Important regulation changes, season outlook to be discussed
If you’re already thinking about bagging that trophy buck this fall, you might want to make plans to attend the free White-Tailed Deer Summer Seminar on July 31 at LSU.
David Moreland, retired Deer Program Leader with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, said lots of information will be shared on the outlook for the upcoming season, as well as ammo availability and important regulation changes concerning hunting areas and deer tags.
“They have kind of redesigned some of the deer hunting areas, and some of the either-sex deer (days) have changed,” Moreland said. “The last few years, its been that every day of the deer season you could kill either sex deer. Now in some of these areas, they’re going back to doe days, where a hunter can only kill a doe on a doe day.
“So it’s real critical that hunters keep up with that.”
The event will be held at the 4-H Mini-Farm Facility on AgCenter Drive off of Highland Road near the south gates of LSU. Registration begins at 6 p.m., but attendees are encouraged to call Tammy Bosch at 225-291-7500 to reserve a seat.
Featured speakers include LDWF Secretary Robert Barham, LDWF biologist Mike Perot and Jim Brown from Bowie Outfitters.
Moreland also will share information gleaned from his 3-year study using trail cameras on the feeding habits of adult bucks in Desoto Parish.
“It should be interesting for hunters to see why adult bucks are not really easy to kill. It might give them an insight into what they need to do to adjust their hunting in order to harvest an adult buck,” he said. “What I’m seeing from the adult buck standpoint, their daylight activity is probably less than 10 percent of the hunting days. So you need to understand what is making these adult bucks move and how that will help you to harvest one.”
Wary older bucks are tougher to find, but they still have to move to breed and feed, Moreland said.
“The key for a hunter is to hunt during the rut when they are breeding, and hunt where they’re feeding, which may not be the corn feeder,” he said. “It may be some oak trees in the woods where hunters are not hunting. They might come to the feeders at night when you’re not there.
“But if you’re spending all your time at a feeder hoping to kill a big deer, you may be wasting a lot of your time,” he said. “You’ve got to change your tactics and put in a little time scouting and pay attention to whats going on.”
The seminar is scheduled to wrap up at about 9 p.m., and is sponsored in part by the South Louisiana Branch of the Quality Deer Management Association.
For more information, contact Dr. Don Reed at 225-683-5848.
