WMA Deer Hunting Special

GON’s WMA Special is the only place in the world to look for easy-to-read tables and charts designed to guide Georgia public-land deer hunters for their upcoming seasons.

In this year’s WMA Special, we have deer-hunting stats on 100 pieces of public-land dirt. Top quota and non-quota bonus deer hunts from last year are listed below. Jump in and do your research as you make plans for this year’s WMA deer-hunting season.

State Parks Is Where It’s At

If there are any first-time visitors taking a glance at this WMA Special, and they check out the “WMA Hunter Success” table, a thought would likely be, “State park deer hunting is where it’s at!”

I’m confident that we’ve never seen the top-seven most successful pieces of public-land dirt—based on overall hunter-success—come from state parks.

The No. 1 spot last season was at Don Carter State Park. They had just one hunt, but it was one for the books. Their Nov. 14-16 either-sex hunt had 47 hunters show up and kill 97 deer for a hunter-success rate of 206.4%.

“We were expecting a big harvest, it was the first time that park was ever hunted, and we knew it had a high deer population,” said Don McGowan, WRD Game Management Region 2 supervsior. “Also, it was a three-day hunt, whereas most park hunts are two-day hunts.”

The primary goal for implementing a hunt on Don Carter State Park was population control and herd health. The result of this is healthier woods, versus an overbrowsed environment.

“It can take a few years to see the habitat response. We’re hoping for another successful hunt there this year,” said Daniel Henderson, natural resources manager for the State Parks and Historic Sites Division.

After the initial knock down of deer on an unhunted state park, habitat can begin recovery. Then, many of the areas enter into maintenance mode, some of them still hosting yearly deer hunts to keep populations in check.

“The most visible change once a park becomes adequately hunted is the disappearance of a browse line,” said WRD State Deer Biologist Charlie Killmaster. “Vegetation responds in a single growing season. Going way back to my graduate research on Red Top Mountain State Park, we saw dramatic increases in the numbers and species of plants following deer population reduction. Deer body weights jumped 20 pounds, and the forest floor turned from brown in the summer to green again.”

If you’re set on hunting one of the top-seven state parks, you’re going to need to use some priority points. View WRD’s “Lottery Odds – Deer 2023” at georgiawildlife.com/hunting/quota#odds.

Hunters who were drawn for the new opportunity at Don Carter had to use at least six priority points for a chance to hunt. The hunt on this state park is a prime reason why some hunters choose to save and build up priority points. That way, when a new opportunity comes open, they’ve got the points built up and can take advantage.

If you’re going to participate in a quota deer hunt, you’ll need to apply online at www.gohuntgeorgia.com by the Sept. 1 deadline.

You will apply separately for state-park deer hunts and WMA deer quota hunts. That’s good news for hunters who’d like to start building points to hunt a state park but would also like to work toward one of the popular WMA deer hunts, like Ossabaw or Joe Kurz. If you play your cards right, you just might get picked for two top-end public-land hunts in the same season.

There are 46 WMA quota deer hunts and 14 state-park quota deer hunts to choose from this season. You can apply just to earn priority points or select up to three hunts if you want to up the odds to hunt somewhere this season on less popular tracts.

Non-Quota “Bonus Deer Hunts”

If you don’t draw a WMA deer quota hunt or a special spot on a state park, check out the plethora of non-quota WMA hunting opportunities across the state. A number of these non-quota hunts are labeled as “Bonus Deer Hunts (BDH),” which means killing a deer won’t count on your state-issued harvest record.

Those top-20 Bonus Deer Hunts are listed on below. However, there’s a pile of sign-in, non-quota deer hunts where hunters just use their Harvest Record to record a deer harvest. You can pour through those hunts below. When you find success out there, share it with us by sending info to [email protected].

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