Hot summer might slow deer hunting

The 2015 summer has been one of the hottest in the past decade with high temperatures sometimes getting into triple digits.

That’s not necessarily breaking news. That’s the norm in Louisiana and throughout the Southeast.

But what might be more worthy of a front page headline is what the sizzling temperatures could do to the opening months of the 2015 deer hunting season.

Expert hunters and officials with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries explained this week that deer hunting is a fickle game heavily dominated by weather – one in which a few degrees in either direction could be the difference in a successful hunt and a day where no harvests are made.

The experts explain that deer are most active when it’s cold, and the biggest seasons are usually those with long, harsh winters.

That means that if our current heat continues to burn into September or even into October, the start of the season will maybe be slower than normal.

“Ideal conditions for your season would be one where there are a lot of cool – if not downright cold days,” LDWF Deer Program Manager Scott Durham said. “Anytime we’re cooler than normal, and we’ve had a good amount of rainfall, that’s when it’s best. So far this summer, it’s been hot and dry, and those conditions are usually not ideal.”

Biology is the biggest reason why deer are most easily harvested in the cold.