A question for you whitetail hunters...

[parallaxbill]

How long are the seasons in your state where you hunt?  Archery, Black powder and gun seasons.

In my area of South Carolina (Game zone 2) it is as follows;

Archery, which includes traditional, crossbow and pneumatic, September 15- October 1st officially but also through January 1st

Black powder, (no BP handguns) but traditional and all modern inlines, October 1st-10th and  through January 1st.

Conventional gun season, includes any caliber, barrel length, rifles and handguns, October 11-January 1st.

It's got to be one of the longest, liberal deer seasons in the country but in my humble opinion it's too long for it's own good.

What's yours?

[parallaxbill]

The low country of south Carolina is pretty much "anything goes" from August 15th-January 1st.

[bigbrowndog]

Texas runs from Oct 1-Oct31 for archery, then first weekend Nov to roughly 2 weekend in Jan for regular season whitetails, the. A special 2 week antlerless season starts. for some counties. If you hunt on large property managed by special permits (MLD tags) you could kill deer into late Feb.

Personally I don’t get too excited about deer season until after Thanksgiving, the rut starts about that time and in South Texas it can be nearer Christmas before things start jumping. Plus it tends to cool down about that time temperate wise.

Trapr

[gnappi]

Back when I followed these things, no two large game seasons overlapped in Florida and I had no interest in small game.

[Aggie01]

Here in North Texas:
Archery: Sep. 30, 2023 - Nov. 3, 2023
Youth only: Oct. 28-29, 2023 & Jan. 8-21, 2024
General: Nov. 4 , 2023- Jan. 7, 2024
Special Late: (Spike/Doe only) Jan. 8-21, 2024
Muzzleloader: Jan. 8-21, 2024 (Not in my county)

The rut tends to be centered on November. (note that Trapr and I are in different parts of the state)

I got my buck last weekend.

[gw425]

Nebraska:

Archery 9/1 thru 12/31

Firearm 11/11 thru 11/19

ML 12/1 thru 12/31

Very short firearm season.

Greg

[lobo]

Here in my part of south-east Mississippi,

Archery/Crossbow September 15, 2023 to January 31, 2024

Gun November 18, 2023 to January 31, 2024 (including the use of handguns, and the use of suppressors on firearms while hunting)

Primitive weapon also falls in there. If you are hunting on private or leased land though, you can use anything that's legal including modern firearms/handguns.

We also have two dog seasons mixed in there too.

We get 3 bucks, and 5 does per season. We have so many deer that the Mississippi Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks are asking people to take one more deer this season to try to help control the population.


Chris

[sixshot]

Southeast Idaho was hit with the worst winter in many years last year & we lost a lot of deer & probably 90% of the yearling fawns. We can only shoot one buck here & I didn't get one, no problem we need the herd to recover for a while. I was planning on making a run up to Montana & hunting those river bottom whitetails with my long time buddy Carmelo but tragically his youngest brother was murdered a few days ago & he's really struggling right now so that's not going to happen.
So, now I'll wait for the late elk hunt to start & maybe I can improve on my score from last year, probably seen 350 elk, cocked the gun, I think 4 times & never fired a shot, need to change that if I can.

[bobm]

Ohio archery this year started on 30 September and runs until 4 February. There’s a week of gun season that always starts the Monday after Thanksgiving, then a weekend two weeks later. Muzzleloader is four days in early January.

[markh66]

I live near Albemarle NC and hunt the central season of North Carolina.

Central Deer Season    Archery: Sept. 10 – Oct. 28, 2022
                               Blackpowder: Oct. 29 – Nov. 11, 2022
                               Gun: Nov. 12, 2022 – Jan. 2, 2023

[bigbore5]

Nov 17, 2023 21:14:38 GMT -5 markh66 said:

I live near Albemarle NC and hunt the central season of North Carolina.

Central Deer Season    Archery: Sept. 10 – Oct. 28, 2022
                               Blackpowder: Oct. 29 – Nov. 11, 2022
                               Gun: Nov. 12, 2022 – Jan. 2, 2023

And we get six tags (2 antlered, 4 not), plus one can purchase tags for the January to February urban archery season in several towns.

[contender]

Here in NC,, we have different "zones" that have different dates for the various methods of take. Generally, from about mid-September,,, (9/9/23) until the first of the year is the timeframe. Archery enjoys the longest season,, while firearms have the shortest. As noted above,, we are allowed (6) deer total,, BUT,,,,,,, depending upon the area of the State,, the days you are allowed to harvest does,, can be from "none" to all season if using a firearm. Archery allows "either sex" pretty much state-side. You are allowed to use archery equipment in all other specified seasons. And in the firearms season,, all legal methods are allowed.
So, our season totals around 3-1/2 months. But it's kinda screwy.
I live in an area that is a (3) county zone,, which is bordered on one side where all season anterless deer kills are allowed,, and yet, on the other side with a very strict (1) day firearms anterless allowance. I can drive about 5-6 miles & be in the restrictive area,, or I can go about 30 miles & be in the area where the restrictions on anterless deer is all season. In my (3) county area,, I'm allowed a 2-week anterless season with a firearm. So, from a (1) day, to a 2-week, to a 3-1/2 month anterless firearm harvest method in about 40 miles, give or take the mileage a bit.

PS; I'm about to head out for the opening day of our firearms season. Our muzzleloading season ended yesterday. So for the next (2) weeks,, the rednecks will be using the mantra; "If it's brown,, it's down!" I've passed some smaller bucks the last few weeks. And the does have not been the ones I wanted to take. But today, and until the first of the year,, my handguns will be my daily companion. I usually only carry one at a time. Once I get some meat on the ground,, I switch guns. From my Contender,, to a few others,,,,,!

[markh66]

I remember the first year NC allowed handgun hunting. It was the 1984 season and the rules for handgun was it had to be a minimum of 5 1/2 barrel and .357 or larger. That's long been changed to no restrictions on caliber or barrel length for deer or bear.

[bigbore5]

But in NC it's still on the book that a 22lr is allowed for small game. A Game Warden friend pointed out that it's the ONLY cartridge mentioned as being legal for small game, even though traditionally it's not enforced except during non-firearms deer seasons.