Hunting in Georgia: Top Spots for Hunting in the Peach State
- Cedar Creek Wildlife Management Area. Cedar Creek WMA is one of the largest WMAs in Georgia, covering 38,000 acres.
- Warwoman Wildlife Management Area.
- Chickasawhatchee Wildlife Management Area.
- Ocmulgee Wildlife Management Area.
Georgia Hunting
| Species | Dates |
|---|
| Big Game | Deer | Sept. 14 – Jan. 31 |
| Oct. 12 – Jan. 12 |
| Oct. 19 – Jan. 12 |
| Bear | Archery: Sept. 14 – Jan. 12 Primitive Weapons: Oct. 12-Jan. 12 Firearms: Oct. 19 – Jan. 12 |
Hunting deer, bear and turkey requires a Big Game License plus free Harvest Record for deer or turkey. Migratory birds hunting (including dove) requires the Georgia Migratory Bird Stamp, and hunting duck and geese additionally requires the Federal Duck Stamp ($25).
Here are the best things to do in Georgia.
- Savannah Historic District.
- Things to Do in Georgia: Booth Western Art Museum.
- Georgia Aquarium.
- Georgia Attractions: Atlanta Botanical Gardens.
- National Museum of the Mighty Eight Air Force.
- Andersonville National Historic Site.
December 1-9
Deer have been pressured all season long. Bucks are rutted down and have slunk off to the few remaining pockets of unpressured ground that haven't been fouled by hunters during the season. For many bucks, this will be the same area(s) they used during the summer and early season.During the statewide primitive weapons deer season and WMA primitive weapons hunts, youth under 16 years of age may hunt deer with any legal deer firearm.
Georgia DNR recently announced the dates for Georgia's 2019-2020 deer season. For firearms hunters, those dates are October 19, 2019 to January 12, 2020 (see restrictions below).
The best bet is to hit your stand just before daybreak and stay there until around 1:00 pm with most deer being taken between 10:00 am and 11:30 am with a few larger kills stretching into the period around noon.
The oft-promoted idea of a second rut theorizes that approximately 30 days after the peak of the rut, there will be a less-intense “mini rut.” The story goes that at this specific point any does that did not get bred during their first estrous cycle will again come into heat and many doe fawns will also come into their
2-5 miles max is pretty typical during the rut, but they typically come back and revisit their "home range" or core area as well. Keep the does around and the bucks will start showing up 2 1/2 weeks prior to peak breeding.
Better Buck Activity: When bucks start wandering from their beds well before sunset and also linger, often in groups, in or around doe feeding areas for an hour or two after sunrise, it's because they're looking for the first estrous does. That's a sure sign the rut is about to break wide open.
Major Trails, Close to Bedding Areas
As a matter of fact, a post rut buck is going to look for every opportunity they can to find a secure bedding area that is typically close to a food source such a grain fields or turnip plot.After you have found the does, hunting the second rut for bucks requires finding funnels. These are deer trails and travel corridors bottlenecked by abrupt terrain features, which link to doe Mature bucks will use benches and other areas like these to conserve energy and stay hidden while they search for estrous does.
The timing of the rut, or breeding season, for white-tailed deer varies locally, especially in southern climates like Georgia's. During the rut, the desire to breed causes deer to become more active compared to the rest of the year.
When the time comes, the bucks will run her ragged and you won't see the fawns, but when it's over she'll hook back up with the fawns. They may be weaned, but they'll stay with her until and even after next years fawns are born.
First off, in the Northeast, especially the north-Northeast, the second rut is very real. Fawns and some yearlings are now coming into estrus and bucks will take notice. Yet the oft-referenced phenomena of adult does “who weren't bred” coming back into estrus 26 to 28 days after the main rut is much less a factor.
Food Plots
Plants that typically attract deer include red clover, chicory, and orchard grass. Certain high-protein crops, such as peas, soybeans, turnips, alfalfa, sorghum, kale, or corn, are also attractants that the animals enjoy feeding on. Deer like the nutritious nuts that come from chestnuts and acorns as well.Several different studies on daily deer movement show that during the fall deer are most active at night around dawn and dusk, and from 12:00 – 2:00 AM. This means they are not moving much between 10:00 and 12:00 PM, and between 2:00 and 4:00 AM.
Not using the right calls
Quit using your doe bleat call you were using during pre-rut. After the early season, bucks are only interested in does they can breed. Use a "doe in estrus" call. Keep your call on the deer's level.During the seeking and chasing phase of the rut, bucks love to run back in the woods (usually about 15 to 30 yards) from the edge of a field (harvested corn is my favorite) as they use their eyes and nose to search for any doe offering even a hint of being near estrous.
Deer sleep anywhere they bed. Their head position changes many times during a sleep session, and they may lay with their front and back legs tucked under them, their back legs tucked and front legs extended and even on their side with all of their legs extended.
Rut Location Four: Field Corners
During the seeking and chasing phase of the rut, bucks love to run back in the woods (usually about 15 to 30 yards) from the edge of a field (harvested corn is my favorite) as they use their eyes and nose to search for any doe offering even a hint of being near estrous.Products such as Tink's classic #69 Doe-In-Rut Lure, Code Blue's Standing Estrous or Wildlife Research's Golden Estrous work well. I've also developed an approach I believe makes my drags more effective.
Under longstanding regulations, hunters could place bait — usually corn — for deer anywhere in Georgia, but couldn't shoot a deer within 200 yards of that bait. Hunters are still barred from baiting deer on state or federal property.
Mississippi tops the list at almost 40 deer per square mile, but Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan all show an average of more than 30 deer per square mile. Indiana, Alabama, South Carolina and Kentucky all have 23 or more deer per square mile.
With a heavier . 223 bullet, accurate shooting, and a good AR-15, outdoors enthusiasts can have a freezer full of venison. “In Georgia,” said U.S. Law Shield Independent Program Attorney Matt Kilgo, “deer may be taken with any modern center-fire rifle that is . 22 caliber or larger when loaded with expanding bullets.
Bag Limits
You can legally bag only 12 deer per season across the state. No more than 10 kills can be antlerless deer; no more than two kills can be antlered deer. Also, if you bag two antlered deer in a hunting trip, one of the kills must have at least four points one inch or longer on one side of the antlers.The DNR voted specifically to move the Northern Zone line to include only the Chattahoochee National Forest in extreme north Georgia — baiting deer is illegal regardless on all public land in Georgia — so this move makes baiting deer legal on all private land in the state.
Twelve (12) per season, Statewide. No more than ten (10) may be antlerless and no more than two (2) may be antlered. One of the antlered deer must have at least 4 points, one inch or longer, on one side of the antlers. Firearms deer hunting is not allowed in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton (north of GA Hwy.
Turkey and deer are on the menu for hunting success. You may come to the area to hunt, but you'll fall in love with its beautiful natural features.
During firearms deer season last year, almost 320,000 hunters harvested 260,765 deer
Hunting. Nearly 630,000 people hunt in Georgia. Hunters utilize private lands as well as Georgia's 104 Wildlife Management Areas to get out and use their hunting licenses. Georgia is one of the most biologically diverse states in the nation and a great place to get outside and hunt!
