Of the more than 1 million Bayou State acres providing public hunting opportunities to archers seeking whitetails, those within the Tensas and Atchafalaya basins contain the most popular areas, which teem with deer of substantial quality.

Louisiana is divided into four distinguishable regions: the Northwest Quadrant; the Coastal Marsh and Rice Bowl; the Florida Parishes; and the Tensas-Atchafalaya basins. As you’ll discover below, Louisiana whitetails have adapted readily to these diverse areas, and public lands within each habitat area are known to hold some notable “nocking” prospects for Bayou State bowhunters.

ATCHAFALAYA AND TENSAS BASINS
Here, hundreds of thousands of acres of bottomland hardwoods sweep south from Madison and Tensas parishes, following the course of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers to end near the northern borders of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.

Moreland readily recommends that public bowhunters spend some time on the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge, which lies in portions of Tensas and Madison parishes. According to Tensas River NWR manager Jerome Ford, bow harvests here are estimated at about 100 each year, which is somewhat down from data gathered in the 1990s.

“As visiting hunters are aware, there has been some discussion over the numbers in our deer herd on the refuge,” Ford stated. “The relatively lowered numbers of deer appear to be associated with past timber management strategies in the refuge, along with a change in farming objectives on adjacent lands. We are certainly responding to hunters’ concerns by considering refuge management changes into our future planning.”

Tensas River NWR, some 64,000 acres in area, is a tremendously rich hardwoods habitat area that fosters high-quality white-tailed deer. Some 11 bucks taken here have exceeded the minimum (125 B&C points) for Pope & Young records, and are presently listed in the Louisiana Big Game Records for Whitetails (archery, typical). Bowhunting here begins Nov. 4, 2006, and runs until Jan. 31, 2007.

Kenny Borel of New Iberia knows all about the pursuit of Tensas River NWR whitetails from the archer’s perspective: The bowhunting director of the statewide chapter of the Bayou State Bowhunters Association, he enjoys annual trips afield to hunt Tensas trophies with other members.

“If you can find the food, you will find the deer,” Borel emphasized. “I would begin by scouting feeding areas thoroughly prior to the season opener. You want to look for sign near honey locusts (bean trees), early acorns and greenbrier. In fact, you have to look for whatever they’re eating at the time of the hunt, and that could even include trumpet creeper.”

According to Borel, archers should hunt the wind and get away from crowds. “I like also to pattern the people in the woods --’ get away from them,” he added. “Much of the land here at Tensas River NWR holds good numbers of deer, but some of it does not --’ and you have to know the difference by actually scouting sign of foraging; you have to get out and burn the boot soles in your scouting. Your scouting can pay off handsomely in these woods, especially if you can find deer actively feeding in an area.”