No question, Florida has deer and plenty of them. They seem to know when opening day comes around and find ways to make themselves scarce, but biologists say that every county in the state has at least a decent deer herd. Thus, no matter where you live in the Sunshine State, you have plenty of opportunities to bring home some venison.

Where are the best prospects are for bagging your buck or doe this season? To find out, we talked to biologists across the state for their recommendations for where to go this fall, on both public and private land.

One thing all those biologists told us is that every year, it's getting harder for them to make any kind of predictions about private land.

That's because they no longer have the same level of information about hunt clubs and private lands that they were once able to accumulate.

In the past, each region was responsible for issuing antlerless deer tags to private landowners, and biologists had a pretty good grasp on what the deer herd in the counties was doing. Several years ago, however, the state moved the antlerless deer program to the Tallahassee office of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Ever since, regional biologists have lacked that close connection to what's happening on private land. So while they can make some general comments, they can't provide a specific level of information about the state's wildlife management areas.

The WMAs we picked for this article are not necessarily the best in the state or even in each region. Most of our top WMAs are kept that way by offering very limited hunts, either through the Special Opportunity system or the Quota Hunt system.

Since it's already September, it's far too late to apply for any of those hunts. The WMAs we're looking at here all have a least a portion of the season open for either walk-up hunting or with a daily quota permit.

NORTHWEST REGION
Regional biologist Cory Morea said the first place he would send any hunter without a quota permit is the Blackwater WMA.

"I'd suggest this area for archery season particularly," he added. "It's a large area and really underutilized.

"It has a robust deer population and is a good area during general gun season as well."

Toward the east, Aucilla WMA is also a good bet.

"It's another area with a good deer population and a diverse habitat," Morea noted. "It has a smaller still-hunt area, but this year, the area will actually be about 5,000 acres larger."

Not to be forgotten is Joe Budd WMA. Although all hunts require a quota permit, half those permits are given out at the check station on the Thursday before the hunt.

"Joe Budd is always popular because of the robust deer herd, as well as the number of quality deer that are taken out of the area," Morea offered.

When you start looking at private land, FWC biologist Arlo Kane said that the areas north of Interstate 10 are better than south of the highway.

"Jackson County and Gadsden County are the best counties to the east," he said. "They have a lot better habitat in the clay hills area, where there are better soils and a lot of agriculture. And Holmes County actually has some good deer in it -- it's coming along pretty well. It has some good habitat."

At the far western end of the Panhandle, the portions of Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties north of I-10 all are good as well, Kane added.