"Hopefully, the lag effects of the 2007 mast crop failure and the drought will ease and herd quantity and quality will be better," he said. "Last fall saw a considerably better mast crop and a spring with somewhat normal rainfall. This should allow does to enter the fawning period in better condition, improve fawning cover and increase the amount and quality of summer deer foods resulting in better fawn survival and recruitment."

Lowrey expects Madison, Hart, Barrow, Forsyth, Hall, Dawson, Banks and Jackson to be the most productive counties and Lake Russell WMA in Banks County and Dawson Forest WMA in Dawson County to be great deer producers, although they get a lot of hunting pressure. Coopers Creek WMA in Union County has had good results the last two years and enjoyed generally lower hunter pressure.

Region 3
"Everything in Region 3 depends on rainfall," said wildlife biologist I.B. Parnell.

He went on to explain that good rain throughout the spring and summer provides both browse for adults and cover for fawns. Under those conditions, 2009 will be as good or better than last year. If we don't get rain, then a bad year results.

Parnell thinks Burke, Columbia and Warren counties are probably the best places to hunt in his region, with Di-Lane WMA in Burke County, Tuckahoe WMA in Screven County and Big Dukes WMA offering the best public hunting spots.

"Tuckahoe had a 18.9 percent hunter success ratio," he described. "Di-Lane had an 18.6 ratio, which includes some quota hunts. Oconee WMA was 16.3 and Big Dukes, 14.1."

Alex Coley, the biologist responsible for the middle section of Region 3 said he expects Wilkes and Washington counties to be best in his area and Clarks Hill in Wilkes County is by far the best WMA. He went on to caution, however, that the harvest numbers were lower last year on that WMA.

Region 4
"We had kind of a bad year in west-central Georgia last year with late white oak mast due to a late frost the previous year," said biologist Killmaster. "Red oaks, the other preferred mast, run on a two-year cycle, meaning the acorns begin growing during the first growing season, but don't actually drop until two years following. We may see some lingering damage to this year's red oak mast.

"Mast production is dependent on a decent amount of rain, especially when the acorns are developing," he explained. "Any drought will stress the trees. Oaks go in cycles. You can have an average crop several years followed by one boom year, then a really nasty year.

"Actually I prefer a spotty crop. If there are acorns everywhere, the deer will be scattered making it harder to hunt. If there is spotty mast production, the deer will be focused in certain areas where there is good mast production," he concluded.

Killmaster added that the best counties for quantity should be the ones closer to Atlanta -- Henry, Coweta and Fayette -- and the best WMAs should be Clybel in Jasper County, Rum Creek in Monroe County and Cedar Creek in Putnam County. Those tracts average about 30 deer per square mile.

"As far as quantity, I expect the count to be about the same as last year, no higher, no lower," he said. "We didn't have any major bouts with hemorrhagic disease that would drop the population and there wasn't an exceptionally high harvest last years." Region 5
Deer herds in southwest Georgia have remained fairly steady, although wildlife biologist Julie Robbins said there has been a decline in densities caused by large-scale landscape changes.

"More hunting clubs have popped up putting more pressure on the deer," she noted. "Also there's a lot of paper company land that is tied up with young pine stands, so you lose a lot of the forage base."