate the birds and flush them out. Once they take flight, hunters must rely on skill and precision to secure their harvest. Hunters are encouraged to provide their own shotguns and ammunition and should expect the hunting session to last 3.5 hours. There is a two-person minimum per hunting session with morning and afternoon bookings available.
A two week advance reservation is required for Chukar. Shotgun rentals are available for $25, but also require advance notice to ensure they are enough available. Ammo and skeet are available for purchase on site, along with bird cleaning services.
Covey at Hinds Creek Hunting Preserve offers a multitude of packages ranging from an all-inclusive deal which includes 15 skeet, breakfast or lunch, and free bird cleaning, to skeet packages starting at $8 for 15 skeet. If you aren’t quite satiated by your harvest, additional birds can be released at $13 per quail and $23 per chukar.
Located at 775 Hinds Creek Rd., Maynardville, TN 37807 For more information, go to https://www.cahchuntingpreserve.com/