Photo by Dan Bogue

By Dottie Head

Georgia deer hunters had a record season last year, and they have their sights set on another successful year for the 2004-05 hunting season. The torrential rainfall of the 2002-03 deer season left hunters eager to take to the woods last season. Their numbers and success rates were up during the 2003-04 season, and Georgia's 304,310 deer hunters harvested 484,000 deer, an 18 percent increase over the previous year!

Georgia's firearms hunting season opens statewide on Oct. 16 with a 12-deer limit, only two of which may be antlered. Heading into this season, hunters should be pleased to learn that the deer population is estimated at 1.2 to 1.3 million animals. The season runs through Jan. 1 in the Northern Zone and through Jan. 9 in the Southern Zone. From the looks of things, it will be another good year for Georgia deer hunters.

"I'll go out on a limb and say that we may have just had the best year we've ever had as far as numbers of deer harvested and antlers," says Kent Kammermeyer, a senior wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Resources Division. "Sixty-two percent of the total deer harvest was does, which is an all-time record."

Several factors contributed to the unusual success of last season, he adds. The 2002 season was the first year of the antler restrictions requiring one of the two bucks to have four points or more on one side. It was also an exceptionally rainy fall, which kept lots of deer hunters out of the woods. There was also an excellent acorn crop during the 2002 season. All of these factors combined to help stockpile bucks and does for the 2003-04 hunting season.

"In 2003, there were a lot more bucks running around, and they were bigger because they were one year older. Consequently, hunters not only harvested a lot of animals, but there were some nice-sized bucks taken as well."

The total hunter success rate was 59 percent, an increase of 8.7 percent from the previous year, allowing most hunters to put some meat in the freezer. Hunters took an average of 1.6 deer per person and hunted an average of 13.1 days per deer. All told, deer hunters spent an average of 20.9 days in the woods last year in the Peach State.

According to the Georgia Deer Harvest Summary for 2003-04, compiled by the WRD, hunters bagged 296,000 does and 188,000 bucks. Does represented 61.1 percent of the total kill, but the doe harvest was up only 13.8 percent from last year while the buck harvest was up 25.3 percent.

While most hunters were successful, some were more so than others, with 15.4 percent taking two deer, 8.3 percent harvesting three, 5.1 percent bagging four, and 3.3 percent taking five deer. A lucky (or good) 2.5 percent harvested eight or more deer during the 2003-04 season.

Regardless of how you look at it, Georgia ranks as one of the top deer hunting states in the country, according to Kammermeyer.

"Pretty much any way you want to measure it - whether by antlers, numbers or quality - Georgia stacks up as one of the best hunting states in the country. We consistently rank in the top five for the nation."

The Peach State's liberal doe season has allowed hunters to bag a lot of deer and has helped wildlife managers reduce the statewide whitetail population. The state is coming to the end of a five-year deer-management plan with the goal of reducing the population to around 1 million animals.

"Last year was the first part of wall-to-wall doe hunting, meaning that doe hunting was allowed every day of the season last year," Kammermeyer explains. "The hunters took advantage of it, and there were a lot of does harvested."

This is good news, he adds, because once this happens for a few years, then there begins to be a more balanced sex ration in the deer herd. Instead of seeing one buck for every five or six deer spotted in the woods, hunters can expect to see a buck for every two to three deer.

Looking ahead to this season, wildlife managers are hoping for another good one. Because last year's harvest was high enough to bring populations down, some parts of the state will have a lightly smaller herd size than last season. Last year was also a very poor year for the mast crop, meaning that acorn production was off. Since acorns are an important food source for deer, this year's herd may have suffered somewhat from last year's poor production.

"Acorn impacts are always on a one-year lag," Kammermeyer says.

To the deer herd, a poor mast year can mean lower body weights and antler development. A bad acorn year also depresses buck activity, so bucks don't rub as much and they don't chase does. This situation makes things harder for hunters, since deer don't tend to leave as much sign during low acorn years.

So where can you go to maximize your chances of harvesting a deer this year? One of the best ways to find the answer is to look at where the deer came from last season and then plan to hit at least some of these areas for hunting trips.

First, it is important to understand how the WRD comes up with its data. The primary tool is the Deer Harvest Surveys, conducted by the University of Georgia on behalf of the WRD. Basically, the WRD provides the university with a list of hunting license holders and then the university conducts a telephone survey for a random sample of those. The data is analyzed and the results are returned to the WRD.

Hunters are asked a variety of questions about the most recent hunting season, including how many days they hunted, the number and sex of deer taken, the county where deer were killed, and others. Averages for all of these answers are calculated and applied to the entire deer hunter population to generate statewide estimates.

Another method that the WRD uses to estimate harvest is deer-tag returns. Deer tags returns depend on participation by cooler-locker owners and operators, so tag returns can vary widely from season to season. Nonetheless, tag returns are useful to biologists because they help them determine when deer were harvested and from what counties.

If you look at the number of deer tags returned, Jackson County comes in first, with a total of 1,044. Gordon ranked second, with 690 tags returned, with Madison, Hall and Franklin rounding out the top five.

This data is then applied to the state's nine deer management units. These are the boundaries set by the WRD for management purposes. Using this data, we can see that DMU 5 was the most successful area of the state, with 108,000 total deer harvested, up 25.4 percent from the previous year. Located in eastern Georgia, DMU 5 is home to many of the top producing counties, including Jackson (No. 1), Madison (No. 3), and Wilkes (No. 6).

Located west and south of Atlanta, DMU 4 was the second hotspot, with a total of 101,700 deer harvested, up a whopping 35.5 percent from last year. This DMU includes Henry County, which ranked No. 17 for the number of deer tags returned.

A distant third in the total numbers of deer harvested, DMU 2 shows up with 63,900 deer, an increase of 21.8 percent from the 2003-04 season. Forming a band across the state just north of Atlanta, DMU 2 includes Gordon County (No. 2), Hall (No. 4), Franklin (No. 5), and Hart (No. 8).

In central Georgia, DMU 7 comes in third, with 22,800 deer taken, followed by DMU 8 in south-central Georgia, with 48,000 deer, and DMU 6 in southwest Georgia, with 41,200.

Only three DMUs did not post at least one county in the list of top 25. Metro Atlanta's DMU 3 did not, because of urbanization, lack of public access, and limited firearms hunting possibilities. While DMUs 8 and 9 did not put counties on the top 25 list, they racked up five of the top 10 wildlife management area harvests based on hunter success. Obviously, there are good places to hunt in each of the state's nine DMUs. Land use, soil type, acorn and other food sources, and access to hunting land are all factors that you must consider when planning your outings.

Georgia has an extensive WMA system that offers great places for bagging a deer, especially if you apply for a few quota hunts at some of the WMA hotspots and are lucky enough to get picked for them.

As in years past, the WMA that topped the list for hunter success was Ossabaw Island WMA, outside of Savannah. Last year, hunters there had a 58.7 percent success rate, making it the top destination for hunter success. Sapelo Island WMA scored second-place honors in the WMA category, with a 47.2 percent success rate. On both Ossabaw Island and Sapelo Island WMAs, only quota hunts are held. Needless to say, if you can get your name drawn for either of these coveted spots, your chances of getting a deer are better than average!

Another good hunting spot in DMU 9 is Paulks Pasture WMA, near Brunswick. This area garnered the No. 10 spot on the WMA list with a 16 percent success rate. Unlike the other two WMAs in DMU 9, however, Paulks Pasture is not a quota hunt area. Check out the hunting regulations for special adult/child hunts and other hunting dates there.

Berry College WMA, in Floyd County, was the only WMA to make the top 10 list in northern Georgia, in spite of many northern-tier counties showing up on the top 25 county list. Hunters on Berry College had a 22.2 percent success rate last season. Just looking at sheer numbers, we see that Crockford/Pigeon Mountain WMA, in Walker County, had the highest harvest, at 354 total deer, though the hunter success rate there was not high enough to put the area in the top 10.

For those living in central Georgia, there are a number of nearby WMAs that offer a good chance to put meat in the freezer. Last year, hunters on Rum Creek WMA, near Forsyth, had a 23.8 percent success rate. Joe Kurz WMA, in Meriwether County and DMU 4, was also a good location, with 23.1 percent of hunters taking a deer on this area. The 6,400-acre Clybel WMA, at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center near Mansfield in Jasper and Newton counties, is another popular location in Middle Georgia that showed up on the top 10 list. It came in at position No. 8 with a 19.1 percent rate of success.

Di-Lane WMA, in Burke County, recorded a 19.5 percent success for hunters during the 2003-04 season, putting DMU 7 on the map.

While DMU 8 did not place any counties on the top 25 list, it had two WMAs on that top 10 list. Bullard Creek WMA, near Hazlehurst, came in at No. 6, with a 19.6 percent success rate, and Riverbend WMA, in Laurens County, boasted a 16.8 percent rate.

The WRD also breaks down the harvest data by physiographic regions, based on the type of terrain that makes up the area. When looking at this information, you discover that the bulk of the deer harvest takes place in the Piedmont region in central Georgia. Last year, 52.5 percent of deer harvested came from this area. The Upper Coastal Plain also fared well, with 25.8 percent of the total harvest, followed by the Lower Coastal Plain, at 12.1 percent; the Ridge and Valley region of northwest Georgia, at 7.7 percent; and the Blue Ridge Mountains, with 1.8 percent.

If you're interested in the success of various hunting methods, harvest summary reports show firearms hunters killed the most animals last year, taking 246,100 does and 158,000 bucks. In all, 95.2 percent of hunters hunted with a modern firearm, and the total gun harvest was 404,100 animals. This represents a 19.6 percent increase in total gun harvest and 83.5 percent of the total deer taken during last season. Firearms hunters took 1.39 deer each and hunted an average of 12.7 days per deer.

Archery hunters, including crossbow users, had a phenomenal season last year. Archers made up 36.7 percent of the hunting population and harvested 57,600 animals, up 52.4 percent. Of the total archery harvest, 73.5 percent of the animals were does. Archery hunters took a total of 42,300 does, an increase of 34.3 percent, and 15,300 bucks, an increase of 142.9 percent! Hunter success stood at 29.4 percent, with the average deer per hunter being 0.52 and the average days per hunter at 23.8.

While the total number of hunters using a muzzleloader was up for the 2003-04 season, the harvest numbers were down. Last year there were 69,078 hunters choosing this form of hunting, with a total harvest of 22,300 animals, or 4.6 percent of the total harvest. Muzzleloader harvest was down a bit from last season, with a harvest of 16,300 does, down 3.6 percent, and 6,000 bucks, down 11.8 percent. The average muzzleloading hunter spent 4.5 days in the woods, and the average deer per hunter was .32. Those who did harvest a deer with a muzzleloader invested an average of 13.5 hunting days per deer. Primitive weapons season takes place statewide Oct. 9-15 this year.

For more information on deer hunting in Georgia, including regulations, the Deer Harvest Survey, WMA locations, quota hunt applications and deadlines, or other information, visit the Wildlife Resources Division Web site, at www.georgiawildlife.com.