2024 Deer Season

[HankBuck]

Altitude, do you remember what County you were hunting in?

That was pretty typical of the 80's.
Back then the biologists from SCDNR would survey the land and issue doe tags per density, we got hundreds of tags every year, you had to fill the quota or you would lose tags the following year. I had a couple of years that I shot over 30 does.
We had a deal set up with a processor and a local food bank and soup kitchen, we donated tons of meat.

Shooting that many deer I got to use many different rifles and calibers, pretty good experience. Some we had at the lodge some borrowed from clients.

We are still allowed to kill around 13 a year i believe . They issue you a certain amount of buck and doe tags free with your license and you can order more.

For those who don't know...
The lower part of SC's deer season opens August 15- January 1rst, rifle , primitive, whatever. It's one of the few places that you can shoot a buck in velvet with a rifle.
My part of the state, the upper coast is August 15 primitive weapons, September 1rst rifle- January 1rst, doe shooting starts September 15th both zones.
The Upstate starts a little later for everything.

@Field28 - can you still shoot deer in South Carolina until “ONE HOUR AFTER SUNSET”? When I last hunted there 1998 that was the law - even though 45 minutes after sunset was the longest I could “see” good enough to shoot. The only State I know where you can shoot later is Alaska - I think anytime day/night is ok — as long as you didn’t fly in the same day

 

[Altitude sickness]

They also allowed 15 year olds in school to drive the school buses while I was there.

 

[WAB]

@Field28 - can you still shoot deer in South Carolina until “ONE HOUR AFTER SUNSET”? When I last hunted there 1998 that was the law - even though 45 minutes after sunset was the longest I could “see” good enough to shoot. The only State I know where you can shoot later is Alaska - I think anytime day/night is ok — as long as you didn’t fly in the same day

Wyoming used to be an hour. I once shot a buck at about 50 minutes. When I got up to walk to him I realized that it was pitch dark! They have subsequently changed to 30 minutes.

Alaska is a different beast altogether. Hunting in the brooks in August you basically have shooting light or close to it all night.

 

[Field28]

Yes, one hour before legal sunrise and one after legal sunset. I always hunt by first and last light.

My Zeiss scopes come in quite handy on those later sits.

 

[mdwest]

Yes, one hour before legal sunrise and one after legal sunset. I always hunt by first and last light.

My Zeiss scopes come in quite handy on those later sits.

Wow! an hour!

We get 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after legal light here... which is about all I can see anyway even with swaro and zeiss glass on my rifles..

My wife bagged her doe on Saturday with 3 minutes of legal light left (27 minutes after sundown).. I was concerned she wasnt going to be able to see it well enough to shoot.. or that I was going to be out searching for a deer in the dark... but she dropped her in her tracks.. I was thankfully able to pull the UTV up right next to her and get her loaded in a matter of just a few minutes..

 

[Field28]

Both deer that I've shot this year have been well over an hour before sunset.
I could have easily sat longer and shot another. It was nice to load them in the truck with daylight and beat the rush to the processor.

It does pay to have good optics, I find that my Leopolds and Zeiss give me about 10 more minutes than some of the guys that I hunt with that have older optics.