When he shot this massive 14-point whitetail, the ninth-largest typical ever killed in Louisiana, Shannon Deville was at the right place at the right time -- namely, sitting in the stand that his brother-in-law normally occupied! Photo by Glynn Harris

Nov. 24, 1967, was a red-letter day for me. No, it was neither my wedding day nor the birthday of my firstborn. It was on this day that I bagged my first deer, and a nice buck at that. Here's how it happened. . . .

I had been invited on a deer hunt by my good friend and squirrel hunting partner, Jim White. We both lived in Homer, and while I was perfectly content to hunt squirrels in the autumn woods of Claiborne Parish, my buddy, Jim, would bid me adieu as November rolled around each year. He headed for the deer woods, leaving me to chase bushytails alone.

I protested at first when he invited me to hunt deer. My alibi was that that I had no deer rifle. No problem, Jim told me. Just buy some buckshot and use the shotgun you use for squirrel hunting.

I gave in, and I'm glad I did. After I spent one hour sitting at the edge of a pipeline near Summerfield that morning, the hounds pushed a 10-point buck out near me and I downed him. At that moment, I became another hunter hooked from the get-go on deer hunting in Louisiana.

Today, the number of hunters who use shotguns in Louisiana to hunt deer has dwindled markedly. I honestly don't recall the last hunter I saw packing a scattergun to a deer stand. Those who continue to hunt deer with dogs make up the majority of those who prefer shotguns to rifles, for obvious reasons. A bounding buck or dashing doe is easier to bring down using a shotgun than by trying to find it in a scope.

Things have changed mightily in the deer woods of Louisiana since the '60s. Hunters now employ a variety of weapons to hunt deer. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has set aside special seasons to allow hunters to take advantage of both traditional firearms to hunt deer and the allotment of extra days to use archery equipment and muzzleloaders.

The state instituted the special archery season statewide for the 1962-63 season, while the special muzzleloader season began for the 1989-90 season.

In practically every part of the state, bowhunters have the advantage, because archery season opens in early October and opportunities continue through the end of January. Muzzleloader hunters also have two weeks set aside for them, in most cases the week prior to the opening of firearms season and the week following firearms season closure.

Over the years, I have had the good fortune of interviewing some of the state's most successful deer hunters. For the purposes of this article, I've chosen a special hunt with archery, one with traditional firearms and another with muzzleloader to share with you.

BOWHUNTING STORY
Brian Thomson, an insurance agent from Alexandria, was hunting the peak of the rut on Cottonwood Island along the Mississippi River in East Carroll Parish at the invitation of a friend. The trip, however, would be cut short because of a death in Thomson's family.

"We had gotten to the camp around noon the first day and got to hunt that afternoon. I watched a huge buck chase a doe several hundred yards away and felt I might have a chance at him sometime during our four-day hunt," Thomson recalled. "The next morning, it was raining when I got in my stand, and half an hour later thunder and lightening put an end to hunting that day. That night, I got the call about the death, and I knew I needed to be home the following day, so I decided to make a brief morning hunt and then drive back to Alexandria," Thomson continued.