Photo by Dan Bogue

By Glynn Harris

When it comes to temperature preferences, deer are somewhat like you and me. Let's say I get a nice new heavy coat for Christmas and I'm eager to wear it. The weather turns warm in late December, as it often does in Louisiana, but because my coat is new and I want to show it off, I slip it on and head out for a walk. Before long, beads of sweat form on my brow and I'm uncomfortable. Thus, I lay my new coat aside until nightfall, when the weather will probably cool down.

Deer are no different. When the weather is unseasonably warm in fall and winter, deer don't like to parade around in their winter coats during daylight hours. Instead, they wait until night falls, when temperatures are more comfortable.

Fall and winter are when deer breed. No matter what the weather, they go about their rutting activity, but they do it mostly at night, when temperatures are more comfortable.

Once again, Mother Nature victimized Louisiana deer hunters. During much of last season, the temperatures were warmer than normal, and, when this occurred during the rut, hunters on deer stands seeing deer moving about were fewer than is normal. Scouting trips, though, saw scrapes and tracks, indicating that deer had indeed done their business. They just did it at night when hunters were home in bed, tossing in their sleep in frustration over not seeing deer.

David Moreland, deer study leader for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, kept a chart of weather conditions this past season. His findings validate that deer season 2003-04 was, indeed, a warm one overall. Moreland's weather chart is shown in a graphic with this article. The temperatures listed there represent an average for the entire state during that week.

Moreland noted that while weather plays a major role in deer movement, other factors play a role as well. "Habitat changes, mast abundance, annual changes in deer populations due to reproductive success - or lack of it - and hunter disturbance during the season all play a role in deer hunting success," he said.

"Mast production across the state this past fall (2003) was mainly limited to the red oak group (water, willow, cherry bark, southern red and Nuttall). Acorn production from the white oak group (white oak, cow oak, overcup oak, post oak) was low and available in a few localized areas of the state. No doubt, hunters who concentrated their efforts primarily on food plots and feeders did not experience high success, especially when the acorns were falling. The mild October and November weather also kept the native plant forage green and available for food."

Moreland reported that for hunters in areas 2, 3, 7 and 8, November is an important month, because that's primarily when the rut occurs in these areas. "The mild weather during the peak of the rut no doubt had an impact on deer sightings and hunter success," he said. "The cold weather that finally came in December and January came too late. By late December, bucks are losing their antlers in these areas of the state. However, the cold weather should have helped those hunters in areas 1, 4, 5 and 6. The problem was the cold weather only lasted a day or two, and this made it difficult to pattern deer. The most consistent cold weather of the season came the last two weeks in January, but this only benefited hunters in Area 6 because hunting seasons in most of the other areas had ended."

"Some hunters have reported seeing fewer fawns," he said. "There should have been a good fawning season across the state, because habitat conditions were favorable for the does. In 2003, there was a notable decline in the lactation rates of adult does on both the wildlife management areas and DMAP lands. This would mean a reduction in fawn production for 2001.

"These deer would now be in the 2 1/2-year age-class, and this could have reduced the sightings of adult does and young adult bucks. The loss of 2 1/2-year-old does would also mean fewer adult does to produce fawns, if the doe population was being harvested at a high rate around the state. Data indicates a decline and leveling off of the doe harvest in Louisiana. This could be related to the aging of our hunter population and the aging of clubs across the state. Keeping the doe harvest at a high level involves a lot of effort and work on the part of clubs and hunters, and it appears the desire to do this is waning."

There's not a thing we can do about the weather; we deer hunters are forced to play the hand we're dealt. Thus, to improve success for this coming deer season, hunters who hope for more success will have to adapt techniques and hunting methods.

I belong to a 2,000-acre hunting club in Jackson Parish with about 15 other hunters. The land we hunt has two streams traversing it with adjacent bottomland hardwoods. The area, though, is predominantly a pine plantation, interspersed with upland hardwoods - typical for a north Louisiana hunting club.

The majority of our deer stands overlook planted food plots with corn feeders added as an additional enticement. It would seem that we're perfectly set up for some fine deer hunting. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way last season.

We are in the Deer Management Assistance Program - "DMAP" - which means that we receive a specified number of antlerless deer tags that can be used throughout the season. Our club rules encourage us to fill as many of our allotted doe tags as possible during the season, but when it comes to taking bucks, we're restricted to bucks with at least 6 points and a 12-inch inside spread.

We did quite well in the 2002-03 season, putting tags in the ears of 26 does with a buck harvest of 13 males, the largest being a quality 10 point. This past deer season, though, it was a different story. DMAP records revealed that we took 17 does and only five bucks, two of which were button bucks mistaken for does.

Larry Savage, the DMAP coordinator for the LDWF, has a theory as to why our harvest was down last season. "You probably hunted out of box stands overlooking greenfields and/or corn feeders, right?"

Exactly right, I acknowledged.

"Last season, I know a hunter personally who filled his season limit with quality bucks while hunters around him suffered the same consequences your club did. How did he do it? He abandoned his food plots and corn feeders and moved into the thickets and cutovers where the deer were," Savage explained. "Because of the warmer-than-normal weather, deer didn't get up and move about during the days. That's why your sightings were down.

"My friend took a climbing stand and put it on a tree that enabled him to climb high enough so that he could see down into the brush. That's were the deer were bedded. Sometime during the day, a buck would stand up, move around, browse a bit and lay back down. The fact that he went to where the deer were and climbed high enough to see down into the cover allowed him to take these good bucks."

On one particular stand where I hunt, I have a food plot and feeder placed at the edge of planted pines and next to a creek bottom. I took a doe on that stand this past season, but saw no quality bucks. However, while squirrel hunting after deer season ended, I was amazed at the amount of buck sign I found down along the creek less than 200 yards from my stand in an area too thick for observation from the stand.

I've formulated a plan for this coming season - one that other hunters who were frustrated as I was at not seeing good bucks might want to try. While I'll hunt my comfortable box stand some during the season, I plan to also use a portable stand to sneak in and hunt further down in the bottom - around where I found the buck sign. I won't be as comfortable, and my movements will be more restrictive than hunting from my box stand, but I have a hunch I'll have a much better chance to see a good buck.

Following the suggestions of Savage and other knowledgeable hunters, here are some things you might consider trying this coming season to improve your success with deer.

As summer wanes, locate those acorn-producing trees that have a crop of acorns this year, and make note of their location. Plan to hang a climbing stand or ladder in close proximity to the acorn-producing oak.

Once you've located an area that you feel will attract deer this fall and winter, note what it will take to give you the upper hand once the season opens. Plan now on the route you'll take to get to your stand location that will let you sneak in undetected. If you bag a deer, where is the nearest woods road or 4-wheeler trail you can drive to? If you're like me, you don't want to have to drag a deer any farther than is necessary.

You should also consider taking copious, detailed notes on what you learn. It's easy to decide early in the year to take your hunt to where the deer are, but the passage of time does strange things to the resolve. If you take notes of what you found, where you plan to put a stand, the location of trails and buck sign, feed trees and other pertinent information, you'll be more likely to be motivated to follow through on your plans.

If your stand is a significant distance from where you're accustomed to hunting, you might want to consider a GPS unit to aide in getting into and out of the area.

While covered box stands are virtually weatherproof, rain gear is a must when conditions are threatening and you're hunting an open stand.

We have no way of knowing what tricks nature has in store for the upcoming season. However, if you heed experts like David Moreland and Larry Savage, or experiment a bit, as I plan to do, your chances of success with Louisiana deer during the 2004-05 hunting season should be markedly improved, no matter what Ma Nature throws at us.