Hunters Taking Aim As Deer Season Opens

A whole lot of people are sitting up a tree this morning in woodlands across the state.

The elevated deer stand has become SOP for hunting whitetails in Florida's thick woodlands, and with the opening of the general gun season Saturday in the popular Central Zone, which includes all Tampa Bay area counties, thousands of hunters have headed to the woods for the weekend. The season here continues through Jan. 20.

Florida continues to support a remarkable deer population, estimated at around 900,000 animals by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, despite widespread destruction of habitat from housing and commercial development.

In fact, in areas where the land remains in a natural state, regulated hunting has been shown to have little effect on deer numbers; hunters take around 10 percent of the population annually, but each year natural reproduction replaces all that are killed, and in some cases adds lots more, according to state biologists.

That's why Florida remains one of the few states where hunters can take as many deer as they want. The limit is two antlered bucks daily on private lands throughout the lengthy seasons. Without a strong harvest, deer numbers sometimes deplete the available habitat, and highway collisions with deer become problematic. In Ohio, for example, where the deer population explosion seems to have overrun the harvest, they record close to 30,000 deer collisions per year. Florida doesn't keep records on this statistic, but suffice it to say there are many in areas with lots of game.

Of course, most hunters don't actually take more than one or two animals per season, which is all the venison most families want to eat over a year's time. And on public lands, where tens of thousands hunt for only the cost of a WMA permit and their hunting license, deer are wily and often nocturnal, which makes taking even a single legal-sized buck a challenge in a season.

Turkey season runs concurrent with deer season in the South and Central Zone, but ends earlier, on Jan. 6. In the Northwest, the season is Nov. 22-25 and Dec. 8-Jan 13. A $5 turkey permit is required to take turkeys in addition to the necessary licenses, and only one gobbler per day may be taken, two for the combined fall seasons.

Wild hogs may be taken pretty much without limit on private lands, and there are estimated to be close to a million of the porkers statewide. See regulations for hunting hogs on WMAs.

Hunting is a far different pursuit than it's sometimes portrayed in films and TV, with beer swilling louts roaring through the woods in high-wheel pickups, shooting anything that moves. Well, it's not like that except in Ocala National Forest.

But in general, hunting is a solitary and silent pursuit. You head into the woods before dawn, take a stand in an area where deer trails or the rubs and scrapes made by rutting bucks indicate activity, and sit down to watch the squirrels and the raccoons for hours at a time.

Most days you'll see a number of does, maybe a buck that's too young. Many hunters go for weeks, or the entire season, without ever firing a shot. For some, hunting is perhaps as much an excuse for being in the woods as anything else, a reason to leave work and worries behind for a few days, watch the flow of nature, and perhaps think a bit about Man's place in it all.

The general hunting season is Oct. 27-Nov. 6 in the South Zone, Nov. 10-Jan. 20 in the Central Zone, and Nov. 22-25 and Dec. 8-13 in the Northwest Zone. For details on all aspects of hunting in Florida, visit www.myfwc.com.

WINNER: Captain Bill Miller, host of "Hooked on Fishing" on Catch 47 on Bright House Networks, was named winner of the Ted Williams Award this weekend at the Mercury Grand Slam Celebrity Tournament in St. Petersburg. Miller was one of the founders of the event a decade ago and has been a central part of it ever since. The tournament has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for pediatric cancer research with a pro-am format similar to major golfing fundraisers.

WORKSHOP: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will hold a public workshop on regulations for quota hunts on wildlife management areas Thursday at Bass Pro Shops, 5156 International Drive in Orlando at 6:30 p.m. For details, contact Robert Jones at (850) 644-6320.

MEETING: The Apollo Beach Sail & Power Squadron meets Thursday at Lutheran Church Hall, 5309 U.S. 41 N in Apollo Beach at 7:30 p.m. All boaters are welcome; (813) 785-5086.