Louisiana's deer hunters are serious about their quarry.

For evidence, you need only look at the most recent session of the state legislature, which saw proposed no fewer than five bills aimed at enhancing or altering some aspect of the state's deer regulations and laws --everything from the redefinition of primitive weapons to the use of "hunter orange" during the season.

At the same time, the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission proposed an additional set of changes to allow hunters to harvest antlerless deer on certain wildlife management areas without counting towards their seasonal limit.

All of the proposals seemed to focus on one theme: So many deer roam Louisiana that wildlife officials are devising additional ways to harvest them.

How times have changed regarding deer hunting in the Bayou State. In 1952, biologists estimated a deer population of approximately 72,000 animals. Today, deer study leader Scott Durham with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries estimated, the state's whitetail herd stands at nearly 1 million animals.

According to Durham, licensed deer hunter numbers have actually remained stable in the last couple of years -- in contrast to decreases experienced in other states -- and he expects some 160,000 licensed deer hunters will enter the woods for the 2008-09 seasons.

"I am hoping for a deer harvest at around 200,000 whitetails statewide," he said. "On our most recent survey, hunters have claimed that the actual harvest had reached 195,200 statewide.

"I also think that the actual implementation of our deer tagging program this season will give us focused data to work with regarding the department's deer harvest targets statewide. The deer season looks pretty good overall for 2008-09. We have adequate timber management occurring across the state, so there's much availability of browse forage. Our mast season last year was moderate, but there are more than enough other wild foodstuffs to keep Louisiana with a healthy deer herd."

In 2008, as in seasons past, most of the Bayou State deer hunting community will enjoy the pursuit of whitetails on private lands, where 80 percent of Louisiana's population of the animals is found. But more than 1 million acres of diverse public lands managed by the LDWF, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Forest Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are also available to Louisiana deer hunters.

On these public lands, approximately 5,000 whitetails are harvested each year during managed hunts, which typically occur on holidays and weekends in October, November and December. Access to a few of these hunts is by lottery only.

According to Durham, deer hunters using these lands should find at least as many whitetails now as last season -- with the exception of Region V (southwest Louisiana), where hunters are observing a boom in whitetail populations. This expansion is largely due to the loss of timber to Hurricane Rita's devastating winds in 2005. Much of the forest canopy in southwest Louisiana has been destroyed, creating cover and regenerating browse species of forage to sustain increasing numbers of whitetails.