2020 WMA Bow Special

Georgia offers a ton of public-land bowhunting opportunities for those who hunt with bow or crossbow. In fact, if you’re new to bowhunting or new to Georgia, the amount of information you see here can be quite overwhelming. However, the GON WMA Bow Special should help you drill down to make your hunt choices a little bit easier.

This year we’re able to publish last year’s hunter and harvest stats on 116 different tracts of public land (see below), along with a list of the top-25 most successful places for bowhunter success from the 2019-20 season.

Ossabaw Island’s mid October quota bowhunt was canceled in 2018 because of Hurricane Michael, so hunters were itching to get back to the island in 2019. Thankfully the game showed up to the party and put Ossabaw’s bowhunt on top in the state last season. The 54 hunters (quota of 100) killed 48 deer for a hunter-success rate of 88.9%. Keep in mind this doesn’t include the hogs the hunters arrowed, so it’s safe to safe that overall hunter success was more than 100%.

If you’re thinking about trying this unique island hunt this year, don’t expect a ticket unless you have at least one priority point. Last year 95% of those on the hunt applied with one point. Nobody got in with no points.

If you’re new to this idea of a mid-October bowhunt on a Georgia barrier island, here’s your word of warning. This hunt occurs at a time when yellow flies and mosquitoes can be abundant and hungry. It’s a successful hunt no doubt, but there’s a chance that you’ll have to sweat and swat your way to venison and pork.

Most bowhunts in this state are non-quota, meaning you just sign-in to hunt and enjoy. If you’ll look below, you’ll see a list of the top-25 bowhunting WMAs from last year. However, as was the case in last month’s WMA Special, some of the low hunter numbers you see in these charts—which yielded very high hunter-success numbers—are likely not accurate. WRD is still working through the growing pains of a new system of collecting hunter and harvest information.

Here is the issue. Some WMAs have sign-in boards where hunters sign-in before they hunt. Some WMAs have no sign-in boards. Hunters on WMAs without sign-in boards are required to sign-in online through the WRD website or the Outdoors GA app. Sign-in board or no sign-in board, hunters must sign in before hunting.

So, WRD has sign-in data collected and stored in two different places.

“Hunter numbers may appear low on some hunts, please bear with us through our transition to a new hunt reporting system,” said Charlie Killmaster, WRD’s state deer biologist. “We’re still working through those bugs trying to tie together online sign-ins with paper sign-ins across hundreds of hunts.”

Another kink in the equation is that some hunters are still not signing in before they go hunting. That’s a violation.

“Failing to sign in on hunts requiring it or failing to report deer to Game Check are violations of the hunting regulations,” said Charlie.

Please know that hunters are legally required to check out any deer they’ve killed through the Game Check system. Failure to do so is also a violation.

“Game Check gives us much needed information about deer harvest both on public and private land, but reporting rates have declined. Starting this season, deer must be reported within 24 hours of harvest,” said Charlie.

Stay legal! Sign in, and record your harvests through Game Check.

Aaron Yoder with the Montezuma Bluffs WMA Pope & Young buck he killed Nov. 4.

Most WMA bowhunting opportunities in this state are sign-in only and don’t require you to enter the quota process. Montezuma Bluffs is one such WMA worth a mention. While the success rate of 47.1% maybe exaggerated, this WMA outside of Montezuma has historically been one of the better ones. Aaron Yoder shot the No. 23 best Pope & Young buck in the state last year on this piece of public dirt. His Montezuma Bluffs scored 136 2/8 inches. He arrowed it Nov. 4 when most folks were rifle hunting on private property.

“Montezuma Bluffs resides in Macon County, which in addition to being an antler restriction county, also has a large amount of row crop production,” said Drew Zellner, WRD wildlife biologist. “The WMA borders the Flint River, which in this area of the state serves as a refuge and corridor for many species, but especially deer.  The area provides for lots of cover but also lots of hard mast, such as beech nuts, northern red oaks and white oaks. There’s also lots of soft mass present, like persimmons and beauty berry on site, as well.  You put those food sources together with the surrounding row crop production on the landscape, and it’s a veritable buffet for deer in southwest Georgia.

“The Bluffs is also small, with a lot of topography, archery only and very little to no ATV access, other than the boat ramp. Because of this, pressure is minimal, leading to abundant opportunity for serious hunters willing to brave those challenging obstacles.”

Study the GON WMA Bow Special and take a good look at the new Georgia Hunting Seasons & Regulations booklet. Look for tracts—some of them are small pieces of dirt—that are open outside of the state’s regular archery season. With the proper work, you can find yourself successful in the WMA woods this fall with your bow.