Length of your season?

[roundball]

We don't have a muzzleloader only season in Texas. Guess our little 4 million whitetail herd won't sustain it. :curse:

I'm an ignorant easterner about details of Texas geography...I was in San Antonio for 100 years one summer, then Witchita Falls 6 months, then Amorillo 6 months, but as a poor dumb GI back in the 60's, I didn't get out much.

My recollection was endless wide open spaces there...so generally speaking, what parts of Texas have geograohy more suited to closer range hunting with muzzleloaders?

 

[Maynerd62411]

Illinois, southern zone:

1st shotgun season is the second weekend in November, Friday Saturday and Sunday. Second shotgun season is the weekend after Thanksgiving, Thursday- Sunday. Muzzleloader season is the weekend after 2nd shotgun, also the first weekend in December. It is a four day season, Thursday- Sunday. Archery deer is October 1st through middle of January. Muzzleloaders are optional for shotgun seasons. Bowhunting is permitted during muzzleloader season with blaze orange requirements.

3rd weekend of November ,Nov. 18 -20, Dec. 1-4, Dec. 9-11.
The Dec. weekends are considered Muzzleloader season if that is the only tag you applied for.
The 2nd Firearm season (1st muzzleloader season)is 4 days, but the rest are 3 day.
Also, Youth season is Oct, 8 & 9. And late season is in the middle of January. A muzzleloader ( and all legal firearms) can be used during Youth season ( must be less than 16 at the beginning of the season)and all legal weapons can be used during late season (formally handgun season) .

 

[Hoyt]

The quota hunts can be a joke too. There are WMAs that have two hunts a year which last anywhere from 3-7 days. They allow 50 - 75 quotas per hunt. So, you get a total of MAYBE 100 hunters in the woods on thousands of acres for a total of 2 weeks. The only WMAs that I know of that don't do the quota hunt are Osceola and Ocala National Forests. Camp Blanding has 700 quota per day - you have to check in and out (it is an operating military facility - I am used to that as that is how they did it when I hunted Fort Gordon, GA.

I'm sure those type hunts (special opportunity) must be against some law..that's public land that we pay for and they open it up to anyone all over the world who will put in as many $5.00 applications as their wallet will stand for the right to pay a couple more hundred dollars to hunt if picked.
I've hunted Camp Blanding's bow only walkin areas..and use to live in Augusta, Ga. and hunted all around Ft. Gordon..mostly the Clark Hill area.

 

[Pork Chop]

I am sure that the special opportunity hunts meet the letter of the law.

Well, we sure have chewed some of the same ground! I really enjoyed hunting on Ft. Gordon. Those were some of the good times from my childhood. Later as a young adult, I hunted there with friends, but it was not the same as going with Dad. Funny how at the time they were good, but as I age, they get better...

I look forward to meeting you one day.

 

[Blue Smoke]

Bow season- September 15th to January 15th- 4 months but closed during the rifle season.

Youth season-three days the weekend before the rifle season.

Centerfire rifle season- 11 days in November beginning the weekend closest to the 15th.

Muzzleloader season-second weekend after the close of the rifle season/early December- eleven days- bow season open thru out.

Late doe season- In january and usually three days in designated areas- bow season open thru out.

The limits are one buck with a bow before the rifle season and one after. One buck with a gun during the modern or muzzleloader portion. First doe tag is full price but additional doe tags are 5$ each and unlimited. A man with 20 doe tags can kill 20 does if he sees that many. Tags are on sale all season so it is a simple trip to town to get a new tag. Checking by phone this year with no real check of limits, regs compliance, or method of harvest.

One side note. A four points on one side minimum for a buck to be legal was started last season over most of the state in an attempt to create more tourism by raising the quality of the bucks available. Like the phone check system, the whole goal of our Conservation department is saving money or producing tourism income. It has nothing to do with quality game management at all. Quality trophy management maybe to draw out of state hunters.

This year several Conservation Areas is Bucks only,several have been closed to Deer hunting altogether.

Blue Smoke

 

[freetrapper20]

Hey Roundball,
NC deer season (certain regions) goes to Jan. 2 this time. Don't miss the last day this go round. :winking:

 

[bigbore442001]

Here in the Bay State( Massachusetts) archery season opens up on Columbus Day ( October 10th ) and it runs to November 26th.

After that is the general two week long shotgun season, although you can use muzzleloaders during that time. So that runs from November 28th to the 10th of December.

Then the muzzleloader season opens up. That runs from December 12th to the 31st.

Also keep in mind that Sunday hunting is not allowed.

 

[roundball]

Hey Roundball,
NC deer season (certain regions) goes to Jan. 2 this time. Don't miss the last day this go round. :winking:

Yeah, you're right...I hunt a little bit of Eastern, mostly Central...I see that the 1st falls on a Sunday this time, so the last day will be New Year's, Monday the 2nd...I'll be in the woods after something (hope it's squirrels cause that'll mean I filled all my deer tags :

 

[WSmitty01]

It's taken me more than a year to figure out the Florida WMA system. I have no private land to hunt on. This year I'm doing 3 muzzleloader weekends in North Hillsborough but I have to get them at 1 a month. That's why I'm doing the Avon Park thing, $135 a year for the full Central Florida turkey and deer hunts, no rifles's allowed either, shotguns, muzzleloaders, pistols under 9". Plenty of game, and a VERY well controlled 82,000 acres. Hoyt, you really need to go to the Avon park site and check it out!! The drawing is done for this year (unless you are retired or active duty), but watch for next year!!! make sure you have a hunter safety course!

 

[Hoyt]

Smitty I hear there's lots of good spring gobbler hunting on that place.
I'm thinking seriously about going to Arbucle (close to Avon Park) and hunt the muzzleloader season (and maybe the bow season..the muzzleloader is the last wk before general gun comes in). It's quota on the wk ends for bow and muzzleloader, but they let walkins (people without quota permits) hunt during the wk an I know quiet a few people who hunt it and say it's loaded with deer.

 

[Pork Chop]

Where are these happy hunting grounds located? I may have to make a dawn patrol on a weekday!

 

[BrownBear]

Our general deer season runs almost six months- August 1 till late January. There's a primitive weapon only hunt for a couple of weeks in one area.

 

[Bluffer]

New York now has two special muzzle season before and after regular rifle in the northern zone & one after regular rifle in southern zone.

 

[Enfield1]

The state of Georgia is divided in to two zones with regards to hunting, the Northern Zone and the Southern Zone. I live and hunt in the Southern Zone. Our muzzleloading season begins around the 3rd week of September and lasts for a week. The regular firearms season beins about a month later in the 3rd week of October and runs until the middle of January of the following year. Hunters may use muzzleloaders during the regular firearms season if they wish. As much as I like to hunt, the September week of Muzzleloader season is too early for me. The leaves are still very green and the foliage is as thick as any South American Jungle. If you saw a deer, it would literally be 5 - 10 yards in front of you. I usually wait until November when the forest is thinner and our temperatures cool down. We can take up to 10 doe and 2 buck, one of which must have at least 4 points on one side of his antlers. Across the river in Alabama, you are allowed to take a buck a day if you can get him. It sounds as though with that kind of allowance, that we would have no deer at all, but that is not the case. Only one county over from me, there are more car accidents involving deer than there are involving other drivers.

 

[***Sean***]

Some countys in Texas do. This year it was Muzzleloader
Season: Jan. 7-15