Jackson County has a lot of agriculture, too. And though there's a good bit of agriculture in Gadsden County as well, this area is getting over into the Red Hills region where the soils are better.

NORTHEAST REGION
In the Northeast Region, biologist Mike Abbott likes Half Moon, Seminole Forest, and Tosohatchee WMAs.

"I don't want to suggest that other areas aren't good hunting, but those three really stand out," he offered.

"One reason these areas have higher density is partly good habitat management. Access control also plays a large part in it. There's one way in and one way out past the check station."

Half Moon WMA, located in Sumter County, covers 9480 acres. This area follows the Withlacoochee River about 8 miles east of Inverness. There are 75 quota permits for each of two archery hunts, one muzzleloading gun hunt and two general gun hunts.

Seminole Forest has been a good area for a long time, Abbott said.

"It has a good deer herd, and the success rate is pretty high on the area," he noted. "The area is 12,524 acres. The area has a daily limit of two bucks, and it's not rare to see someone come out with two nice bucks in the back of their truck.

"The deer on the area have good body size, good antler development, and I think that's probably because of the good habitat."

Managers have done a good bit of burning and other work on the area, which should improve the habitat even more in the years to come.

"During May of 2007, there already had been one wildfire on Seminole Forest," Abbott said. "So the landscape is going to be a little different on part of the area for this hunting season. But give it a year or two, and the growth on the burned area will make great habitat and be good for the deer."

Tosohatchee is a large area of 30,701 acres along the St. Johns River. "A lot of the area is flatwoods," Abbott said. "The area has a good road system."

One unique regulation on Tosohatchee involves bag limits.

"When you get a quota permit on Tosohatchee, you can shoot a buck and a doe," Abbott explained.

On other WMAs, you need an antlerless deer permit to take a doe.

"When we first started with Tosohatchee, it had a very high deer population," Abbott said. "In order to have a liberal harvest of does, they used that mechanism for doing it.

"Biologists discovered that on that area, they could have that kind of a hunt and maintain a good deer population. It seems to work on Tosohatchee."

When it comes to private land in the region, Abbott likes Sumter County and Marion County.

"Sumter County has some pretty nice soils, so hunters take nice deer there," he said. "Portions of Marion County have some pretty nice soils with better water retention. That's horse country, and there's a reason why all those horse farms are there."

NORTH-CENTRAL REGION
Camp Blanding WMA, as always, is a top-drawer location for bringing home a deer. Along with this area, district biologist Scott Johns recommended Jennings Forest and Twin Rivers WMAs.

"Last year, Camp Blanding was open to hunters for the first time since 2001," Johns said. "There were more than 450 deer harvested from that area last year. Although this year shouldn't be that good, I expect it will still be a good year."

There are two still-hunt areas on Camp Blanding, as well as a dog-hunt area to the north of state Route 16.

"The artillery impact area is right in the center of the two still-hunt areas," Johns said, "and the deer use that as a safe refuge."

Jennings Forest is an area that has improved over the past few years.

"We now have an antlerless deer harvest on the area," Johns pointed out. "This area is all quota hunt, and people who apply for a quota hunt can put in for an antlerless deer permit too. There's a good number of deer on Jennings Forest, and our track counts have shown that the population remains consistently high."

Twin Rivers WMA, located on the Suwannee River in Madison County, is under quota, but also has 30 daily-use permits for hunters who arrive at the check station early in the day during a quota period.

"It's such a high-quality area that people start lining up for permits the night before a hunt, and some people sleep in their cars," Johns said.