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When is deer hunting season in south carolina
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The season’s length varies across the state. Hunters in the Lowcountry and Midlands can harvest deer with firearms from Aug. But recently, the S. Department of Natural Resources board discussed extending the season further into January, potentially by 10 to 15 days.
This comes after the agency’s Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Advisory Committee recommended the length of the season remain the same.
The Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Advisory Committee believed an extension could interfere with small game hunting seasons, according to Mike Hutchins, chairman of the committee and DNR board member. A lot of properties that are leased to hunting clubs do not allow small game shooting or trapping while deer are in season. At the meeting, DNR board member Jerry Lee of Johnsonville said he does not think extending the season by 15 days will hurt deer herds, especially if the rule is to only shoot antlered bucks during that time.
There are pros and cons to extending the season. The biggest advantage is that hunters will have more time to harvest deer. A couple of cons would be that bucks may have lost their antlers by later in the season, and an increased size of fetuses in pregnant does. However, the boundary between Game Zone 1 and Game Zone 2 is a railroad line. Hunting on Sunday is allowed on private land. Hunter puts out bait, usually shelled corn, to attract the deer to certain locations in the Coastal plain.
The DNR banned baiting in the Piedmont region when it was trying to restore the deer population in the s. Oct 23, Oct 24, Bobcat No limit. Nov 24, Mar 1, Coyote — Statewide Private Lands No closed season on private lands.
Jan 1, Dec 31, Deer — Zone 4 Archery Private Private lands in zone 4. Aug 15, Aug 31, Deer — Zone 4 Gun Private Private lands in zone 4. Sep 1, Sep 15, Oct 10, Sep 30, Oct 1, Oct 11, Oct 15, Oct 29, Jan 7, Dove — General 1 Bag limit 15 per day. Sep 3, Dove — General 2 Bag limit 15 per day. Nov 12, Nov 26, Dove — General 3 Bag limit 15 per day. Dec 24, Jan 31, Duck — Early Teal Bag limit 6 per day. Sep 9, Sep 24, Duck — Part 1 Bag limit 6 per day.
Nov 19, Duck — Part 2 Bag limit 6 per day. Dec 12, Mar 2, Nov 23, Night only. Sep 2, Click here to see rules and to enter your buck. Become the most informed Sportsman you know, with a membership to the Carolina Sportsman Magazine and CarolinaSportsman.
Army Spc. Thomas Caughman. Victor Marrow buck harvested a pound buck on Nov. When going after king mackerel in the fall, switch to a big net and learn how to properly cast it. You must be logged in to post a comment. October 8,
– When is deer hunting season in south carolina
Thomas Caughman. Persons convicted of certain night hunting violations during the previous five years are ineligible to hunt coyotes at night. Apr 29, In addition to those drawbacks, the deer harvest would be minimal further into January. Seasons in each zone may overlap and details for each can be found below. For instance, in Game Zone 4, which encompasses the northwestern part of the state, Sept. Field Reporter Deer Hunting.
[22schd] Deer Seasons on Private Lands | eRegulations.Hunting Information from SCDNR
South Carolina has always had one of the earliest deer seasons in the nation, most often starting August 15 and running through December. In northern South Carolina, the deer harvest has been somewhat more restricted. This year the state has made some drastic changes. South Carolina is basically divided into two regions, north and south. From October 1 — 11 is the primitive-weapons season when you can bowhunt or use muzzleloaders.
South of Columbia, the season opens October 15th for any type of deer hunting: bow, blackpowder muzzleloaders, modern rifles, shotguns and even dog hunting for deer. Last year South Carolina started using deer tags. When you buy your license you get 3 unrestricted buck tags, 8 date-specific unantlered deer tags, and two other ways you can get additional tags.
However, with the tag system, if you pay for additional tags, you can take 12 does and 5 bucks. One of the reasons South Carolina has always had such a liberal bag limit is because the southern section of the state is an agricultural region; and farmers there have had severe crop damage, due to deer.
Deer hunting also historically has brought a great deal of revenue to the state because the southern portion of the state starts August 15, and hunters have the opportunity to take bucks in velvet. Even today with new restrictions, South Carolina sells numbers of licenses to out-of-state hunters for deer hunting. For the most part, South Carolina has relatively small deer.
If I take four deer in a season, they fill up my freezer. Because our weather in South Carolina is so hot, and we have very few hard, cold winters, one of the most effective tools I use during doe season is putting out mineral rocks.
We also plant food plots, we can use feeders, and I start putting out trail cameras and hanging stands. During the early mornings, our temperatures will be in the 60s and 70s, and as the sun comes up, in the 80s and 90s. In the southern part of state on opening day, temps will be in the 90s and possibly in the s.
So you must have a scent-eliminating suit, like my ScentLok and ScentBlocker suits. Once I arrive at my stand, I take the camo t-shirt off, take a dry clean camo t-shirt out of a one-gallon Ziploc bag, put the dirty camo t-shirt into the bag, zip it closed and then put on the dry camo t-shirt and spray it down.
For the deer in our area, when the sawtooth acorns start to drop, the sound they make is like the music playing on the popsicle wagon that all the kids can hear.
The deer will come running to those sawtooth acorns much like a kid will to the popsicle wagon. Many sections of South Carolina have very thick foliage. So far, my mineral licks really have produced well for me in the early part of the season.
I put my mineral rocks in the same places every year, and even though the rocks dissolve over time due to rain, the deer keep coming to those spots even when the rocks are gone. Some of the minerals from the rocks drip down into the dirt, and the deer eat the dirt. Feeders are a good way to get a census of your deer herd, if you put a trail camera close to each. During the early part of the season, hunting over feeders can be productive. When the white oak acorns drop, deer tend to leave the feeders and go to those acorns.
You can only use feeders on private lands and not public lands. I usually keep five trail cameras out as we move further into the season.
As the season cools down, I start putting out more trail cameras. But up here we have more older-age-class bucks than the southern part of the state. Our mature bucks will weigh pounds, and our does pounds. Every year there will be some pound bucks taken. My best buck scored inches and had 12 points. I took him with a rifle in The only bucks that can be harvested have to have 4 points on one side or be 12 inches between the beams.
Right now there are a lot of big bucks being harvested off this property. Members of my archery club have taken bucks from there that scored to inches, which is a really nice-sized buck for our area.
So, I plan to spend more time this year hunting that public area than anywhere else. That property is public-hunting land. I mainly hunt for does to put meat in the freezer. He likes to rifle hunt. With him helping to put meat in the freezer, I can start hunting better bucks.
Although Clemson owns the property, the state manages the land and the deer there. The only time this land is deer hunted with a rifle is during Youth Hunting Days. I like these two WMAs not only because they tend to produce big bucks for bowhunters, but when compared to other WMAs, they have very light hunting pressure.
Most of the areas you can only get in by walking, riding a bicycle or going in by boat. There is very limited access but also a very good deer population in these two WMAs that are the best areas for possibly taking an older-age-class buck with a bow. Public-land hunting in South Carolina, like many public areas of the South, are starting to have fewer hunters, especially bowhunters. More and more hunters are joining hunting clubs and leasing land that they can manage, restrict harvest and have less hunting pressure.
You can harvest big deer on public land here, but those big bucks will be few and hard to find. A friend of mine has joined a hunting club near Laurens, SC, that has five members.
The southern part of the state seems to have a big influx of Florida hunters leasing large tracts of land. Deer season opens in the deep southern section of South Carolina on August Many of the landowners there have crop-depredation permits, so each individual can take quite a few deer. I have a couple of friends in the southern zone, and I hunt with them four or five days a year, because I want to have the opportunity to take some of those big swamp deer on that land.
Most of that hunting there is rifle hunting, so you must take a little time to scout and find a place where you can get a nice buck close. I spent several days there last year in a ladder stand in a magnolia tree waiting on a big buck to come by, and he never did.
However, there are some great places to hunt there. You also may have the opportunity to take feral hogs then. Landowners are usually very happy to see those feral hogs shot, processed and go home in coolers of hunters.
You may want to plan on a day or two for scouting before you start hunting. If you use mosquito repellant, you really have to be conscious of the wind. With Thermacell insect repellant, I can still bowhunt and not be bothered by mosquitoes. When I hunt around home in the northern section of South Carolina, I rarely if ever use my Thermacell. The Branch Newsletter. Break-Up Country. Elements Agua. Elements Terra. Shadow Grass Habitat. Explore All Patterns. Back About Our Story. Write for Mossy Oak.
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