TN TN - Scott Hawkins, 51 & Tracy Hawkins, 44, brothers, ginseng hunting, Rocky Top, 6 Aug 2021

[Rescue63]

Been searching for the two Hawkins brothers since they disappeared Aug 6. This is on Campbell county, Tn.

 

[scapa]

Been searching for the two Hawkins brothers since they disappeared Aug 6. This is on Campbell county, Tn.

Some links:

Campbell County brothers missing after leaving home to search for ginseng | WATE 6 On Your Side

Two brothers missing from Rocky Top

‘I knew something was wrong by Friday night’ – Donna Hawkins

Campbell Co. sheriff searching for two men who disappeared while ginseng hunting | wbir.com

 

[Speculaytor]

Been searching for the two Hawkins brothers since they disappeared Aug 6. This is on Campbell county, Tn.

Here are some links for information.
Campbell County brothers missing after leaving home to search for ginseng | WATE 6 On Your Side

Tennessee State Ginseng Laws

Ginseng

Holley Gamble Funeral Home where the brother's car was found
Google Maps

 

[Speculaytor]

Do we know if the brothers did this on a regular basis in that location? The woods look VERY dense, and easy to get lost.

 

[ClaireNC]

The brothers are 51 year old Scott Hawkins and 44 year old Tracy Hawkins. They left their home at about 9 am on Friday, August 6 to go hunt ginseng. Their car was found parked at the Holley-Gamble Funeral Home on Sunday, Aug 8.

 

[spiritseeker31]

told their mother, Donna, that they would return around 6 p.m.
Hawkins brothers still missing | LaFollettePress.com

Hawkins had last seen her sons around 9 a.m. on Aug. 6 when the two men drove her 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer and parked across the street from Holley Gamble Funeral Home on Hwy 116 in Caryville, TN to enter the woods to hunt for ginseng, according to CCSO
Campbell Co. sheriff searching for two men who disappeared while ginseng hunting | wbir.com

The men, her boys as she calls them, are each about six-feet tall and are of average weight. “They’re home boys. They don’t run around,” said Hawkins.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of Scott and Tracy Hawkins, you’re urged to call Campbell County Sheriff Robbie K. Goins at 423.562.8042. ‘I knew something was wrong by Friday night’ – Donna Hawkins


9am to 6pm is an awful long day of ginseng hunting! They could be anywhere

 

[ThoughtFox]

This is a strange story. If they had lived there a long time they probably knew their way around in the woods. They knew where to park to enter, for instance. I wonder if they had hunted ginseng in that same place before. It's not really a safe time to roam the woods in Tennessee in summer, with snakes, bears, poison ivy, and yellow jackets. Lots of things could go wrong. And of course they could have run into some humans.

 

[Soulmagent]

I cannot be the only one wondering if the funeral home has a crematorium ,right?

My heart is breaking for their mom ! I really hope she has a lot of support right now.

 

[everybodhi]

Demand for ginseng is creating a ‘wild west’ in Appalachia

Larry Harding left his 12-gauge shotgun propped by the door that September night. He feared that otherwise he might shoot the thieves if he stumbled on them in the dark. Instead, he grabbed his camera and went out across the road where they’d raided his ginseng patch the week before. He suspected the bandits would return, and sure enough, flashlights bouncing around the woods confirmed it.

More than 45 percent of wild American ginseng, gnarly and twisted from growing between rocks and thick tree roots, goes to Hong Kong, where the roots are sorted, graded, and shipped to China or other parts of Asia, retailing for an average of $8,000 a pound.

“A root like I just dug, which a local buyer here in Pennsylvania might pay $10 for, might sell for $10,000 in mainland China,” he said. “In the ginseng distribution areas in northern China, I’ve seen these things in glass cases for $220,000 a root. You think, who would ever consume a root for $220,000? They don’t. It’s a status symbol.” They hang it on the wall, frame it, or present it to a government official or a business partner. “They don’t put it in chicken soup—they use that Wisconsin cultivated stuff for that. The high-end stuff goes to collectors. They treat it as art.”

 

[everybodhi]

Image of Scott and Tracy Hawkins caught on trail cam (Provided by CCSO)

Authorities searching for missing brothers - WYSH AM 1380

I wonder if they had permission from the landowner, they were harvesting before the legal season.
From @Speculaytor link:
Tennessee State Ginseng Laws
BBM

Tennessee Annotated Code 70-8-203. Dates of harvest season

The harvest season for wild ginseng shall be from August 15 through December 31, inclusive, of each year
[Acts 1985, ch. 177, § 3; T.C.A., § 11-26-103.] r.3.]

Tennessee Annotated Code 70-8-204. Prohibited activities

(e) It is unlawful for any person, without permission of the landowner, to enter the property of the landowner and dig, harvest, collect, or remove wild or cultivated ginseng. This subsection (e) shall not apply to any employee or contractor of the federal government or of the state or of any political subdivision of the state engaged in any type of planning, construction, or maintenance work upon any proposed or existing federal, state, county, or other public road or highway, or highway right-of-way, while performing such work in the course of employment or contract work with the federal, state, or local government.
[Acts 1985, ch. 177, §§ 4-8; T.C.A., § 11-26-104.]

 

[Tealgrove]

I’m wondering if they stumbled into something (illegal) that could have caused their disappearance.

 

[bykerladi]

I had no idea ginsing hunting was an illegal thing. Or a thing at all actually...

 

[Shamrock1]

$588,000 ginseng root
Here's What A $588,000 Root Looks Like

 

[Speculaytor]

Image of Scott and Tracy Hawkins caught on trail cam (Provided by CCSO)
View attachment 310658
Authorities searching for missing brothers - WYSH AM 1380

I wonder if they had permission from the landowner, they were harvesting before the legal season.
From @Speculaytor link:
Tennessee State Ginseng Laws
BBM

Tennessee Annotated Code 70-8-203. Dates of harvest season

The harvest season for wild ginseng shall be from August 15 through December 31, inclusive, of each year
[Acts 1985, ch. 177, § 3; T.C.A., § 11-26-103.] r.3.]

Tennessee Annotated Code 70-8-204. Prohibited activities

(e) It is unlawful for any person, without permission of the landowner, to enter the property of the landowner and dig, harvest, collect, or remove wild or cultivated ginseng. This subsection (e) shall not apply to any employee or contractor of the federal government or of the state or of any political subdivision of the state engaged in any type of planning, construction, or maintenance work upon any proposed or existing federal, state, county, or other public road or highway, or highway right-of-way, while performing such work in the course of employment or contract work with the federal, state, or local government.
[Acts 1985, ch. 177, §§ 4-8; T.C.A., § 11-26-104.]

The picture is just after 6pm, and they are still in the woods. Looks dark. They told mom they would be home then. Who did they run into? Just doesn't seem they would get lost, and wouldn't they have been found, or found their way out by now? Strange NO sign of them at all!!

 

[everybodhi]

The picture is just after 6pm, and they are still in the woods. Looks dark. They told mom they would be home then. Who did they run into? Just doesn't seem they would get lost, and wouldn't they have been found, or found their way out by now? Strange NO sign of them at all!!

If the time and date stamp is correct, that trail cam video is from Thursday, 8/5, mom reported they went out Friday 8/6, mom found their car on Saturday, and she filed a missing persons report on Sunday 8/8.
Friday may not have been their first (illegal) hunt

Authorities searching for missing brothers - WYSH AM 1380
BBM
52-year-old Scott Hawkins and 44-year-old Tracy Hawkins were last seen by their mother at around 9 am on Friday, August 6th. The men had borrowed her SUV and parked it across from Holley-Gamble Funeral Home on Highway 116 in Caryville, and entered the woods behind on a ginseng hunt. The men’s mother told deputies that they had told her they would be home that same evening, but they have not been seen since. They were reported missing on August 8th, and since that time the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office has been coordinating search efforts.

 

[siliconrod]

I have not seen any updates in the MSM. Its possible they have returned home but has not been reported to the local media. Come home safe Scott and Tracy.

 

[moonriverfarm]

I did not know ginseng hunting was a thing, or that there was a market for it in the US.

 

[ThoughtFox]

It is strange that there are no updates about these missing brothers. It's like they disappeared off the face of the earth. I can't find any mention of searches on Facebook or anywhere. Something clearly happened to them, but what?

 

[killarney rose]

"I've got to find my sons" | Mother pleas for tips in case of Campbell Co. brothers missing for 48 days | wbir.com

 

[everybodhi]

"I've got to find my sons" | Mother pleas for tips in case of Campbell Co. brothers missing for 48 days | wbir.com

This is the first I've read that the truck windshield was shattered.

From your link:
That truck is the only clue about what happened to Scotty and Tracy Hawkins when they left to go ginseng hunting. It rests off Highway 116 in Campbell County. The windshield is shattered, just like the heart of the mother waiting for her sons to drive the truck back home.

The brothers grew up in the woods around their home, and Donna said they always found their way back home even if they got lost. She also said that she didn't know if anyone would ever want to hurt them.