A crowd approaching 1,000 persons attended the annual duck blind drawing held by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency at Reelfoot Lake Saturday.

Some 749 persons registered for the 44 state-owned "draw blinds" on a perfect August morning at Ellington Assembly Hall.

TWRA Reelfoot manager Paul Brown also announced the framework for the upcoming season and confirmed that Reelfoot and Tennessee hunters will get a 60-day season with a six-duck limit.

Brown said the season would likely open on Thanksgiving weekend, then close for a period of time and then run to Jan. 30, 2005.

He said after the drawing that Reelfoot Lake will also likely get its own two-day early season, sometime in early- to mid-November.

Justin Ward of Bartlett was the first name drawn and he chose blind number 15 in First Pocket near Samburg.

Beaming as he walked to register with TWRA officials, Ward was asked why he picked blind number 15.

"Because my friends told me to," he smiled.

Don Harbor was the second name drawn.

Among the locals who drew blinds were Chad Hearn, B.J. Gooch, David Haggard, Terry Lee Homra and Clayton Bentley.