sorry i don't agree. i like it the way it is.

Most people don't shoot their limit. Part of the limit formula has historically had to do with the length of the season. If the season was only one day long then you could allow 100 bucks per person and you would know that the total harvest would drop. Total days of gun season plays a part in the limits.

Technically depending on the area one hunts:
Bow hunters have right at 4 months of hunting,
Primitive weapon hunters have just under 3 months of hunting,
While Modern firearm hunters have right at 2 months.

If one is looking for more time to be able to hunt and make their season longer, learn how to hunt with a bow. Makes for a longer season and certainly more of a challenge. Get a head start on a lot of fellow hunters. Choose your weapon wisely and know how to use it.

Only time I agree with what you are sayin' is when someone talks of eliminating my form of hunting. I agree with what the bowhunters have, I don't feel they are hurting anything, and most of them are psyco's anyway to hunt with sticks and strings......jab,jab,lol.
I DON'T agree with the new 'primitive weapons' season. You are right about it being pushed by retailers and gunmakers. A single shot 45-70, 444 marlin, .35 Whelen ain't no 'primitive weapon'.

Jake Ripp

Bogue Chitto Wildlife refuge, 2008

Guager, you just had to go ahead and give me an excuse to show off my 'stick and string psyco' picture. :) Psyco may be a little strong....or maybe not. LOL. I've 'chosen' to have NOT hunted deer with a gun in over 23 years. I sit in the tree with hunters orange, hearing the gun shots, and holding the bow. It doesn't bother me to hunt amoung the gun hunters. I do, however, think that lengthening gun season will cause the harvest numbers to inscrease beyond a balance.

That's a mighty fine deer Brad. Do you know what he weighed?

I hunted all last year with an assortment of sidelock muzzleloaders myself - because that's what I like. Like you, I don't care who else is in the woods or what they're hunting with. But if a guy with a bow can hunt in October, why can't I hunt with my flintlock?

Heck, make the month of October and the first half of November an '8-Point or Above' season for everyone and I'd be a happy camper.

Actualy i think our gun season is toooo long. I believe MS has a shorter gun season and they have twice as many deer as LA.

Well, it would probably be too long for WMAs 8point, but they have controlled seasons and harvests anyway. Private land is different. The size of the herd is a direct function of the carrying capacity of the land and herd management practices. Any decent club is going to manage its harvest anyway, regardless of State rules. So season length would have little to do with overall harvest - EXCEPT THAT the shorter the season, the more likely young bucks will be shot. A longer season (especially combined with a two buck limit) gets hunters to thinking about passing on those youngsters and waiting for a more mature animal.

Once the season open on oct1 it should be the same for everyone from that day till the end of the season!! No matter what your weapon of choice is and no matter if its private or public land!! So do you mean to tell me when im hunting on my own private land at the property line that boarders a wma and the deer is on one side of the tree, the season is closed, but then he takes 5 steps and its open and he's legal to shoot??? GIVE ME A FRICKIN BREAK!!!!!

I think there are few hunters out there that would really pass on a young deer whether it is tag one or tag 6. I like things the way they are. If gun were open day one til jan 31 then there would be more kills and with all of the hunters in the state if each one killed one extra deer then that would absolutely be significant to the population. Even if it is to boost the bow sales I dont see anything wrong with helping out the bass pro shops, academys, and family owned stores. It also forces hunters to explore other techniques which makes it a sport and more fun.

Let's all step back a second and remember why our ancestors hunted, survival. For most of us hunting is now recreation, not a means of feeding our family. The reason there are so many seasons is so they can charge you for the right to hunt by different methods, not herd management. If herd management was the goal they would restrict the number of people allowed to hunt, not try to sell everyone a bunch of different licenses'. I've always wondered why people who own there own land have to buy a license to hunt it or even follow designated seasons for that matter (your land, your right). I use to be greatfull if I got the opportunity to kill a deer during any season, bow or rifle. Now I hunt a place where I restrict myself to enough meat for my family for a year, usually 3 to 4 at the most. I love the time outdoors and spending weekends at the camp with good friends and my kids. Bottom line is there would be more deer killed if you allow people to hunt by any means for 4 months, but how many hunters shoot more than they need? Hunting is a business and unfortunately wasn't suppose to become one.

I think that it is a little outdated to say that hunting should be used for food only. So if you don't like deer meat then you shouldn't enjoy the sport because your not gonna eat it? You could always give it away to someone who enjoys it that doesn't hunt. Hunting is necessary to prevent community intrusion by deer and to limit the amount of deer per land or food source to prevent starvation. Just because someone owns the land doesnt mean they own the animal which can also live on public land. The money that we spend on permits contributes to salaries of biologists who are experts in this subject and are paid to better the habitat. I like hunting bow only WMA's because if someone shoots 200 yards away then your area is less disturbed than if someone fires a rifle.

I CAN NOT SAY THAT I AGREE. I HUNT ALL SEASONS, WITH ALL METHODS AVAILABLE BECAUSE I LOVE TO DEER HUNT. I CAME UP GUN HUNTING BUT STARTED BOW HUNTING TWO SEASONS AGO TO EXTEND MY SEASON. I DON'T BELIEVE THAT BOW HUNTERS HAVE ANY ADVANTAGE JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN HUNT FROM OCT. 1 THROUGH JAN. 31 OR FEB. 15 DEPENDING ON THEIR AREA IN WHICH THEY HUNT, BECAUSE DEER HUNTING IN LOUISIANA IS TOUGH. BOWHUNTING INCREASES THE TOUGHNESS TEN TIMES. YOU MUST BE A BETTER SCOUT, HUNTER, AND SHOT IF YOU WISH TO HUNT WITH ONLY A BOW. I MAKE AN OUT OF STATE BOW HUNT EACH YEAR ON PUBLIC LAND, AND TRUST ME FROM EXPERIENCE HUNTING ONLY PUBLIC LAND HERE AND OUT OF STATE, THE DEER HERE ARE HARDER TO HUNT. OUT OF STATE IS NEARLY A JOKE COMPARED TO HERE. I DO AGREE WITH THE PRIMITIVE ARMS SEASON BEING A JOKE THOUGH, BECAUSE MY. 444 SHOOTS FIVE SHOT GROUPS AT 150 YDS WITH EACH BULLET TOUGHING, BUT IT'S LEGAL. GIVING EVERYONE THE SAME SEASONS WOULD DECREASE THE DEER HERD BY AT LEAST TEN PERCENT BECAUSE HUNTERS WOULD SHOOT MORE DEER WITH THE RIFLES BECAUSE IT'S EASIER THAN ANY OTHER METHOD. AND OUR TAGGING SYSTEM IS STILL ON THE HONOR SYSTEM, IF YOU AREN'T CHECKED BY LDWF, THEY NEVER KNOW IF YOU KILLED A DEER ANYWAY UNLESS YOU ARE AN ETHICAL HUNTER. NOT ENOUGH ENFORCEMENT ON THEIR END TO EVEN ATTEMPT AN ALL WEAPONS SEASON FROM OCTOBER TO THE END OF JANUARY. I HUNTED IN WEST VIRGINIA A FEW YEARS BACK AND THEIR TAGGING SYSTEM WAS GREAT. YOU HAD A PHYSICAL TAG, THEN YOU HAD TO REPORT TO A CERTIFIED CHECK STATION THAT WAS CERTIFIED THROUGH THEIR NATURAL RESOURCE DEPARTMENT. ONCE YOUR ANIMAL WAS CHECKED JUST LIKE MANDATORY CHECK DAYS AT OUR WMA'S YOU COULD ONLY BRING YOUR ANIMAL TO A PROCESSOR OR TAXIDERMIST IF YOU HAD YOUR TAG AND THE FORM FROM THE CHECK STATION. IF YOU WERE CAUGHT NOT FOLLOWING THE LAW, LOSS OF LICENSE FOR ONE SEASON AND A HEFTY FINE WAS THE RESULT. THAT IS THE WAY TO ENSURE THE LAW IS BEING FOLLOWED. MORE CHECKS ON THE HUNTERS PRODUCED MORE DEER FOR THE HUNTERS. I'M SURE MANY WOULD HATE THIS SYSTEM, BUT IT IS THE FAIREST I'VE EVER SEEN.