Apalachicola WMA still-hunt area, located in Wakulla County, is a broken corridor of land located along the east side of the Ochlockonee River. The area is open to General Gun hunts through the end of January. Then a 10-day non-quota archery/muzzleloading gun hunt opens on Feb. 15.

Late-season hunting pressure in this area has typically been low, but the area can hold good numbers of deer.

Whitetails often bed in the still-hunt area to escape pressure associated with dog-hunting that occurs in the surrounding management area.

Even after dog-hunting season closes, bucks ride out the rest of the season in the still-hunt area. Lots of tributaries and sloughs lead from the river and extend into this region of the WMA. This makes access to buck hidey-holes an easy task with the use of a small boat or canoe.

The still-hunt area is also home to a unique variety of white oak called the overcup oak, not found in the more southern portions of the state.

Its nuts drop early in the hunting season, but the acorns from this tree are extremely rot-resistant. During years where mast production is heavy, deer feed heavily on overcup acorns well into February.

Apalachee WMA in Jackson County fronts the western shore of Lake Seminole. This area offers a generous late-season, non-quota general gun season from early December all the way to Feb. 11.

This area provides lots of marsh habitat that is loaded with aquatic vegetation. Waterfowl love it, but so do whitetails in the late season when mast crops are used up.

The WMA is home to several islands and slivers of high ground that bucks use to escape hunting pressure.

A small boat or canoe comes in handy here, allowing the savvy hunter to penetrate areas that others on foot cannot.

Eglin Air Force Base is located in Walton and Okaloosa counties and offers about 280,000 acres of accessible terrain. General gun season extends to Jan. 27, and a late-season archery/muzzleloading session continues from Feb. 14 through 24. Due to the close proximity of the Gulf of Mexico, much of the area offers sand hill habitat. Here, ridges of turkey and blackjack oak fringe stands of mature longleaf pines. Much of the acorn mast is gone by the time the late season rolls around, and deer have already switched to browse plants such as greenbrier.

Justin Johnson is the lead biologist for Eglin. “Hunting food sources is a good idea,” he suggested, “since the bucks will be where the does are.

“But the primitive-weapon hunt period falls in line with the peak breeding phase. Bucks are actively chasing does during this period, so hunting areas with lots of deer traffic in the middle of the day can produce good results.”

Johnson also suggested that hunters consider penetrating deep into “walk-in” areas to escape competition and reap the benefits of less pressure.