It’s that time of year with fall approaching, a much anticipated sport season kicking off.
OK, besides football. Dove hunting season is still young, and archery deer season begins Saturday in Georgia.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division reports that 118,238 archery hunters brought in more than 74,490 deer last year. The archery-only season this year ends on Oct. 10, but hunting with archery equipment is allowed throughout the entire 2014-15 deer season.
Archery deer season in Tennessee runs Sept. 27-Oct. 24 and Oct. 27-Nov. 7, and a muzzleloader and archery season is set for Nov. 8-21. Each of those has a limit of three antlered deer, as does the gun, muzzleloader and archery season that runs Nov. 22-Jan. 4. In Unit A in Tennessee — which includes the southeastern part of the state — there is a limit of four antlerless deer for both archery-only and the muzzleloader-archery seasons.
In Georgia, hunters are allowed 10 antlerless and two antlered deer for the entire season, with one of the antlered deer having at least four points on one side of the rack. And that state’s hunters are reminded that they need not only a valid hunting license and a big-game license but also a current deer harvest record. The harvest record is free but required — and available from retail license agents or from www.gohuntgeorgia.com.