The author approaches a buck that fell to his late-season tactics. Photo by Keith Sutton

By Glynn Harris

Sometimes I feel like Pvt. Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue in the movie Forrest Gump. Bubba, one of Gump's closest companions, grew up on the Gulf Coast and had an affinity for shrimp. If you saw the movie, you know what I'm talking about. While serving in the Army with Gump, Bubba dreamed of returning home after the war and catching shrimp. His litany of tantalizing shrimp dishes was endless: shrimp Creole, shrimp etouff仔, fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, baked shrimp, barbecued shrimp - and on and on.

I feel about the same way about venison that Bubba did about shrimp. I love fried venison backstrap, grilled tenderloin, deer burgers, venison pot roast, venison shish kebabs, deer chili - and on and on.

When I first took up the sport of deer hunting in the 1960s, I had never tasted venison. The first few deer I harvested I gave away, because I couldn't bring myself to eating a big hunk of wild meat, no matter how it was cooked. I grew up hunting squirrels and ducks, so I had no problem at all sitting down to a meal where these wild species were the main entree.

It was a different matter with venison, though, until someone offered me a piece of fried steak. I ate it thinking it was beef, and couldn't believe how tasty it was. Once I found out I'd been deliciously duped into eating venison, I changed my tune. Not only did I not give another deer that I shot away, but I grieved also at my ignorance for having parted company with so much delicious venison.

It's a sure thing that I'm not alone in my love for tender, tasty venison today. This is, no doubt, why the state's antlerless deer program is so popular. Whether it's a doe taken on "doe day" or one sporting a DMAP tag, most of us hunt, not only for the opportunity to bag a braggin'-sized trophy buck; we want our freezers filled with venison steaks and chops, roasts and hamburger meat.

If filling your freezer is your quest every fall and winter, welcome to Louisiana, the Sportsman's Paradise. From the Mississippi River to Toledo Bend, the Arkansas line to the Gulf, Louisiana is blessed with a healthy population of deer. Add to that the lengthy hunting seasons and generous bag limits, and you have the formula for having venison in some form on the table throughout the year.

In addition to having an abundance of deer, Louisiana is also blessed with hundreds of thousands of acres of public land that is prime deer habitat, and it's found from one end of the state to the other.

In order to help you fill your freezer with enough late-season deer to carry you through next spring and summer, let's take a look around the state at those areas located near where you live that offer you the best chance of collecting your freezer full of venison.

Of these public areas, one stands out above the others in deer hunting popularity. The 33,000-acre Jackson-Bienville area has long been known as a popular area for deer hunters. In fact, hunters from downstate regularly drive north to take advantage of the healthy population of deer Jackson-Bienville has to offer.

One thing that makes this area so popular is the work done by Wildlife and Fisheries to insure that deer have plenty to eat. Several pipeline and power line rights-of-way traverse this area and most are planted each fall with cool weather crops, such as wheat and oats, providing literally miles of linear food plots.

Practically all of the 33,000 acres within Jackson-Bienville are owned by Weyerhaeuser Company, a timber company that has perpetual timber management/harvest/site prep activities ongoing. As a result, numerous log sets and logging roads are also planted in food plots, guaranteeing that deer and other wildlife have an abundance of forage to sustain them through winter months.

For more information on hunting Jackson-Bienville and up to the minute conditions, contact wildlife biologist Steve Hebert at (318) 371-3050.

Located within District 2 are half a dozen or so WMAs, including a portion of Jackson-Bienville, Russell Sage, Floy McElroy, Big Colewa Bayou, Bayou Macon, and Union.

John Hanks, wildlife biologist in the District 2 office taps Union as probably the best of the district's WMAs in which to take a late-season deer.

"This area is always good during the last weeks of the season. However, only bow hunters can take advantage of the situation since gun seasons close around the end of November," said Hanks.

"There are lots of clearings opened by timber management and harvest across the area, which provide lots of succulent forage in the areas recently harvested. Deer are generally easier to pattern here. They follow the edges of the clearings and travel the corridors along streams where timber has been preserved. This is a typical upland habitat with mixed pines and hardwoods, rolling hills and intermittent streams. Plus," said Hanks, "there's a good population of deer on Union WMA."

For further information on hunting District 2 during the late deer season, contact Hanks at the Monroe LDWF office at (318) 362-3160.

David Hayden, wildlife biologist for District 3 believes that the management area offering late-season deer hunters interested in putting venison in the freezer is Dewey Wills WMA.

"Dewey Wills WMA is made up predominately of bottomland hardwood habitat over the majority of its 60,000 or so acres," said Hayden.

"Hunters planning to hunt Dewey Wills during late season should key on trees with plenty of hard mast, especially acorns. If it's been a good year for acorns, finding areas with lots of deer tracks, trails and evidence of feeding is a good indicator of where you might best get a crack at a doe.

"Depending on weather conditions earlier, there may also be plenty of green succulent forage still available. In addition, the secondary rut will usually be kicking in during the late season, so hunters might see deer on the move as bucks chase does that have yet to be bred," Hayden added.

For information on hunting District 3, contact Hayden at the Pineville LDWF office at (318) 362-3160.

Located within District 4 are the parishes of Concordia, Caldwell, Catahoula, Tensas, Madison and Franklin. With six WMAs and three National Wildlife Refuges, hunters have access to nearly a quarter of a million acres of public land for deer hunting each year.

Reggie Wycoff, longtime wildlife biologist representing District 4, says that hunters with an eye on the annual rut like to take advantage of a late rut much of this area offers.

"The rut in the river parishes usually starts in late December, running into January. Although either sex gun hunting ends in November, buck hunting is on going for gun hunters. Also, those taking advantage of the late-season muzzleloader hunt as well as bow hunters have a good chance at collecting their venison before seasons end," said Wycoff.

"Because of the popularity of these areas, I would suggest that where possible, deer hunters plan to hunt during week days to avoid hunting pressure, since weekends can get pretty crowded. Hunters need to secure maps of these public areas and plan to do some scouting before they schedule a hunt to improve chances at a deer," Wycoff added.

For more information on late-season deer hunting in District 4, contact Wycoff at (318) 757-4571.