As in northeast Louisiana, supplemental forage in the form of expansive greenfields and other plantings have had an impact in increasing the carrying capacity of these timberlands for white-tailed deer.

Public lands here have a tendency to deliver many whitetails to opportunistic public hunters.

Jackson-Bienville WMA is 12 miles south of Ruston in Jackson, Bienville and Lincoln parishes. Its 32,185 acres of rolling, pine-blanketed hills and hardwoods scattered in bottomland areas provide more than adequate habitat for white-tailed deer in good numbers.

Dates for gun hunting begin in mid-November and progress through December with many either-sex days. For information, contact the LDWF Wildlife Division at (318) 371-3050.

A little farther northeast, Union WMA in Union Parish offers 11,113 acres for public hunting on a tract of loblolly pine forests mixed with several hardwood species. This area is approximately four miles west of Marion.

Durham was especially excited over the results of last year's managed hunts on Ouachita WMA, in Ouachita Parish six miles northeast of Monroe. Only 10,389 acres in area, this WMA -- a hardwoods area with two major timber types, oak-elm-ash and overcup oak-bitter pecan -- delivered 80 whitetails in 355 hunting efforts, or 4.4 hunting efforts per deer in 1997.

Managed either-sex hunts occur the three days following Thanksgiving, and a bucks-only segment is usually slated from mid-to-late December.

LAY OF THE LAND
Louisiana WMA acres per deer harvested by habitat type, 2007-2008 seasons
HABITAT TYPE	WMA Acres Per Kill
Upland Hardwood	79
Swamp Hardwood	106
Bottomland Hardwood	136
Northwest Pine/Hardwood	144
Southeast Pine/Hardwood	151
Historic Longlead	393
Statewide	165

For more information on hunting Ouachita and Union whitetails, contact the LDWF at (318) 343-4044.

SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA
Each season, deer gun hunts on select wildlife management areas in southwest Louisiana are usually scheduled the last weekend in October. These are the earliest gun seasons in the state to be offered to gun hunters on state public lands.

The parishes involved in the early season schedule include Vernon, Beauregard, Allen, Jefferson Davis, Calcasieu, Cameron, Vermilion, Acadia, Evangeline and portions of Iberia and St. Mary.

The scheduled either-sex gun hunts on wildlife management areas in 2007 included hunts on Clear Creek, Fort Polk, Peason Ridge and West Bay WMAs.

"In total, we had 3,970 public hunting efforts that resulted in the harvest of 503 deer for one deer out of 8.8 hunting efforts on the first managed hunt weekends on these areas," said John Robinette, LDWF Region V biologist manager.

According to the biologist, the rut in deer areas 3 and 8 usually arrives in late September, with the peak of the activity occurring in mid-October. The secondary rut on these lands appears to occur in November.

"We had a lot of deer killed off these WMAs -- some of it due also to the effects of Hurricane Rita," said Robinette. "Although we had severe hardwoods damage in the area, the forest canopy has opened up and as a result we're seeing more deer.

For more information regarding hunting these southwest Louisiana public WMAs, contact LDWF Region V at (337) 491-2575.

For more information regarding locations and regulations on deer hunting in Louisiana, consult the 2008-09 edition of the Louisiana Hunting Regulations and Wildlife Management Area pamphlet, or visit the LDWF Web site, the address for which is www.wlf.louisiana.gov.