A favorite pastime that started Aug. 15 comes to a close today with end of the South Carolina deer hunting season.
Even though the white-tailed deer, which was designated by the legislature in 1972 as South Carolina’s state animal, holds fascination for most people whether or not they actually hunt, it is the premium big game species in the United States.
Between 1800 and 1900, the deer population plummeted because of heavy commercial exploitation of the animal for meat and hides, coupled with habitat destruction. But thanks to legislation in the early 1900s that provided protection for wildlife and funding for wildlife management, white-tailed deer numbers have again increased to more than 20 million nationwide.
The Lacy Act passed by Congress in 1900 placed regulations on the interstate trafficking of wildlife and in 1923 South Carolina passed the “buck law,” which prohibited the harvest of female deer.
Restocking efforts began in earnest in the early 1950s in South Carolina, when deer were practically non-existent in the piedmont and mountain areas of the state.
Fortunately, a good residual population remained in the Lowcountry river and swampy areas and these deer became the source for restocking. Luckily, South Carolina was able to restock using its own native deer, whereas most states that had restocking programs received deer from other states.
In the Upstate where deer had been rare, by the 1960s the numbers increased enough to allow deer hunts, starting out with only a three-day “buck only” hunt.
Today, the statewide deer population averages 750,000, with hunt-able populations existing in all 46 counties of South Carolina with an annual sustained harvest of nearly 225,000 deer.
Deer hunting represents a significant recreational and financial resource in South Carolina and many other states, thanks to ongoing funding and strict wildlife management by our Department of Resources and its officers.
Starting today, the state’s white-tailed deer can take an eight month break, not having to be in the ever alert mode of watching out for a camouflaged hunter armed with a rifle or crossbow. They can just concentrate on fattening up on the acorn crop for the cold winter months ahead.
Jean Tanner is a lifelong resident of rural Bluffton and can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.