Georgia White Tails

[overbore]

Local radio put out this blurb 17 November:" there are so many deer in Georgia that every licensed hunter would have to bag 12 to keep the deer population at desired levels". Are the hunters in Iraq or are the deer that numerous? Overbore

 

[J E Custom]

Local radio put out this blurb 17 November:" there are so many deer in Georgia that every licensed hunter would have to bag 12 to keep the deer population at desired levels". Are the hunters in Iraq or are the deer that numerous? Overbore

There are a lot of national forrest in georgia and mississippi and a lot of very thick
bottoms that deer can hide in and go without being seen without a game camera.

I have hunted in both states when the limit was 1 deer a day but most days I drew a blank.

Also they used to run deer with dogs but now this is illegal and also no feeders are allowed.

Food plots are allowed and big/smart deer come to them at night for safety.

There are some realy big deer there ( 250+ lbs ) with a chance of a 300 pounder.

J E CUSTOM

 

[eddybo]

I do not know about Georgia but in MS dogging deer is still legal. Feeders just became legal, but they must be at least 100 yards from the stand and not within line of sight. Only protien pellets may be fed until Dec. 1 then corn may be mixed with the pellets.

 

[NEB]

First of all I was born and raised in Georgia and have never lived anywhere else. Secondly, I am a wildlife biologist and I can tell you that what you heard is very misleading.

The annual bag limit for deer in GA is 12 per hunter. In counties that do not have antler restrictions this means you can kill 10 antlerless, 1 buck of any size, and 1 buck that must have a minimum of 4 pts on one side.

The GA DNR sets the bag limits based on harvest data collected throughout the state (WMA check stations, licensed processors, and others). The general assumption is for every deer kill reported, their is one deer killed that is not reported; but, the majority of hunters do not kill even half of their limit. So, the deer herd is being kept "in check" with harvests lower than your friendly broadcaster reported; however, if every hunter killed their limit there would not be damage to the population.

Most educated hunters in GA take pride in our DNR's game management. As a biologist I can tell you that GA is on the cutting edge of deer management, and has a pretty decent legislature to help change game laws as science deems it is necessary.

 

[clearview]

Hey NEB, have you ever hunted the national forest land in ga. There are not many deer left there. The national forest land is only allowed certain days as doe days. The does have been over shot and the herd is suffering. Not many deer left in those forests.

If every hunter killed 12 deer, they would wipe out the population. There wouldn't be any deer.

I hunt in a club, we do not over shoot them, so we still see plenty of deer. We manage the herd. There are certian parts of the state with fewer deer, but have the same 10 does allowed. That's wrong.

The DNR push the 10 does and 2 bucks to shrink the herd from the high populations we had in the late 1990's to what we have now, which is a smaller herd for the state. This is for the insurance companies pushing for a smaller herd so they don't have to pay out as much to fix cars.

Don't tell me they just hide better. That's bull. There are still good numbers of deer in the state and alot of deer, but in certain areas the does are over shot.
THIS has it's good points and bad. THERE is more food for the deer population, giving Bucks more food to grow bigger racks. But the deer herd is getting smaller.

The Qaulity Deer Management that is happening in the state in hunting clubs, is making a lot bigger Bucks, and a great improvement to the herd also. Georgia is getting some big Bucks now. This not happening from the DNR, it's like minded people pushing QDM in the hunting clubs. The DNR did do a few counties that have antler width restrictions and 4 on one side rule for certain counties, that help.

 

[danlnga]

Well now, I am going to have to disagree with "Clearview". I am in a club in NE Georgia & we have 891 acres under lease with 15 members. Maybe half are active hunters. We have a very healthy deer population & see numerous does consistently & the occasional buck. There were two 8 pointers taken off the lease last year that were 5 years or older with heavy mass & had not been seen before they were taken. I live in the north side of Hall county & see deer almost daily.

Deer are smart & adaptable. Don't be fooled if "you don't see them".

 

[Hammack]

I was born and raised in SW Georgia right in the middle of farm country. I hear constantly of people all over the state talking about the deer in Georgia being over shot. The herd is smaller etc..., but I have yet to see it. I currently hunt an area that 15 years ago had no deer to hunt so the population has to be on the rise. I do agree that GA is starting to get larger deer because of hunters starting to let the smaller bucks go.

 

[Bruce Rickey]

There are that many deer in GA. I have hunted the Wildlife Management Areas, the National Forests and the National Wildlife Refuges. On one particular WMA just north of Atlanta (Pine Log) with an annual hunter success rate of 5% give or take I ahve killed 9 deer in the 7 hunts, on Piedmont NWR and another "Unnamed" NWR I have always managed to kill deer. On my deer leases I have had less success. I would say that the main reasons is intensity. I know that I ahve a short window of time to hunt and therefore I hunt public hunts very hard with as much scouting as possible before the hunt. The way that I hunted the public land was to seek out those areas where other hunters did not know how to get to or did not scout. The short seasons for the quota hunts also means less pressure on the deer. I also tend to have a "if it's brown it's down" meat hunting attitude on public land and go for trophies on my lease (I've passed on two 8 pointers and a 6 pointer this year). When pressured, deer go nocturnal and become very difficult to see much less hunt. They are there, they are just hiding or avoiding places where they are being disturbed. Of course if the place you hunt is poor habitat you might as well try hunting bullfrogs in the desert.
My experience has shown me that deer are as smart if not smarter than hunting dog's.
You can learn a lot about deer hunting by observing dogs when bird hunting. They can smell those birds from a long way away. Deer can scent your trail from a distance, they do not have to cross your trail to know that you have been there. Watch how a dog that has 3 or 4 years on them and have been exposed to a lot of birds works as compaired to a 7 or 8 month old pup and you will see the difference between a button buck and a mature white tail; be that deer a buck or a doe.

That's my opinion and we all know that opinions are like a certain part of out anatomy.