Study shows big bucks available close to Eunice hunters

If you’re looking to bag a big buck next season, look no further than nearby Thistlewaite Wildlife Management Area.
“Thirteen deer over 200 pounds were harvested during the gun season,” said Tony Vidrine, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Mississippi Alluvial Valley South Region Manager. “These were eight-, nine- and 10-point bucks. All of them were about three-and-a-half years old, in that age class.”
LDWF recently released the harvest data from the 2014 WMA either-sex firearms hunts, and hunter efforts across the state were consistent with past years. Statewide, WMA deer hunters had a slightly higher success rate. More than 26,400 hunter efforts were made on the state’s 37 managed hunts. Richard K. Yancey WMA drew the most hunters, with 5,264 hunters utilizing the WMA for the buck and doe days. Fort Polk, Dewey W. Wills, Sherburne and Boeuf WMAs were also in the Top 5 for hunter use during the managed hunts. The total deer harvest for all the hunts was 2,600, including 1,323 bucks and 1,215 does.
According to Vidrine, hunters numbers increased at Thistlewaite, and they have been for several years now. During the Nov. 28-30 either-sex hunt, 735 hunter efforts were made and 40 deer were harvested, consisting of 19 bucks and 21 does. During the Dec. 7-8 hunts, 540 hunter efforts were made, resulting in 19 deer harvested, consisting of 15 bucks and four does.
“More hunters equaled increased harvest numbers, and I think hunter and harvest numbers will continue to increase,” Vidrine said. “More hunters are coming back (following habitat destruction from Hurricane Gustav). Hunters are starting to harvest a few more nice bucks there, and the WMA is managed for quality deer.”
“We had positive comments from hunters (this season). They like the opportunity to harvest bigger bucks.”
Vidrine credits the fruitful harvest to a favorable environment and the excellent management plan.
“The habitat of Thistlewaite is really good because of the logging activity,” Vidrine said. “After Hurricane Gustav, logging was done in the WMA, and it’s a little easier to get around there.”
Currently, the regulations at the WMA place the deer season days early, before the rut, but that will change in several more years.
“This regulation was part of an eight-year plan,” Vidrine said. “We are now in the second or third year, so it will change in about five or six years.”
“We will open the season during the rut and see what difference it makes in the harvest. A lot more bucks will be taken during the rut.”
In the short term, Vidrine said a few more doe days may be added to next year’s season.
At Sherburne WMA, hunters and harvest numbers remained about the same as last year. During the Nov. 28-30, managed hunts, 1,530 hunter efforts were made, and 137 deer were harvested. Successful hunters bagged one of 48 bucks and 73 does. During the Dec. 6-8 hunt, 1,017 hunter efforts were made, and 36 deer were harvested, consisting of 23 bucks and 13 does.
“During the either sex weekends, about seven bucks over 200 pounds were harvested,” Vidrine said. ‘”We are not seeing the same number of deer like we were before the Morganza flood (of several years ago), but the deer are coming back. The more time that passes, the more the number of deer harvested will increase.”
In addition to the flooding, the WMA also took a beating from Gustav, opening the canopy a bit, but that damage is also healing.
“The habitat at Sherburne continues to improve,” Vidrine said. “There is a little bit of logging going on, and the canopy is closing back up. The habitat there is fair.”
Vidrine also said that deer herds at both Sherburne and Thistlewaite are healthy, but the deer at Sherburne are facing some heavy competition from an unwelcome source.
“We talked to a lot of Sherburne deer hunters at the check stations, and most comments were complaints about the increasing number of hogs,” he said. “The population has exploded. They compete with the deer herd for resources, especially for the mast (acorn) crop. They are hard on the habitat, too, and they tear up roads and levees.”
“We are looking at several ways to control them,” Vidrine continued. “We trapped some at Sherburne last year but that didn’t dent the population. There’s a whole lot of pressure on LDWF and others (agencies) to do something about the hog population. Some WMAs are doing hog hunts with dogs. We may allow that in future.”
LDWF is conducting several studies on the state’s hog population, and hogs from Sherburne are being harvested as part of one of the research projects. As part of the study, the stomach contents of hogs from WMAs and private lands are being evaluated to figure out the omnivore animal’s diet composition.
“We are determining what they eat and when they eat it,” said James M. LaCour, state wildlife veterinarian for LDWF. “If we know what time of the year they are eating certain things, like a root plant or an animals, this will help to better target hunting efforts.”
Several hundred hogs have been examined so far, and the list of things hogs are consuming includes plants, snakes, turtles, frogs, earthworms and even piglets.
“So far, we have not discovered any fawns or turkey poults,” LaCour said. “We did see a hog that had eaten in an agriculture field. It had 10 to 12 pounds of soybeans in its stomach.”
According to LaCour, the hog population at Sherburne WMA is not nearly as prevalent as it is at some other WMAs, and LDWF is exploring many ways to combat the state’s hog problem, including licensing helicopter companies to take hunters into the air to shoot hogs, with the landowners permission to hunt the area.
“We haven’t had any companies sign up yet, but I expect there to be interest in the opportunity,” LaCour said. “Most landowners don’t want people hunting over their land during deer season.”
“We are working to increase public opportunities to harvest hogs and increase the agency harvest of hogs.”