Deer hunters are making good use of the opportunities they have to hunt public land around South Carolina, according to SCDNR biologist Charles Ruth.
“Deer hunting on Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) remains popular in South Carolina, with approximately 53,000 licensees having a WMA permit,” Ruth said. “During the 2011 season, we estimate that 4,640 bucks and 3,793 does were harvested (on WMAs) — an increase of approximately 7.4 percent from 2010, which is very good.”
WMAs are made up of land owned by SCDNR, other state-owned land enrolled in the WMA program, U.S. Forest Service lands enrolled in the WMA Program, and private and/or corporate lands leased by SCDNR.
Ruth said harvest figures for coastal WMAs are from check stations, and are presented only for those WMA properties that have a deer check-in requirement.
Harvest figures for upstate WMAs (Mountain and Central and Western Piedmont Hunt Units) were estimated by extrapolating the county deer harvest rates, such as deer harvested per square mile, to the acreage of WMA land that falls within the respective counties comprising the WMA. This assumes that hunters on WMAs exhibit effort and harvest patterns similar to those of the general base of license holders surveyed.
Finally, the estimated deer harvest on WMA lands is included in, not added to, county and statewide estimates.
“Also indicated in our harvest figures are specific WMAs where hunters have to apply for quota hunts,” Ruth said. “While very popular with some hunters, these quota hunts often offer outstanding hunting on areas intensively managed by the SCDNR .
“The Webb Center is certainly one of the top areas, but there are several of these opportunities hunters can consider.”
Ruth said the application process for quota hunts begins in early June, and applications are accepted until about the third week in August, so there’s still time to apply for this season’s quota hunts.
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