Oconee WMA

[sbDvr]

Obligatory disclaimer: not looking for anyone's spots, just general advice

I've been hunting Oconee WMA, mostly the top section, and having a tough time.
In 5 trips I've only seen 2 deer, both of which were within 100 yards of my car while I was walking out.
I've mostly been following the conventional wisdom of getting as far from the roads/trails as possible, sitting over creeks and hillsides morning and night and still hunting through likely bedding areas during the day.
What type of areas do the deer bed in during the day? So far, looking through the planted pines and creek bottoms I don't think I've seen any beds, but quite a few stands, both old and new.
Do the deer ever come into the fields/openings during daylight? Most of them are really close to the roads.
Would appreciate some advice from people who have more experience hunting this area before the last couple days of firearm season.

 

[C.Killmaster]

I've killed a lot of WMA deer within 150 yards of a road. In many cases, the better habitat is closer to the roads.

 

[gma1320]

Go find you one of them big rocks to climb up on and kill you a deer. Goodluck, I love that place but haven't been in a few years other than a quota turkey hunt last year

 

[sbDvr]

Thanks for the advice guys, I know just the rock

 

[gma1320]

Thanks for the advice guys, I know just the rock

When I was there for turkey's last, a lot had been cut since I had been there deer hunting. But one of the last times I deer hunted there i got busted by an 8 pointer that would have probably scored low 130's while trying to draw back my bow and shaking like a leaf on a tree.

 

[QUAD500]

When most people only go about 150 yards in, the deer pick up on that real quick. You'll usually find them walking just inside the wood line next to the road.

 

[sbDvr]

When most people only go about 150 yards in, the deer pick up on that real quick. You'll usually find them walking just inside the wood line next to the road.

Makes sense, that's probably what the two does I've seen were doing.

Set up overlooking the gas line and creek tonight, nothing but squirrels, heard a couple shots on the club next door

 

[aabradley82]

That was my son I you heard last night. Killed a big bodied spike that was limping bad. Looked like he’d been buckshotted.

 

[sbDvr]

Got a doe just at the end of shooting light, she came through across the bottom of the little hill I was set up on. Tried to get away from the road today because of all of the other hunters.
Shot was a little low and forward, but Dustin with southern charm bloodhounds was able to track her down, bedded 60 yards from the road.
Thanks to everyone for the advice!

 

[run68bone]

Thanks for posting this. I'm wanting to know more about Oconee WMA. Just want to give it a try, it's 90 minutes from my home so I think I'll try it. Any tips?

 

[TomC]

Its been 10 years or so but I use to bow-hunt it a fair amount. Always thought is was a beautiful tract and not much traffic during bow season but never saw a lot of deer. I will tell you I drove down there once for a gun hunt and it looked like rush hour traffic on I-285. Turned around and went home. Most trucks I'd ever seen on a WMA hunt.

 

[sbDvr]

Didn't see much deer sign compared to other places that I have hunted in the past, but did see a total of 4 does over 7-8 days of hunting. The one that I killed was in the area that I saw the least signs of other hunters.

 

[BuckBrigade2020]

I was there with my dad, brother and one other guy on November 4, 5, and 6.
Between 5 separate sits we didn’t see a single mammal between the 4 of us.

I’m no novice public land hunter, 99% of what I hunt is public, but it was my first time at oconee. The other guy we went with used to hunt it years ago and he took us to some old spots he used to do well at but to no avail.

For anyone looking for Info on the place, I will say the most deer sign we saw while we were there was down on little shoulderbone creek, south of the road. A couple rubs here and there, mostly just tracks. Finally the last morning I walked in on some hogs before daylight, but they were long gone by the time shooting light came around. I’ve heard good things about the place, we just didn’t have any luck.

 

[mallardsx2]

Dang.That makes for a long 3 days.

 

[Gl4di4torRr]

Obligatory disclaimer: not looking for anyone's spots, just general advice

I've been hunting Oconee WMA, mostly the top section, and having a tough time.
In 5 trips I've only seen 2 deer, both of which were within 100 yards of my car while I was walking out.
I've mostly been following the conventional wisdom of getting as far from the roads/trails as possible, sitting over creeks and hillsides morning and night and still hunting through likely bedding areas during the day.
What type of areas do the deer bed in during the day? So far, looking through the planted pines and creek bottoms I don't think I've seen any beds, but quite a few stands, both old and new.
Do the deer ever come into the fields/openings during daylight? Most of them are really close to the roads.
Would appreciate some advice from people who have more experience hunting this area before the last couple days of firearm season.

The deer move off the roads (and food plots) in the morning and move to bedding. They do the opposite in the evening. Think about how often you see deer on the road at 5 AM vs 11AM. Think about how deep you need to go in the AM to catch them in light before bedding and vice versa for the evening. Sometimes in the evening, you may not need to go as deep. Just my 2 cents.