Photo by Ralph Hensley.

Without a doubt, deer hunting in Louisiana has changed over the years -- and more than ever, the focus increasingly turns towards Quality Deer Management on much of the private and public habitat available for whitetail hunting in the Bayou State.

"Our opinion surveys consistently demonstrate that a large majority of hunters -- around 80 percent -- are interested in types of quality deer management strategies in Louisiana," said Scott Durham, deer study leader with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

"Landowners and lessees enrolled in the state's Deer Management Assistance Program are willing to do much of what we prescribe in order to recruit younger bucks into older quality whitetails," stated the deer study leader.

Quality Deer Management can be defined as a deer management option mandating the harvest of a prescribed number of bucks and does. Such practices along with improving the carrying capacity of the habitat should result in the increased recruitment of younger bucks into the adult segment of the deer herd.

These management strategies have been practiced in the Bayou State since the early 1970s on private lands along the Mississippi River Delta. As a result, high-quality and trophy deer abound in these river parishes, making parcels of real estate in this storied area quite expensive to lease for club members and other private individuals.

Quality management throughout the state has included restrictions on the number of antler points, main-beam lengths and inside spread, as well as measures taken to ensure adequate doe harvests. In addition, club lessees have engaged in tremendous efforts to supplement the already diverse habitat here with spacious greenfields in strategic locations.

Have these restrictions worked? Yes, and quite remarkably so -- especially if you look at the Louisiana Big Game Records for whitetails in the archery division. Many trophies have resulted, and bucks from these specific river parishes are quite numerous in the records.

Regarding public lands, those in the Mississippi River drainage region offer the best odds at high-quality and trophy whitetails. These lands include: Big Lake Wildlife Management Area in Franklin, Madison and Tensas parishes; the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge, in Madison and Tensas parishes; Three Rivers and Red River WMAs, in lower Concordia Parish; Lake Ophelia NWR, in Avoyelles Parish; and Thistlethwaite WMA, in St. Landry Parish."

Biologist David Moreland, chairman of the Louisiana Big Game Records Committee, has been busy this year measuring antlers of first-quality and trophy status throughout the Bayou State.

"It appears that deer growth and antler development were good during the spring and summer of 2006,"he said, "and we've officially measured over 19 deer that qualify for the Louisiana Big Game Records and/or the Louisiana Big Game Records Recognition Program."

In 2006-07, Moreland reported, the state's Big Buck List featured some 24 entries ranging from a 180 B&C typical in the gun division to a 102 typical taken by bow.

In determining characteristics of record-book bucks, Moreland explained, Louisiana uses the same measuring system established by the Boone and Crockett and Pope & Young Awards Programs. The Longhunter Society also uses the Boone and Crockett measuring system to rank trophy whitetails taken by muzzleloader.

Minimum standards for white-tailed deer trophies to be listed in the Louisiana Big Game Records for a whitetails taken by gun is 160 B&C points for the typical category and 185 B&C points for the non-typical category. For archery they are 110 B&C points (typical) and 130 B&C points (non-typical).

A muzzleloader category was also established in 1992 in response to the growing popularity in this sport. In the Louisiana Big Game Records Program, muzzleloader typical trophies are ranked beginning at 120 B&C points for typicals and 150 B&C points for non-typicals.