SC Living Outdoors
Well-known member
Whitetail hunting on public land in the deep south can be pretty tough. The learning curve is steep. I’ve gotten pretty good with it over the years basically by failing over and over, but now I see deer on a fairly regular basis. Our bag limits here in South Carolina are pretty liberal, which is cool because we get to hunt for a long time, but the negative is big bucks are hard to find. I tell people that in some states you can kill an 11 point and in some states you can kill 11 deer, lol. South Carolina is the 11 deer state. Not that you can’t kill an 11 point here or other “big” bucks because you can, but you get the idea. We also don’t have tons of public land, but we do have some. I’m fortunate that the small farm town where I live is within an hour or so of a good bit of public in all different directions, so I can hunt all kinds of different areas and not over pressure spots.
Different parts of the state the season opens at different times, but for the majority of the state archery season on public land opens September 15. Private land has different dates depending on the zone. I got back from Colorado a couple days before the season opened and I began hunting on public on opening day. I hunt private with friends, but I really love the challenge and frustration of hunting public. Once public land opens 90% of what I hunt is public. I had seen a few deer here and there to start the season, but I had not had a doe within range and I hadn’t seen a buck I wanted to shoot yet. My goal for public land archery season was to shoot a good buck and a doe which would leave me two doe tags and one more buck tag for gun season. In South Carolina a resident can kill five deer on public each year with no than two bucks (depending on the zone). If you are also hunting private you can kill more.
Yesterday, I left work at 3:30 and headed straight to the house. I quickly loaded my clothes and gear in my little pickup and made the 30 minute drive to the property that I would be hunting. I drove up the gravel road to the area I was hoping to hunt. It was an oak flat on the backside of a ridge above a river and I felt like it was going to have some deer. Unfortunately, there was a truck parked where I wanted to park and I didn’t know where they were. I didn’t want to take a chance and walking in on somebody and mess up their hunt so I went to Plan B. Plan B was a creek bottom of oak trees about 30 yards wide running through some planed pines. If you followed the creek for about 500 yards it opened to a side hill that was covered with oak trees. The grove of oaks was about 100 yards across. I set up on the edge of the oaks and pines with the wind in my favor and settled in for my hunt. About 6:30. I heard some sounds to my left that I thought might be a deer and didn’t see anything(it was an armadillo). A few minutes later I heard something in front of me and looked up to see a good buck walking directly at me. I quickly got ready for the shot and he stopped at about 10 or 15 yards. Honestly, I don’t know exactly how far it was. I just know he was close enough that I didn’t have to worry about ranging. As the shot went off. I know it was true and he bolted to my left and then stopped and started to walk behind me up through the edge of the pine trees. About 25 yards directly behind me he stopped and stood there. I could tell he was hurt bad and he eased into some thick stuff but every once in a while, I would hear a branch move or break and I knew he was still there. Five minutes later, I saw him tumble over out of the thick stuff. I was super excited. This was the best public land buck I’d killed in three years and top 3 public land bucks I’ve ever killed in SC. It’s been a great start to the 2025 season and hopefully I can keep it going. I’m heading back to the woods tonight and tomorrow morning to see what I can find.
Different parts of the state the season opens at different times, but for the majority of the state archery season on public land opens September 15. Private land has different dates depending on the zone. I got back from Colorado a couple days before the season opened and I began hunting on public on opening day. I hunt private with friends, but I really love the challenge and frustration of hunting public. Once public land opens 90% of what I hunt is public. I had seen a few deer here and there to start the season, but I had not had a doe within range and I hadn’t seen a buck I wanted to shoot yet. My goal for public land archery season was to shoot a good buck and a doe which would leave me two doe tags and one more buck tag for gun season. In South Carolina a resident can kill five deer on public each year with no than two bucks (depending on the zone). If you are also hunting private you can kill more.
Yesterday, I left work at 3:30 and headed straight to the house. I quickly loaded my clothes and gear in my little pickup and made the 30 minute drive to the property that I would be hunting. I drove up the gravel road to the area I was hoping to hunt. It was an oak flat on the backside of a ridge above a river and I felt like it was going to have some deer. Unfortunately, there was a truck parked where I wanted to park and I didn’t know where they were. I didn’t want to take a chance and walking in on somebody and mess up their hunt so I went to Plan B. Plan B was a creek bottom of oak trees about 30 yards wide running through some planed pines. If you followed the creek for about 500 yards it opened to a side hill that was covered with oak trees. The grove of oaks was about 100 yards across. I set up on the edge of the oaks and pines with the wind in my favor and settled in for my hunt. About 6:30. I heard some sounds to my left that I thought might be a deer and didn’t see anything(it was an armadillo). A few minutes later I heard something in front of me and looked up to see a good buck walking directly at me. I quickly got ready for the shot and he stopped at about 10 or 15 yards. Honestly, I don’t know exactly how far it was. I just know he was close enough that I didn’t have to worry about ranging. As the shot went off. I know it was true and he bolted to my left and then stopped and started to walk behind me up through the edge of the pine trees. About 25 yards directly behind me he stopped and stood there. I could tell he was hurt bad and he eased into some thick stuff but every once in a while, I would hear a branch move or break and I knew he was still there. Five minutes later, I saw him tumble over out of the thick stuff. I was super excited. This was the best public land buck I’d killed in three years and top 3 public land bucks I’ve ever killed in SC. It’s been a great start to the 2025 season and hopefully I can keep it going. I’m heading back to the woods tonight and tomorrow morning to see what I can find.
