The success of hunters during the archery and muzzle-loader deer seasons could point to equal results during this month's modern firearms deer seasons.
Young hunters get the first crack at those white-tails during the statewide youth deer hunt Saturday and Sunday. Opening day of modern gun season follows on Nov. 14, when just about everyone with an Arkansas hunting license heads out for deer.
County by county
Here are harvest figures for Northwest Arkansas counties during last year’s deer seasons. Totals are for all seasons combined
Benton: 1,157
Carroll: 501
Washington: 1,424
Madison: 1,053
— Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
Archery deer season opened on Sept. 26. The first segment of muzzle-loader season ended Oct. 25. Both have produced good results, said Mark Hutchings, area wildlife biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
"Hunters are off to a good start," Hutchings said. "We're over here in Madison County for a meeting and hunters have brought by two nice bucks just today."
Both were taken with bow and arrow on the McIlroy Madison County Wildlife Management Area, he added.
The harvest so far during archery, muzzle-loader and private-land antlerless deer hunts is on par with last year, he said. So far hunters have killed about 48,000 deer during archery, muzzle-loader and antlerless deer hunt. The total deer harvest for 2014-2015 was 208,075 for all seasons combined.
The mantra of white-tail pursuit is find the food and hunters will find the deer. Bucks and does in the Ozarks feed mostly on acorns during autumn.
"We've got lots of acorns this year, so the deer are going to be in the timber. Hunters ought to be hunting in the timber," Hutchings said.
Most of Arkansas' deer are killed during the modern firearms deer season, with a large portion of those taken on opening day. This year's season is Nov. 14-Dec. 6 in deer zone 1 and surrounding zones that include Northwest Arkansas. Complete regulations are on the Game and Fish web site or the agency's hunting regulations manual.
Weather drastically affects the deer harvest each season, Hutchings said. Too hot and hunter interest is low. Too cold or rainy and some hunters stay at home. Brisk, frosty mornings stoke a hunter's enthusiasm.
The weather and the deer have cooperated for Rick Sayre of Cave Springs. He's been hunting since archery season opened in September. Sayre has won the Triple Trophy Award from Game and Fish eight years in a row. To get it, a hunter must take one deer by the three hunting methods, archery, muzzle-loader and modern gun.
Sayre hunts in several areas of Northwest Arkansas and keys on the ones that have the most acorns for deer to eat. Not all of his hunting spots have them.
"I hunt at one spot in the War Eagle area and there aren't any acorns. Another place I hunt near Pea Ridge has millions of them," Sayre said.
Rain last week has helped fill ponds that are water sources for deer, he added.
"This season, if you're in an area that has acorns and water, you're going to have deer."
These are the golden years for Arkansas deer hunters. Game and Fish estimates the statewide deer population at nearly 1 million. That's a far cry from 500 deer in 1920, according to "History of White-Tail Deer" on the agency's web site.
"I am seeing lots of good, healthy deer," Sayre said. "Some of the does have twins or triplets," he continued. "Early in the bow season, I had a pack of 20 deer walk up on me."
Hunters look forward to the rut, which is deer mating season that occurs mainly in November. There were no signs the last week of October that the rut is on, Sayre said. Bucks chasing does or bucks fighting are signs the rut is happening. Sayre had seen neither as of Oct. 29.
Cool weather of late could get the rut started, he said, just in time for the youth deer hunt this weekend.
Flip Putthoff may be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAFlip
Sports on 11/03/2015