Photo by Charles R. Brower III

Deer hunting on Louisiana's public lands can be special. For example, I'll never forget one such hunt during a high-water year at Thistlethwaite Wildlife Management Area, near Washington.

A model of camaraderie, we five hunters had taken stands along an oak ridge bordering an expansive bottomlands flat. Deer trails led to these ridges, and fresh foraging sign accented the palmetto-laden area.

At sunrise, I could hear the high-pitched squeals of wood ducks echo throughout the swamp; later that morning, I watched more than a dozen birds feed in the acorn-filled waters near my climber. My brother's gun sounded resoundingly with an echo of its own a little after daybreak. I could hear a deer run toward me, and then fall into the waters about 50 yards from my location. A little later, my brother's gun sounded again, and I knew he was dispatching a fallen animal.

Near the weigh-in station later that day, we celebrated both his high-tined 8-pointer, which weighed 210 pounds, and the hefty 4-pointer taken by my brother-in-law. Elated, we were all eager to get back to camp in order to fry up some fresh backstrap for our private fais do-do slated for the evening.

This year, as in years past, most of the Bayou State whitetail hunting community will be afield on private lands. But our public lands, with over a million acres of diverse habitat, also beckon the deer hunter. Every year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries provide information on lands that offer either-sex deer hunting from October through January. Somewhere near 3,000 to 5,000 whitetails are harvested on these lands during managed hunts, which typically occur on holidays and weekends in October, November and December. Access to some of these hunts is to be had by lottery only.

TOP PUBLIC LANDS FOR RECOGNITION WHITETAILS
Atchafalaya Delta WMA
Bow
Lake Ophalia NWR
Bow, Muzzleloader
Tansas River NWR
Bow, Muzzleloader
Thistlathwaita WMA
Gun, Bow, Muzzleloader

Deer hunters afield at state public areas during the 2005-06 hunting seasons should find their quarry abundant: So reports Dave Moreland, LDWF wildlife administrator and former deer study leader, who estimates that the state's deer herd numbers nearly a million.

"Temperatures last fall were unusually warm, and deer harvests on WMAs were down at least 1,000 deer statewide," he said. "Areas 1 and 6 had better weather in December and January, but other deer areas did not benefit as seasons were winding down. If we can experience colder temperatures in 2005-06, hunters should find plenty deer available on both public and private lands. We had a great mast crop throughout most of the state last year, and it was fairly wet on most ranges during the spring of 2005."

DISTRICT 1
The habitat here in northwestern Louisiana is very favorable in terms of producing big numbers of whitetails. The records both of private lands under the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) and of WMAs demonstrate deer harvests to be in the higher-than-average range. The habitat consists chiefly of pine and mixed pine-hardwood habitat types managed by various timber companies and the LDWF.

Jackson-Bienville WMA, 12 miles south of Ruston in north-central Louisiana, provides some tantalizing opportunities. Its 32,185 acres contain rolling, pine-blanketed hills, with hardwoods scattered in bottomland areas. The major landowner, the Weyerhaeuser Company, leases these lands to the LDWF without charge. The main strategy here is to hunt deer corridors leading to food in the early season. Situating stands to intercept deer going from feeding to bedding is a popular tactic for gun hunters. Dates for gun hunting begin in late November and progress through December with many either-sex days.