Early season bucks

They’re already dropping in South Carolina

Almost everywhere deer season is not already open in the Carolinas, it is set to open in some fashion this month. The only exception is South Carolina’s Game Zone 1, which includes portions of Greenville, Pickens and Oconee counties.

Throughout North Carolina, Archery season opens Sept. 13 and will remain in place in every zone through at least Oct. 3, and later in some zones.

In South Carolina’s Game Zone 2, Archery opens Sept. 15. The Palmetto State’s Game Zone 3 opened for Archery on Aug. 15, and switches to all weapons on Sept. 1. And in Game Zone 4, hunters have been rifle hunting since Aug. 15.

And bucks, many in velvet, have been dropping like flies across South Carolina’s Game Zones 3 and 4. The other regions of the Carolinas have a lot of catching up to do, and they’ll get into the swing of things as quickly as their season dates allow.

It really began on Aug. 9 in those Game Zones, with Youth Day, which saw plenty of bucks hit the ground.

Typical strategies for downing early season bucks start before that region’s opening day, with scouting, preferrably relying on cellular trail cameras, which help keep hunters out of the woods while figuring out the patterns of deer frequenting their areas. From there, your first day in the woods is going to be your best bet, at least until the rut, with deer getting more and more educated and wary as the season goes on.

The beginning of the season may be hot and full of bugs, but don’t let the excuses keep you out of the woods. The end of the season will creep up and be upon us in a flash. Don’t let it pass you by.