Why It Matters: The Tennessee Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus (Caucus) is a bipartisan group of state legislators that is housed under the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses (NASC) umbrella and serves to protect our time-honored outdoor traditions. The Caucus does a great job of keeping members engaged both during the regular and interim sessions, allowing members to interact with the sporting-conservation community on issues impacting sportsmen and women in Tennessee.
Highlights:
- On September 2, the Caucus hosted its annual Legislative Dove Hunt in Williamsport, Tennessee.
- The event was hosted by the Caucus in conjunction with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Foundation (TWRF), Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), and the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF).
- This year’s hunt saw one of the strongest turnouts in the event’s history with approximately 70 total attendees, 15 of whom were Caucus members.
- Attendees enjoyed a BBQ lunch and evening dove hunt, along with brief remarks from TWRA, TWRF, CSF, and Caucus Co-Chairs Senators Paul Rose and Steve Southerland and Representative Jesse Chism, who also serves on the NASC Executive Council.
For most of the country, Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer and the unofficial start to the fall hunting season. In honor of hunting season kick-off, the Tennessee Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus welcomed legislators, sporting-conservation partners, and state agency staff for an afternoon of camaraderie in the dove field, which turned out to be a successful start to the hunting season.
On the heels of a very productive year in Tennessee, members and partners of the Caucus had the opportunity to reflect on several big wins. First, the Caucus co-hosted the 22nd Annual NASC Sportsmen Legislator Summit alongside the Mississippi Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus in Memphis, Tennessee, in December 2025. The event saw one of the strongest turnouts to date for the NASC Summit and was a huge success on all fronts.
Also celebrated was the passage of Senate Bill 2369/House Bill 2588 sponsored by Caucus Co-Chairs Senator Paul Rose, Representative Chris Todd and Caucus Co-Chair and NASC Executive Council Member Representative Jesse Chism, which will allow schools to offer students in grades 5–12 a hunter education course as part of the student’s physical education, health, or safety instruction curriculum. Finally, attendees were provided with an update on the ongoing effort to secure a dedicated funding mechanism for the TWRA, which will continue to be the center of attention going into the 2027 legislative session.
CSF would like to extend a huge thank you to TWRF and TWRA for working alongside the Caucus to host yet another successful Legislative Dove Hunt. CSF also thanks the attendees, Caucus Co-Chairs, event hosts, and event sponsors for their role in supporting the Caucus.