Maybe you missed it but the hunting season officially started back on Aug. 15 when squirrel season began. I no longer get excited about the beginning of squirrel season. I have begun to think of those little critters as just a big old rat with a bushy tail that chews up everything in my yard. They have become a year-round nuisance at my home. 

If I wanted to hunt squirrels, I could limit out in less than an hour and never leave my yard. The days are long gone when I once looked forward to my mother’s meal of baked squirrel. I remember those cooked squirrels being really delicious as a young boy and maybe if my mother was still alive to bake me one, I might possibly try them again.

The combination of a really hot summer and recent rainfalls have really created a bunch of bugs. We now have to deal with West Nile Virus and other bug transmitted diseases like the new “kissing bug” that causes Chagas disease. All this is occurring as hunters are taking to the woods and hunters need to prepare themselves for a really bad season of bugs this fall.

Sometime back, my wife purchased us a couple of those new battery-operated devices that are supposed to create a barrier around you and ward off the bugs. I tried one a while back in our yard that has its share of bugs. Less than two minutes later mosquitoes decided to take a chunk out of my lower leg.

I am a sucker for new things but that one goes to my wife. Makes you wonder if they ever test these things in the real world. It certainly sounded like a great idea for repelling bugs but I will just resort to swatting or to using some of the better spray repellants. You really do need to use some type of spray repellant containing DEET due to the possibility of contracting some of the bug diseases that are going around right now.

For those of you that still get a thrill out of squirrel hunting, the 2018 season began back on Aug. 15 and will run through Feb. 28 of 2019. The bag limit for squirrels is 12. Dove season began last Saturday, and I understand from hunters it was really hot and humid in the dove field. 

This Saturday, Sept. 8, will begin the of start archery (bows and crossbows) deer season that will run through Jan. 13. That entire period will be either-sex days in local counties including Putnam, Baldwin, Jones, Jasper, Green and Morgan counties. 

The archery season will be followed by the one-week primitive weapons (muzzleloaders) deer season in those same counties and will run from Oct. 13-19, and the modern firearms deer season will run from Oct. 20 through Jan. 13. 

In those counties noted above, the entire period will be either-sex days except Oct. 20 through Nov. 2 during the primitive weapons season will be antlered bucks only and during the modern firearms season, Nov. 3 through Nov. 2 will be antlered bucks only.

The biggest change this year has to do with baiting in the Northern Zone. For many years, Georgians could place supplemental foods on private land regardless of their location. However, hunters could not harvest deer within 200 yards or within sight of that feed.

In 2011, a law passed to allow hunters on private land in the southern zone to hunt as close to the feed as they would like whereas hunters in the northern zone had to adhere to the distance and sight restrictions. Using the authority in the original 2011 law, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources recently approved a measure that will allow hunters on private lands across the entire state to hunt as close as they would like to supplemental food.

This change during the 2018-2019 hunting season eliminates disparity among hunters in the northern zone and now applies evenly to all hunters on private land throughout the state. The issue often referred to as baiting has been argued pro and con in Georgia for several years. Many hunters like myself have opposed baiting but that opposition has now been laid to rest with this recent change.  

The Georgia 2018-2019 Hunting Seasons & Regulations publication is now available at area bait and tackle shops and can also be viewed online at www.georgiawildlife.com. Hunt safely, protect yourself from the bugs and have some squirrel stew for me. 

Good hunting and see you next week.