How to Deer Hunt in West Florida
- 1). Purchase a Florida hunting license. If you live outside of the state, you can purchase your license on the Internet at www. myfwc.com/license/LicPermit_RecHunting.htm. You will need a credit card and driver's license to purchase the license. The price depends on whether you are a resident and the type of game you are hunting. Resident licenses range from no cost to $100 annually for a Gold Sportsman's license. Non-resident licenses cost from $46.50 for a 10-day license to $151.50 for an annual license.
- 2). Search for a location in to hunt. Several wildlife management areas (WMA) offer public access hunting. The Aucilla WMA, Joe Budd WMA, Blackwater WMA and Choctowhatchee River WMA are a few locations in northwest Florida. Southwestern Florida offers the Green Swamp, Croom, Chassahowitzka WMAs and the Kissimmee River Public Use Area. Another hunting area is the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Naples.
- 3). Scout the site. Scouting weeks before hunting season begins gives you the opportunity to pattern the deer in the area and learn more about the species of deer. Whitetail deer live abundantly in Florida, as do the Florida Key deer, a sub-species of whitetail that lives only in Florida and the Florida Keys. Learn about those species and their feeding and mating patterns to give yourself an edge during the season.
- 4). Know the hunting limits and regulations. Bag limits for deer allow hunters 2 antlered deer kills during the muzzleload gun, general gun and crossbow seasons; 2 antlered, antlerless or a combination of the two during archery season; and 1 antlered deer and 1 antlerless deer or 2 antlered deer during antlerless deer season.
- 5). Prepare for the beginning of the season. Archery season runs from middle October to middle November. Crossbow season is during the first week of December. Muzzleloading gun season is 3 days during late November and 10 days in mid- to late- February. General gun season is 3 days in late November, and 2 months from mid-December to mid-February. Antlerless deer season is a week, typically in late November or late December.
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