“We should have a bowhunting season for October 2006, but hunters here are advised to check with the refuge for updates during the late summer and fall,” said Wayne Syron, refuge biologist and an avid bowhunter. According to Syron, harvests here each season range between 15 and 40 deer. Although the refuge’s bucks aren’t exactly renowned for antlered crowns, record animals taken here have included several in the 7- and 8-point range.

Syron recommends that visiting bowhunters look for signs of feeding, most particularly on the banks of the canals and the edges of rice fields.

Owing chiefly to the lack of trees in the marsh, still-hunting is one of the methods most favored by area bowhunters. This stop-and-go technique sees archers first take an early ground stand and then move slowly through an area, pausing ever so often to listen and wait for traveling whitetails.

The sole check station is at Gary’s Landing, near the refuge. Archers are required to write or call the refuge in order to obtain the permits necessary to hunt the refuge and to complete a bowhunter education course prior to going afield on these lands. For more information, contact the Lacassine NWR at (337) 774-5923.

Pass-A-Loutre WMA, its 115,596 acres lying in the southernmost part of Plaquemines Parish, also offers bowhunting-only endeavors for whitetails and follows the state season (Oct. 1-15, bucks-only; Oct. 16-Feb. 15, either-sex). Last year, hunting seasons here too were disrupted by the disaster that was Katrina.

“The archery season will be open here for 2006,” said wildlife division leader Moreland. “Deer surveys completed in February indicated that the herd survived the storm, and the habitat is starting to recover as well.”

Access to this island whitetail haven is possible only by boating in. Strategies here include setting up in small trees on levees or still-hunting deer travel corridors. According to Moreland, the rut here follows the delta December-January pattern, so hunters should concentrate on scrapes and does at this time. For maps or more information, contact the LDWF at (225) 765-2800.

THE NORTHWEST QUADRANT
Rolling hills blanketed with pine and mixed pine-hardwood forests combine to form the dominant habitat type in the northwest quadrant of Louisiana, which comprises the parishes north of DeRidder and west of Monroe. The deer herd here has definitely responded to habitat management efforts by timber managers and wildlife biologists.

Jackson-Bienville WMA, 12 miles south of Ruston in north-central Louisiana, sets up some promising situations for Bayou State archers. Its 32,000 acres contain rolling piney hills with scattered hardwoods in bottomland areas. The archery season here is scheduled to run Oct. 1-Jan. 31 (either-sex), with periods of suspension during modern gun seasons.

The preferred tactics here involve hunting deer corridors that lead to food in the early season. Stands near early-season acorns and trails leading to food plots are much valued by bowhunters on the area. The deer herd is considered quite robust, and animals of considerable quality are killed here on an annual basis. Peak breeding takes place roughly in the first half of December.