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September 10, 2015
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September 10, 2015
Veteran hunter Bo Adams has been harvesting bucks throughout the state for more than 30 years. He said that deer don’t handle heat well, so on hot days, they lay in the grass from sun-up to sun-down – using the moisture in the grass to stay cool.
“They’re out of sight all day,” Adams said. “You have no chance.”
But when it’s colder, deer often hunt for food, because they burn calories trying to stay warm. In the quest for food, they often walk the forests, which puts them in the path of hunters.
Tim Moreland, a hunter for more than 28 years, so he’s had all of his best luck on the mornings right after a cold front has passed – a time when he said deer are at the peak of their activity.
Adams agreed, and said if temperatures are warm early in the season, hunters shouldn’t even go out and make an effort at all. He said you’ll be doing more harm than good.
“You won’t kill anything, and you’ll be giving the deer your scent, which will make it less likely that they’ll come around you when conditions are ripe,” Adams said. “Be patient, wait for the cooler weather, and make it happen on those days.”
Warm weather or not, the sport is growing in huge numbers in Louisiana.
Deer hunting is as popular as it has ever been in Louisiana with hundreds of thousands of hunters projected to make trips this season, according to numbers provided by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Durham said that in 2014, more than 200,000 hunters made trips, which netted in the harvest of well more than 100,000 deer.
Season start dates vary depending on one’s location in Louisiana, but that opening day is a day unlike any other for those interested in the sport.
Assuming that they have ideal weather conditions, of course.
“Opening day is one of the best days of the year,” Adams said. “Now, we just need this damned sun to go away so it doesn’t keep us from getting going. Rain and some September cold fronts. That’d make us all happy right about now.”
A hunter smiles with pride after taking this massive deer during Louisiana’s fall. Deer hunting season dates vary, but the first season begins on October 1. The current spat of warm weather has many worried that the beginning of the season might be slower than normal throughout Louisiana.
