If you plan to go deer hunting on Saturday, the first day of December, take note: Due to the 2012 calendar, there is a change in the usual hunting season schedule.
Saturday is the opening day of the primitive weapon season in all three deer zones. Only children aged 15 and under can continue hunting with regular firearms.
“There’s a state law that we can’t open a season on a Sunday, so we have a change in our normal season rotation,” said Chad Dacus, the assistant chief of game and the deer program coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. “Instead of primitive weapon season opening on Dec. 2, as it normally would, this year it is moved up a day to Dec. 1.”
It will also end a day earlier, too, on Dec. 14, for the same reason.
Instead of the gun without dog (still) season opening on Dec. 16, it will open on Saturday, Dec. 15. It will run through its normal conclusion date of Dec. 23 to put the rotation back on schedule.
The final segment of the regular gun season, with dogs, will be Dec. 24-Jan. 17.
Many hunters feel the early December primitive weapon season is no longer necessary, since some modern centerfire rifles are allowed and because it comes during two prime weeks of the season.
“Not only is it unnecessary, it’s a loss of opportunity for a lot of hunters at a time of increasing buck activity throughout Mississippi,” said hunter Jimmy Willis of Jackson. “My friends in North Mississippi tell me that their bucks will be chasing does during that two weeks. And down here in Central and Southwest Mississippi where I hunt, we’re in my favorite period — the peak of the pre-rut.
“We’ll have bucks making scrapes and knocking heads. Why take these prime weeks and take our choice of weapons away? What about people who can’t afford to buy those extra guns, either muzzle-loaders or those legal centerfires? I’m lucky that I can afford one, but I have friends who can’t.”
The first two weeks in December are indeed magical for most Mississippi deer hunters.
“Hunters may expect to see bucks beginning to chase does, which always makes for an exciting hunt,” said North Region Deer program Biologist Lann Wilf, who agreed that the entire state can expect increased activity. “Deer movement seems to be greater during the first two weeks of December. As a result, we usually see many mature bucks harvested across the state during the primitive weapon season.”
In Central and Southwest Mississippi, it is a time to make noise.
“You’re right about that,” said Hank Hearns, who as chief guide at Tara Wildlife north of Vicksburg for 17 years made a lot of customers happy by calling in bucks. “This is my favorite time of the season because we can rattle them up. That is one thing I always loved to do, rattling.
“If you haven’t tried it, you need to. In early December, bucks are starting to break out of their bachelor groups and establishing pecking order. When they are deciding dominance, you can use that against them. But once they start chasing does, that’s when you stop rattling.”
Rattling is the term given to the practice of mocking buck fights, mostly by taking old antlers and clashing them together.
Hearns said a quiet touch is needed in early December.
“As they are breaking up their groups, they don’t really clash like they will later,” he said. “So I start out by just tickling the antlers together lightly. Bucks will do a little light sparring as they are breaking up. But in a week to 10 days, they will be battling and that’s when you need to really get after it.
“Anybody who has seen two mature, 200-plus pound heavy-headed bucks go at it in all out war knows what I mean. It is brutal. They back up and charge each other and clash heads like big horn sheep. They will lock up and shove each other around, snorting and wheezing, grunting and stomping the ground. They will fight to the death in many cases. It is loud. So when you are rattling and mocking a full-blown battle, you can’t make too much noise. Clash the antlers together, and beat the ground with them. Smash branches against trees and by all means lay it on with a grunt tube.”
For how long?
“That’s not a problem because if you are doing it right, you will wear yourself out in 30 seconds or so,” Hearns said laughing. “The best strategy is to work in teams, one to rattle and at least one or preferably two shooters. The caller needs to get about 40 yards away, with at least one of the shooters dead downwind of him. Mature smart bucks will usually circle and come into the wind.
“Sometimes they move with stealth, but I have had times when the bucks would come charging in and darn near run us over. You never know.”
Hearns said that rattling is a lot like the popular turkey tactic “cutting and running.” A hunter will stop every 100 or 200 yards, make a loud cut and hope to earn a gobble. If not, he keeps moving.
“Same thing with rattling,” he said. “Set up in your first spot and rattle. If nothing happens, try again in 30 minutes. If nothing happens then, get up and move on and try again elsewhere.
“The type of terrain will dictate how far you should move. If you are in hilly country, like in the South Delta, you can stop and set up every 50 or 100 yards. In flat country, you will want to move 200 or 300 yards.”
Hearns, who retired from guiding six years ago, now operates Buck Stops Here Deer Processing in Bovina, a business that helps him keep track of deer movements.
“Kind of like a taxidermy shop,” he said. “When hunters come and drop off deer, I hear their stories and can keep up with buck activity. In the last week, they’ve started to talk about seeing those bachelor groups breaking up and they are starting to see less rubs and more scrapes.
“It’s getting prime time, that’s for sure.”
Factoid: Legal Weapons
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