Deer hunting in the Southeastern states

[W33kender]

I grew up in north-central WV and was raised hunting two hours away in the eastern panhandle. Squirrel season in october coincided with fall turkey sesson. Rifle buck only season began the week of Thanksgiving. I am the first bowhunter in the family but I am starting really late in life. Better late than never.

Moved to the Myrtle Beach area for work after a marine enlistment and college. Deer hunting started down here in big shooting houses over deer trails and corn piles. After about five years, I joined the SCDNR web forum and started a thread for cornless deer hunting and learned a lot amd made several lifelong good friends.

One of them took me under his wing and in his canoe. He got me over my fear of swamps, bugs, snakes, gators, etc, and showed me what to look for on the ground as well as aerials. He is a published author of a fantastic book and has a monthly column in SC Wildlife. (Hunter Smith, author of A Life Afield....his monthly column is "Ask Dr. Hunter.")

Nothing like paddling through a swamp before daylight. Every time he had me shine the flashlight for him, we would see the red glowing eyes of numerous gators. Lol. Nothing like dragging a dead hog a mile back to the canoe, either.

He taught me how not to get lost in the woods, also. I am hit and miss on that but more hit than miss the last few years. Believe it or not, a flashlight can actually impair your journey in and out of dark woods. Lol. Yes, I have dragged a dead pig in a complete circle in the woods after dark. LOL. Pro tip: look at the skyline and tree line everywhere you go. You need those guideposts after it is dark. More helpful than that flashlight.

Every animal I have killed solo since meeting him....doe, buck, hog, gobbler...i have sent him pics and thanked him profusely. His guidance is now being passed on to my newest hunting buddy, my wife of five years.

We now live just across the NC border but still hunt in SC. We are in a club only fifteen minutes from our house but also hunt in Hemingway, SC, at least once a year on our anniversary with our buddies Rick and Will Grubbs of Waccamaw Hunting Services. Good people, good land!

I use a climber when bowhunting but I love a sliphunt on the ground. Nothing like being quiet enough to shoot an animal inside of thirty yards on eye level in a palm stand or canebrake.

I hope to hunt in NC eventually but not in any hurry.

 

[Steve Daniel]

WOW, A new forum called Deerhunterforum and I am the first to post a thread in the deer hunting sub forum. I followed a link from Woodys/GON forum and signed up. I have been a member there since the beginning days of the forum.

I live and hunt in Georgia. I started deer hunting in 1968 at the age of 13 and am still as addicted now as I was then. There have been radical changes during those years. It was not uncommon in the late 60s and early 70s for a hunter to go all season without even seeing a deer. When I was in high school we boys who hunted would get together and tell excitedly about the tracks we saw or someone we knew who had actually seen a deer while hunting. If a hunter got a deer it was common practice for them to go to the county newspaper office and have photos taken. Many times a picture of the deer and hunter were front page news.

The whitetail population rapidly increased. By the 80s and 90s deer were here in huge numbers. Seasons time frames and limits were continually increased to accommodate the hunters and control the expanding deer population. Either sex dates and limits were very liberal. There appear to be less deer now than during the 90s. We still have a very long season and liberal limits, but either sex days are more limited now. My sons began hunting during those hay-day years of high populations. My grandsons are now hunting with us as well. The blessing of hunting with my family is the greatest of any possible hunting experience. 48 years deer hunting in Georgia and hoping to make it a few more.

Where do you hunt for whitetail? Tell us a little about your experience.

What you said pretty much describes my early Alabama Deer Hunting experience, except I started hunting in 1963... It was rare when we saw a deer. Back then all I hunted was public land. The Alabama WMA became the big thing in the 70s. Killed a lot of Deer on our WLMAs. By the time of either sex hunts, I had began hunting in Hunting Clubs. Less people if I hunted mid week. Killed a lot of deer. I still hunt In a hunting club. Alabama has since put on Antler restrictions, and limits on bucks killed. For most of my life our seasons were basically Deer A Day and long seasons. Now Days our season extends from mid Oct. with a bow till mid February. Our rifle seasons are from around Thanksgiving till 2/15. Time enough for most guys to get it out of their system.

 

[Steve Daniel]

WOW, A new forum called Deerhunterforum and I am the first to post a thread in the deer hunting sub forum. I followed a link from Woodys/GON forum and signed up. I have been a member there since the beginning days of the forum.

I live and hunt in Georgia. I started deer hunting in 1968 at the age of 13 and am still as addicted now as I was then. There have been radical changes during those years. It was not uncommon in the late 60s and early 70s for a hunter to go all season without even seeing a deer. When I was in high school we boys who hunted would get together and tell excitedly about the tracks we saw or someone we knew who had actually seen a deer while hunting. If a hunter got a deer it was common practice for them to go to the county newspaper office and have photos taken. Many times a picture of the deer and hunter were front page news.

The whitetail population rapidly increased. By the 80s and 90s deer were here in huge numbers. Seasons time frames and limits were continually increased to accommodate the hunters and control the expanding deer population. Either sex dates and limits were very liberal. There appear to be less deer now than during the 90s. We still have a very long season and liberal limits, but either sex days are more limited now. My sons began hunting during those hay-day years of high populations. My grandsons are now hunting with us as well. The blessing of hunting with my family is the greatest of any possible hunting experience. 48 years deer hunting in Georgia and hoping to make it a few more.

Where do you hunt for whitetail? Tell us a little about your experience.

I'm a couple of years older, almost 71 now... I killed my first Deer in 1966 at Choccolocca WMA. It was two years before I saw my first live Deer during Deer season in Alabama. A Doe, and she wasn't legal... The next year I was on fire to kill a Deer. I shot a scrawny 6 point... Yep that was the days when a Deer made the local newspapers. I still Deer Hunt, but not with the same fervor I had when I was a kid.

 

[FL Plotter]

I grew up in Eastern Virginia on the Chesapeake bay. We had tons of deer in the 70s through til today. They never let us shoot does so we killed every buck we saw. Now, I hear, you can get as many doe tags as you want. We did a lot of deer drives and I would sit by myself occasionally as a teen...thought it was boring as hell. My passion was duck hunting...many a duck died to my 20ga.

In the 90s, was stationed in New Mexico and killed some muleys. It was more about camping and hanging out with fellow servicemen more than anything else. Lotta walking up and down hills is what I remember most about that! Killed a slew of ducks on the Rio Grande though...killed my first pintail there.

In the 2000s, got stationed in NW Florida and killed a lot of ducks and fish. Got into some hunting on public Air Force base land and killed some nice bucks. Leasing timberland is a way of life down here, so got into that 10 years ago. Still on that same 1200 acres and over the years we have scratched out about 12 acres of plots with pure stubborness and a 30hp Kubota. Every square foot of plot reclaimed from the swamps and planted pines was a fight. We've spread over 100 tons of lime, tons of fertilizer and tried every plot seed combination possible. We're now strictly LickCreek (rye, clover, chicory) with a 2-3 acre plot of Eagles each summer. Bucks are mehhhhh...haven't broke 100 yet, but our does are fat and healthy and fill the freezer. I spend a lot of time there....it's about 1 hour from the house.

Recently bought 20 acres in the country in North Florida....that is the next journey.

 

[Kevin Altemara]

I grew up in Eastern Virginia on the Chesapeake bay. We had tons of deer in the 70s through til today. They never let us shoot does so we killed every buck we saw. Now, I hear, you can get as many doe tags as you want. We did a lot of deer drives and I would sit by myself occasionally as a teen...thought it was boring as hell. My passion was duck hunting...many a duck died to my 20ga.

In the 90s, was stationed in New Mexico and killed some muleys. It was more about camping and hanging out with fellow servicemen more than anything else. Lotta walking up and down hills is what I remember most about that! Killed a slew of ducks on the Rio Grande though...killed my first pintail there.

In the 2000s, got stationed in NW Florida and killed a lot of ducks and fish. Got into some hunting on public Air Force base land and killed some nice bucks. Leasing timberland is a way of life down here, so got into that 10 years ago. Still on that same 1200 acres and over the years we have scratched out about 12 acres of plots with pure stubborness and a 30hp Kubota. Every square foot of plot reclaimed from the swamps and planted pines was a fight. We've spread over 100 tons of lime, tons of fertilizer and tried every plot seed combination possible. We're now strictly LickCreek (rye, clover, chicory) with a 2-3 acre plot of Eagles each summer. Bucks are mehhhhh...haven't broke 100 yet, but our does are fat and healthy and fill the freezer. I spend a lot of time there....it's about 1 hour from the house.

Recently bought 20 acres in the country in North Florida....that is the next journey.

im starting my outdoors life where you did, living near Virginia Beach, and hunting on the Eastren shore, now a days we get 3 buck tags and 3 doe tags, havnt killed a deer in the 4 years that ive been hunting and its really getting to me. Me and my dad are in this hunt club on the shore and hunting powerlines and field edges is his thing ( he grew up outside of pittsburgh) and i was wondering how you hunted the southeast of Virginia?

 

[FL Plotter]

im starting my outdoors life where you did, living near Virginia Beach, and hunting on the Eastren shore, now a days we get 3 buck tags and 3 doe tags, havnt killed a deer in the 4 years that ive been hunting and its really getting to me. Me and my dad are in this hunt club on the shore and hunting powerlines and field edges is his thing ( he grew up outside of pittsburgh) and i was wondering how you hunted the southeast of Virginia?

I grew up there and my dad had 200 acres, so land access was never a problem. I left in '85 and now I hear even small acreage is leased to city hunters from Norfolk/VA Beach, etc. I was just there in September, and we couldn't go down a paved country road without seeing deer at all hours of the day. Everything is in soybeans and corn, so they have plenty to eat. Deer hunting is deer hunting....be there before first light in a travel area or over a food source, hunt downwind and scent free as possible, and stay still. Same thing for the evening hunt.

If I'm in a club for 4 years and not killed anything, I'm looking for a new club. Preferably one that has deer!

 

[Kevin Altemara]

I grew up there and my dad had 200 acres, so land access was never a problem. I left in '85 and now I hear even small acreage is leased to city hunters from Norfolk/VA Beach, etc. I was just there in September, and we couldn't go down a paved country road without seeing deer at all hours of the day. Everything is in soybeans and corn, so they have plenty to eat. Deer hunting is deer hunting....be there before first light in a travel area or over a food source, hunt downwind and scent free as possible, and stay still. Same thing for the evening hunt.

If I'm in a club for 4 years and not killed anything, I'm looking for a new club. Preferably one that has deer!

We just joined the club and ive shot deer, with a crossbow, in the ass Im positive she herd the bow

 

[Podad]

Bump for the oldest thread. Anyone got anything to add?

 

[Baker]

I grew up and still live in La. I remember like it was today seeing my first deer tracks. I might have been 5 or 6. [ Maybe 1959 ] That night I had dreams of deer jumping over me and running by. It started a passion that burns to this day and in many ways has defined a material portion of my life.

When I was about 11 I went on a dog hunt with my dad. Sure enough the dogs ran a deer by me scaring me to death. I shot somewhat in its general direction with my single shot .410 slug. They cut my shirt tail for the miss and that stuck hard for a long time.

Actually got my first deer at about 13... a doe. I was convinced I was David Bowie. And so launched the drive to master the world of the whitetail. From there I grew up hunting the La. side of the Mississippi River. Incredible place with lots of deer...too many. But it was a blast learning and finding lots of success. Taught me a lot.

Today I still hunt La. though the focus has changed. Took a father and his 9 yr old daughter out yesterday. Earlier in the week it was a father and his teenage daughter. Seeing the passion in their eyes is like reliving my youth. Being able to provide magic memories for others makes the path followed over the last many decades worthwhile beyond measure.

And what a privilege to be raised in the south hunting and fishing just about everything that moved. Shotguns in the rear window gun rack of the truck...even when you went to school. Friday before squirrel season essentially a holiday cause no one was there.Running trot lines and yo yo's all night drinking beer. Catching alligators. Going thru every page of the Sears catalogue outdoor section. It wasn't a hobby down here. It was a lifestyle!

 

[Deadeye]

Born and Raised in the NW side of Pa. Small town that was about 2 hr north of Pittsburgh, so we got a ton of hunters from there that had Camps everywhere they could buy a chunk of land.

I remember the good days of deer numbers when seeing a group of 10-12 deer was the norm and herds of 20 not unheard of. During a Deer Drive I saw my largest herd ever, had to be over 100 deer in that valley as it just kept filling with deer! Looked like a John Wayne Cattle Drive.

I shot my first deer at 12, a doe, and she had an infection so I was allowed to shoot another. Took my first Buck hunting by myself at 13 and my 2nd at 14. By the age of 21 I had shot 21 deer, a goal I had set and made. Now in a state where you were only allowed 1 per year those numbers don't add up and I wasn't what you would call "legal" all the time back then. Funny how somewhere along the way I forgot about the goal and it wasn't until I shot that last deer that I remembered it and realised I had done it.

The Game Commision changed their thinking and doe shooting became the thing to do instead of never shooting one. The almost took it to far and for awhile there deer became hard to find. Now it has come back and is good again.

2000 I made a move for a chance at a better life for the family and moved to Central Florida. Bass Fishing became my passion and took up most of my time. I went back to Pa every couple of years to hunt. A couple of years ago my SIL asked me to take him back to Pa so he could try hunting with me. He shot his first buck and that was it, he was hooked.

We tried for several years to make hunting work in our area, but honestly it is so different than what I knew it was hard. When I found out I had Cancer I decided that I wasn't waiting any longer and I purchased a Lease in the Panhandle of Florida. It is still our first year and so far I have spent more time working on it than hunting, but it is coming along and we are getting some good deer pics.

My hope and dream is to be able to pass along my Hunting Heritage to my SIL and his boys.

 

[Southern-Assassin]

South Mississippi here. Born and raised on 200 acres of prime hunting property, but all I hunted was squirrels for the first 4 years or so (starting about age 7). My first experience with deer was sitting beside a gravel trail freezing to death listening for dogs in the diatance. They once ran a doe out near me, but didn't do much to arouse my interest. I had a few other sad encounters with deer from age 16-21 or so, then I discovered tree stands. It was amazing how many deer I saw that I never saw on the ground. Killed my first deer, a yearling doe with a Remington 7mm-08 Mountain Rifle. My first buck didn't come until around 2001. A spike. My first fork-horn buck didn't come until around 2008. Now you're talking about someone who hunted every year. In 2008, I graduated professional school at Ole Miss and moved to God's country in Tuscaloosa. Had 9ne of the kid's friend's dad feel sorry for me working all the time and invite me on a late season doe hunt. Last day of season, 2009, I believe. Saw a couple of bucks bigger than I ever saw in my life running around the greenfields, but I knew they were not what I was there for. Finally got a doe running across the greenfield about 120 - 130 yards or so. Dis my best impreasion of a fawn bleat with my mouth and stopped her dead still half way across the field. Didn't take long for the trigger to break on my Model 7 Magnum (I learned lighter-than-factory triggers were best for hunting in the early - mid 90s). It had a 2 1/2 lb trigger that had been modified before coming to me. That began a passion that grows today. Took my first deer in a new state that day. A nice fat doe. Fot to see several deer. More than in most of my hunting life combined to that point. I learned what a difference manages land could make. I had a taste for more managed land hunts after that, and booked my first paid hunt (semi-guided) near Eufaula, AL the following year. I watched it rain ao hard, I could barely see my hand in front of my face for 3 days straight. Killed a huge coyote the 1st morning hunt by calling him within shooting distance with my fawn bleat call in the pouring rain after watching him run across the corner of the green field. By then I had designed my first wildcat cartridge and had my 2nd custom rifle built chambered in that cartridge. The Jewell trigger broke at 14 ounces. Almost blew that coyote's head off. Didn't get a deer that trip, but got a smallish 7 point with that rifle at about 10 yards a couple months later, riding the tree stand in 20+mph north winds with temps in the teens. I sat there from 6am until 10am and was about to fall out dead of hypothermia when he walked out. I remember thinking, "Thank God! Let me shoot this thing quickly so I can go warm up!" And a half dozen or so seconds later, the deer was flipped over in his tracks without another step as my finger, guided by a gust of wind activated the trigger on that custom. My highest point total to that point.

I learned I liked sharing tales and laughs with fellow hunters around the fire and eating home cooking with no worries except what the weather was doing the next day. And I liked new places. Well managed places.

I next booked a hunt in western Kentucky that was a ripoff. Headed back home after the first day and killed a small 8-point walking the trail back home. Used my next custom rifle to drop him where he stood. A couple years later, we moved back to the Gulf Coast area of MS, and I was booking a hunt for a mule deer in the high desert of NW Nevada in the Jackson Mountains an hour or so from Idaho, Oregon, and California the way the crow flies. Tagged a 3x4 on the 4th day of a 5-day hunt. He wasn't an exceptional deer, but the first buck I'd seen. The scenery was the most incredible I'd ever experienced, even until now. The hunt was tougher than I thought, and hiking 5 miles a night with 55 lbs of gear and my rifle at home at sea level didn't come close to preparing me for more than 200yards up one of those mountains. We got up to about 9000' once, and I couldn't make the last 500' or so of altitude. A young fella from PA went in there the next day and killed a 36" giant. I thought, "more power to him!" Swore I'd never do another mountain hunt, and I'm sticking to that, for the most part.

I've hunted deer in SC and OK, since then, being successful taking 2 bucks and 2 does in SC, while missing a 185" typical monster in OK shooting over him from an extreme angle atop a sand hill with 40mph winds whipping and my rifle sighted in 3" high @100yds (deer was 99 yds broad side). I've hunted wild boar in the Cumberlands of NE Tennesee and a couple times in SW Arkansas. I didn't hunt last year because of financial difficulty after being forces out of my job of 6 years and into another one entailing an 80-mile drive 1 way. I did walk behind the old home place and put a doe my crosshairs only to unload my rifle and just watch her after 5 minutes of pondering and just not feeling a need to end her life. Old age?

I am booked in SW central Alabama next month (wish me luck), and in extreme southern Kansas next September for early muzzle loader season (a bucket list hunt since the early 90s). And venturing into the edge of the mountains again in January, 2020 at Raton, NM for a cow elk hunt. (I want to taste wild elk again, but don't want to climb mountains day after day to hunt a giant bull!) In January, the snow will have them pushed down out of the mountains. Raton doesn't have huge mountains, anyway.

Nilgai free ranging in south Texas, gemsbok in NM in private land, and mule deer in NW Nebraska and SE Colorado are calling me, too! As are whitetail deer in Iowa and Nebraska, and antelope and mulies in Wyoming. Iowa is another bucket list hunt. I've given up on Alaska. I'll never see it. Do hope to hunt moose somewhere one day. May be SE Canada. If I'm really lucky with the draw, maybe Maine. Cougar in Utah or anything that's hunted in Canada round out the bucket list. Had a caribou hunt booked once when the bottom fell in on my job in Tuscaloosa. Had to cancel and forfeit the deposit. Bummer. Would still love a caribou hunt. Realistically, probly not going to happen.

I have designed 7 wildcat cartridges and handload everything, including all my friends and family's hunting ammo. I build a few guns off Savage actions, and have a guy put together a custom for me now and again based on a Rem 700 or Win 70, blueprinted. Family is taking lots of time with kids in college and my grandmother now just coming to live with us, unable to remain independent anymore. Financial struggles continue, but getting back on top of very slowly. I've had maybe 20 custom guns built and owned well over 200 deer rifles total since my first hi-power rifle at age 16. I'm an accuracy fanatic, and usually don't keep it if it won't shoot 1/2 MOA (or is too heavy!). I look for balance, fit of stock to my form, crisp and light trigger pull, excellent ballistics, and manageable recoil. Waiting to tey out my newest additions, a .25-06 Barrett Fieldcraft ultralight that easily makes the 1/2 MOA limit, and a full custom 300 Dakota (not delivered yet...later this week). Also to try the Remington 700 Ultimate Muzzle Loader for KS and IA, et. al. Again wish me luck!