Here’s hoping your deer season was as successful as you hoped it would be. If you have been sitting down to meals of chicken-fried backstrap steaks or a tasty roast or
found your breakfast of eggs tasting especially good with rounds or links of venison
sausage on the side, you have for sure been successful.

If you’re anxiously waiting for a call from the taxidermist telling you the mount
of your trophy is ready for pick-up and hanging on the wall, pat yourself on the back; it’s been a good year for you.

You may be having withdrawal symptoms now that season is over and you really
wish you get to spend just one more frosty morning in a deer stand. You’re not alone in this. Scores of hunters feel the same way.

What can deer hunters do as a form of recovery to help you get over your addiction to chasing deer? Here’s a suggestion – head for your woods and begin looking for shed antlers of the big buck you hunted all season but never showed up. Now that antlers are beginning to drop, the next several weeks offer the opportunity to locate sheds
before the mice and squirrels begin gnawing on them.

Here’s what happens in the world of the deer. Buck deer drop their antlers in late
winter or early spring. Soon after losing their headgear, they start growing a new set of antlers they’ll have until this time next year. This new set begins as fuzzy knobs growing on the pedicles which are located on the buck’s head between his eyes and ears. The newly formed antlers are soft and subject to damage and for this reason, bucks are shy and reclusive; they’re protective of this new growth.

A couple of months before shedding antlers, bucks use them to hook and thrash
bushes, brush and small saplings and to fight other bucks to establish dominance. Bushes and bucks are in no danger of being gored and thrashed in spring and summer because he is protecting his newly forming soft antlers.

Velvet is described as “vascular skin that supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing bone.” This amazing material causes the antler it covers to grow at an amazing rate. In fact, deer antlers grow faster than any other mammal bone. This fast rate of growth actually is a handicap to a buck because of the incredible nutritional demand on deer to re-grow antlers annually.

Once the antlers achieve their full potential for the year, usually by mid-September in our part of the world, the velvet has served its purpose and as it dries and is rubbed off on bushes by the buck, the antler bone actually dies and here’s something I read that gave me pause. What deer hunters see when that big buck comes slipping by the
stand is an animal sporting a head full of dead bone.

Where should you look for the best chance to find shed antlers? If you planted a food plot prior to deer season, searching the plot or trails leading to the plot can often
result in a bit of good luck when you find tines sticking up out of the grass. Another good place to look is where a trail crosses a low fence or stream small enough for the buck to jump across. Antlers can sometimes be jarred loose when the buck lands on the other side of the fence or stream.

So for folks puzzled about deer antlers, maybe this bit of information will answer
your questions.

There is a measure of excitement to hold in your hands the head gear of a big buck that will whet your appetite for what he’ll look like once hunting seasons roll around again this coming fall.

The entire process of bucks growing velvet covered delicate antlers to them becoming hardened and eventually being shed just to do it all again every year is one of nature’s most amazing and fascinating feats.

FISHING REPORT

CANEY LAKE – Some really nice bass to 11 pounds are being reported fishing the deep holes with the Hover rigs or Damiki rigs. Some yellow bass are being caught on jigging spoons. Crappie have been best around the deeper tops on shiners or jigs and they have moved to deep water out from the dam. For information contact Caney Lake Landing at 259-6649, Hooks Marina at 249-2347, Terzia Tackle at 278-4498 or the Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
BLACK BAYOU – The water is rising and a few crappie are showing up around the trees on shiners and jigs. No report on bass. Contact Honey Hole Tackle Shop 323-8707 for latest information.
BUSSEY BRAKE – Bass fishing is improving with some big ones caught flipping
creature baits around the trees. Crappie are around deep brush.. For latest information, contact the Honey Hole at 323-8707.
OUACHITA RIVER – Water is rising and muddy with too much current. Fishing is slow.
For latest information, contact the Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
LAKE D’ARBONNE –The water is rising with lots of current and off-colored water and
most folks are waiting until things settle down a bit. Crappie fishing is best in the
channels and channel edges on shiners or jigs. Bass are slow to fair with best catches
made deep on soft plastic. For latest information, call Anderson Sport Center at 368-9669 or Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
LAKE CLAIBORNE – The lake has been down but is rising and is around the five foot
low level. Crappie are still deep with best fishing just out from the dam on shiners or jigs. Bass are fair with secondary points producing some fish with soft plastics and jigs
picking up some. For latest information, call Kel’s Cove at 927-2264 or Terzia Tackle at
278-4498.
LAKE POVERTY POINT – Crappie fishing has improved in deeper water around the
trees on shiners and jigs. Catfishing is fair to good. No report on bass. For latest reports, call Poverty Point Marina at 318/878-0101.
LAKE YUCATAN – After being so low for weeks, the river is rising pretty fast and few
anglers are going out to try it until the water level settles down more. For information,
call Surplus City Landing at 318/467-2259.