Since I'm looking at 20 years till retirement.....

[DeerHunter82]

How's the deer hunting in the deep south? Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana. I can't live where I can't hunt deer.

 

[ebb]

South Carolina has the most deer per square mile of any state in the union and also the longest deer season.

 

[akajun]

Mississippi and LA, lots of deer hunting, Alabama used to have a deer per day limit.
Long seasons, LA has a 6 deer limit. IDK where you're coming from but if your used to low pressure hunting in open timber of gigantic body deer, that's not the case here. Anything over 185lbs is considered heavy, and depending where you are in the state determines horns. Good rule of thumb is the closer you are to the Mississippi River and Atchafalya and further north, the bigger they get. Another thing is, the woods here are thick, briars, saplings, vines, cutover, and that's where the deer are. Lots of public land in LA, and most private land is under hunting club lease.

 

[Spoonbill]

Kansas is where you want to be

 

[sw282]

Kansas is where you want to beView attachment 1550111

South Carolina 78. You can't eat horns

 

[jelenko]

For climate, South/North Carolina, Tennessee.

 

[Steve h]

MS has long seasons and liberal limits.

 

[OMW57]

MS has long seasons and liberal limits.

I didnt know they had limits on liberals!

 

[wboggs]

Another vote for SC.

 

[Dimner]

South Carolina has the most deer per square mile of any state in the union and also the longest deer season.

I have always wondered how you deal with deer after the kill in your climate. I process my own, do you hunters all have walk in freezers? Or if you use a professional processor, what do you do on the weekends with yer deer while you wait for them to open on Monday?

 

[J.D.Erwin]

How's the deer hunting in the deep south? Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana. I can't live where I can't hunt deer.

IMO Alabama is the best choice of the three states you mentioned,but if you want the state with the largest deer herd that would be Texas with over 3 Milliion deer under low fence and another 2 million deer on high fence game ranchs your in whitetail heaven and that just deer.

 

[ebb]

The rednecks with style all have an octagonal hut in the back yard with a hoist, grill, refrigerator and freezer, stereo and TV. As soon as they can head home the party begins while butcher the meat, Back straps are on the grill as the butchering process and partying continues. Beer and backstrap is consumed while the whole animal is processed. I am not quite that well to do so some times I would hang one from the kids swing set. Many use a large commercial fish box to ice them down to make the trip. I have killed hogs in the am and we would put the hog in plastic bag tie a rope to it and sink it to a deep spot in the river to chill till the trip home. Many different ways to keep one cool. I saw a deer on a trailer under a Jeep in Denver and 2 days later saw the same jeep in Texas, glad i didn't have to eat that one.

 

[sdean]

I have always wondered how you deal with deer after the kill in your climate. I process my own, do you hunters all have walk in freezers? Or if you use a professional processor, what do you do on the weekends with yer deer while you wait for them to open on Monday?

We have a cooler at one club the other need to use ice chest.

 

[NZ_Fclass]

I didnt know they had limits on liberals!

You are allowed to bait them with Palestinian flags, too.

 

[Bluefink4895]

I have always wondered how you deal with deer after the kill in your climate. I process my own, do you hunters all have walk in freezers? Or if you use a professional processor, what do you do on the weekends with yer deer while you wait for them to open on Monday?

Generally there is no wait over the weekends. They usually have someone at the place to hang your deer. Gut it too for additional fee. The biggest issue in my area (upstate SC, near GA line) is that processors often have to turn folks away cause their hanging coolers are full. It can be a target rich environment and carcasses pile up quick, especially in Oct. Always call ahead and have a back up plan. I keep a old cooler in the shed for such situations.

When the season starts depends on location (east to west). With the low country (coastal) starting Aug 15. The midlands not far behind. Sep 15 for piedmont. Oct for mountain hunt unit. Regardless, this is SC and it gets hot and humid and stays hot and humid up until late Oct in most locations. Hunting in Aug and Sep can be a miserable experience. I generally just hunt mornings nowadays, trying to avoid the worst of the heat.

Under those conditions, getting a deer unzipped and the guts out quickly is priority. Especially if you have made a less than optimum shot and got some damage in the gut area. Leaking innards swelling in the sun don't improve flavor one bit.

Generally, I gut as quickly as I can. Get it to the truck and then straight on to the processor (10 min from house). If I can't do that, then it gets hung from daughter's jungle gym, skinned, quartered-up and into a ice-filled cooler with further processing later. Back strap generally goes straight to the stove or grill with no delay.
I generally do the later if it is a smaller deer. An 80 lb doe isn't worth the drive and processing fee nowadays. They are tender and don't need cubing anyway.

 

[Knotwild]

Actually, in my part of SC, deer hunting is a rat race. We have people come from FL and lease land. Most people that lease shoot what they see because the know the neighboring property owner will do the same. The nice ones are on large properties who are practicing deer engagement. It is a pain to hunt until Nov due to high temps and bugs, so the rut usually occurs in the heat and on most properties, it's hard to discern the rut because there are so many does. Also throw in that SC is growing so fast that many farms are being gobbled up for construction and traffic is getting increasingly worse due to people moving to SC for work. Many, many, does are killed during the summer with permits and left to rot. It's either that or you don't make a crop. It's not so great here. And if you don't want to deal with bugs, you need to experience trying to hunt in 80% humidity near the coast.

 

[Dimner]

yikes! I wonder why they don't have the seasons later in SC? Like starting Nov and through Jan. Then again, it might be nice to wear only one layer of clothes on a deer hunt. Some days I look like that kid from the Christmas story since it gets so cold in MI.

Thanks for the info on how you take care of deer in the heat. I do not think I would like it unless it was the only thing available to me.

 

[Knotwild]

yikes! I wonder why they don't have the seasons later in SC? Like starting Nov and through Jan.

The bucks start shedding in January.

 

[Jefferson]

come back and visit us in 15 years MINIMUM

then we talk

 

[Rick in Oregon]

Humm, heat, humidity and bugs. Reminds me of RVN, and being in that shithole about killed me with heat stroke, not to mention the huge and omnipresent bugs of every description. Being wet with sweat right after drying after a shower is not my preference or how I want to live.

I truly feel for you guys that are forced to hunt in those conditions instead of going out on a frosty morning with fresh tracking snow on the ground. The heat, humidity and bugs are why I live west of the Divide and seldom venture into the sweaty and humid east. Add the fact that here I can go into the outback with my rifle and pack and not see another human all day, just the critters that live here.





So carry on and endeavor to persevere. lol