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Louisiana Deer Hunting
10/06/08 - 03:15 PM
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    NEW ORLEANS (AP) - You don’t need to belong to a private club to
enjoy productive deer hunting in Louisiana.
    State and federal lands open to public hunting offer hunters
ample opportunities for enjoyable deer hunts.
    “Some of the best deer in the state come off our wildlife
management areas,” said Scott Durham, a Louisiana Department of
Wildlife & Fisheries biologist.
    Add the federal lands available for public hunting, and the
result is a smorgasbord of deer hunting. The trick is to decide
whether the goal is killing a trophy or simply bringing home table
fare.
    Before heading to the closest wildlife management area or
national wildlife refuge, it might be worth considering this
top-five list:
    - Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge, about 20 miles
northeast of Marksville, is an 18,000-acre refuge that wasn’t
created for hunting but has turned out some monster deer.
    “You have some real heavy bodyweights on the refuge,”
biologist Bradley Bordelon said. “It’s common to have a 3 1/2 to 4
1/2-year-old deer that weigh 225 to 260 pounds.”
    One reason for these massive deer has to do with the soil.
    “We have that good rich river bottom land,” Bordelon said.
    Also, the refuge is surrounded by land that primarily is managed
for trophy bucks.
    The last piece of the puzzle is the regulated gun hunting. There
are only three muzzleloader lottery hunts (only 900 total hunters
involved) and a few youth rifle hunts. Only archery equipment is
allowed outside of those, so bucks have a greater opportunity to
age.
    Hunting can be difficult. Bordelon said that although much of
the property is in hardwood bottoms, there are numerous cypress
sloughs scattered about the refuge. The understory is generally
sparse, so there are great odds of at least seeing deer during a
hunt.
    Bordelon said access is good, with plenty of ATV trails.
However, those who don’t mind taking long walks have the best odds
of success.
    “We encourage people to walk and get away from the crowd,”
Bordelon said.
    - Jackson Bienville Wildlife Management Area, 12 miles south of
Ruston, is one of the popular public areas in the state, with
annual pilgrimages to the 32,000 acres being tradition in many
families. The reason is that Jackson Bienville is really a numbers
game, providing deer with plenty of thick understory in which to
hide.
    “We’ve found you really can’t over-hunt the deer (on the
WMA),” Durham said.
    That means hunters can have some assurance of at least seeing
deer, and state data show there’s a high probability of making
kills. DWF records show there were 123 deer killed by 933 hunters
during the two-day managed hunt last November.
    That is a deer for every 7.6 efforts. Durham said that’s
fantastic odds.
    “Anything that’s in the neighborhood of 10 (deer per hunter
effort) or less is good,” Durham said.
    Another 237 deer were taken during the rest of the season, which
was unmanaged. Such large numbers were made possible with
liberalized seasons, with more than a month of either-sex hunting
allowed.
    Durham said Jackson Bienville also could be a sleeper for
quality bucks.
    “That’s the place where some really fine deer are likely to
show up,” Durham said.
    - Buckhorn WMA, about 20 miles southeast of Winnsboro, lies in
the rich region between the Tensas and Mississippi rivers,
producing perfect conditions for deer.
    “It’s that rich bottomland,” Durham said. “It’s all about the
dirt.”
    Although this fertile soil holds plenty of mast-producing trees,
surrounding agricultural fields provide deer with incredible
amounts of protein-rich groceries.
    The final part of the equation comes in the form of prolific
palmettos, the fan-like vegetation that accomplishes two connected
things: making it tough for hunters to get shots and providing deer
with plenty of cover.
    “You can see why those deer can get some age on them,” Durham
said. “There were some really nice deer that came off of Buckhorn
last year.”
    Another result of the thick cover and ample food, however, is an
increasing population of deer. That’s evidenced by the 209 deer
taken off the 11,000 acres during the 2007-08 season. Eighty-nine
of those were taken during managed hunts, during which 534 hunter
efforts were made. On the managed hunts, the success ratio was a
deer for every six efforts.
    That sounds positive, but Durham said the large deer herd has
caused problems.
    “We’ve done some reforestation work, and we’ve seen a lot of
browsing on those new plantings,” he said.
    Such heavy browsing makes it difficult to properly manage
habitat to maintain herd health. So biologists have liberalized
hunting on Buckhorn, offering several gun seasons in addition to
the archery either-sex season Oct. 1 through Jan. 31.
    Gun hunts include a youth and handicapped hunt Oct. 25-26,
either-sex seasons scheduled for late November through mid
December, a nine-day bucks-only hunt and a 14-day primitive-weapons
season.
    “We’re trying to ramp up harvest,” Durham said.
    - Sherburne WMA, on the east bank of the Atchafalaya River south
of Krotz Springs, is a perennial favorite among public-lands
hunters, since it offers a healthy deer herd and the opportunity to
spread out and get away from the crowd.
    Records show 433 deer were killed off the massive area last
season, despite access problems when Interstate 10 was closed
during one of the managed hunts due to an oil well fire. During
that time, hunters killed a deer for every 8 1/2 efforts.
    “Those are very good numbers, considering the closure and the
fact that the area is primarily open understory,” Durham said.
    The high kill rate is due in large part to the ample hardwood
mast that supports a large herd, and the fact that Sherburne lies
within the area just west of Baton Rouge that has been
overpopulated due to limited kills of does by surrounding
landowners the past two decades.
    “There are a lot of deer in that entire area,” Durham said.
    A look at the numbers from the two managed hunts on the area
would indicate pretty high pressure, with more than 2,700 hunters
taking advantage of the hunts. But the 44,000 acres of the complex
allowed for those hunters to get away from each other.
    - Loggy Bayou WMA, 20 miles southeast of Bossier City, is in
North Louisiana, but it’s not the piney woods one would expect.
Instead it’s located in the Red River Alluvial Valley, and is home
to one of the few remaining bottomland/hardwoods stands remaining
in the region.
    But LDWF biologist Jeff Johnson said hunters shouldn’t expect to
see giant oaks.
    “There aren’t 80-foot trees like some of the other areas,”
Johnson said. “It’s more shorter trees. There are some big woods,
but a lot of it is old agricultural fields that have come back
naturally.”
    These thick stands of small trees provide ample cover for deer,
and the animals have responded.
    “The deer herd is healthy,” Johnson said. “There’s probably a
little more than we’d like, but it’s in check with the habitat.”
    Conversely, the thickness of the regenerated forests makes for
challenging hunts.
    “A fellow would have to hunt hard to find a place for a
climber,” Johnson said. “They’re probably better off with a
lock-on.”
    But that difficulty is one reason some monster bucks have been
taken. The potential was seen last year, when Shreveport’s Amanda
Hinkie knocked down a 14-pointer that greenscored 185 Boone &
Crockett points during a gun hunt.
    Johnson said that deer was the largest he had seen come from
Loggy Bayou, but the only surprise was that it was killed during
the three-day either-sex gun hunt.
    “There’s always some good deer killed during that gun hunt, but
it’s not something we expect every year,” he said. “There’s so
much pressure, and the deer get pretty spooky.”
    The only other gun hunting, outside of the Thanksgiving week gun
hunt, is a seven-day primitive-weapon season.
    Although 450 hunters killed 67 deer in those managed hunts last
year, Johnson said such limited gun hunting plays a part in Loggy
Bayou’s reputation as a trophy-producer.
    “The deer have a better chance of surviving and making it to
older age classes,” Johnson explained.
    Gun hunters might want to sit out the three-day rifle season,
scheduling a trip during the primitive-weapon hunt scheduled for
Dec. 1-7.
    Loggy Bayou really shines as an opportunity for die-hard
archers, who are allowed to hunt from Oct. 1 through Jan. 31.
    “That’s one of the best places in the state to kill a Pope &
Young deer,” Johnson said. “It’s a good place to see a good
buck.”
    Odds are, hunters will come back with at least memories of huge
deer.
    “They see some big deer,” Johnson said. “They tell us about
them all the time, but they might not get a shot.”