Scouting trip No. 1: Atchafalaya Delta WMA

Things look good for deer when the 2011-12 hunting season kicks off.

Ricky Aucoin

The sign during a first scouting trip to Atchafalaya Delta WMA was impressive, but there's still plenty of work left before the 2011-12 deer hunting season.

My buddy Jimmy Kyle and I headed down to the Delta in early August for our first scouting trip in anticipation of the 2011-12 deer-hunting season. We got to our destination about 7:30 a.m., and my first observation was a pleasant one: No mosquitos!

There were a few deer flies in one location, but they were not bad at all.

The vegetation was about average height and thickness for this time of year. I’ve seen it much thicker, and also seen it flattened out from tidal surges around tropical storms or hurricanes.

There is plenty of browse, and it is not too terribly difficult to navigate through the woods at this point.

Deer and hog sign were plentiful, and that also varies from season to season at this time of year. There are wild peas out there, and they seem to love to eat those.

There was a little rain water in the areas we walked, but only a couple of inches in spots. We found several well used bedding areas and deer and hog trails in all directions.

We walked into an area that a very big buck is using. His tracks are huge, and he has several trails leading to his bedding area. Of course by Oct. 1, all that will probably change, but it is nice to know the area he is in right now.

We will revisit that area in mid September to see if we can still find him.

All in all, we were very pleased with what we found and the area we were able to cover before it got too hot. Of course, we still have a lot of area on the Delta left we want to scout.

We also want to scout Sherburne and Attapakapas WMAs, as well as Mandalay and Teche NWRs, but since we got an early start, we still have plenty of time to do it.

I’ll be updating the blog after each scouting trip, so stay tuned!

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