The numbers aren't that unrealistic when you think about it. Think about all the sporting goods shops that make money off deer season. Hunters are out there buying new rifles, bows, arrows, practice and sighting targets, ammunition, tree stands, etc. every year in the lead-up to deer season. There is at least one muzzleloader company that I know of that is entirely based in Tennessee and makes all its rifles right here. There are even gas stations and hotels in certain parts of the state that get a bit of a boost in the fall when hunters come in to hunt after deer season opens. Then there are people who spend money on hunting leases and stuff like that. There are even a few folks who spend money to drive to a park and watch deer or photograph them without even hunting them.
It's hard to find specific stats on the number of deer hunters in TN, but just as a guideline, I did find that in 2009, Tennessee sold just under 500,000 hunting licenses (not including another 200,000 or so, give or take, who have Lifetime Sportsman licenses or Senior Citizen licenses). Not all of them deer hunt, but a significant number do. It's not hard to get from there to a multi-million dollar economic impact on the state.
Besides, TWRA doesn't pull numbers like this out of thin air - they devote a significant amount of study to putting a dollar value on what hunting and fishing mean to Tennessee's economy, because it's crucial to determining how their budget ought to be allocated.
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