From Jeff Byrd

The cold, crisp November air had local hunters headed to their favorite hunting supply stores Thursday in anticipation of the opening of deer season in Mississippi at dawn Saturday.

&#8220You know, it’s just that time of year,” said Gary Williams of Vicksburg, who was in Hadad’s on Thursday, looking to get a hunting license for his 17-year-old son, Ryan.

For the Williams family, the late fall brings together two of the best things about this time of year: Playoff football and deer season.

Gary, who’s been hunting this area since 1967, will travel to Olive Branch tonight to watch Ryan quarterback Warren Central in a 5A playoff game.

&#8220Ryan’s got it pretty good. He can sleep on the way back and he’ll be in a stand by dawn,” Gary said.

Warren County, with its unique combination of low-bottom river-land, woods and hills, is an ideal hunting area.

That’s what brought Cole Price, a Columbia native to the city.

&#8220My dad bought land up here for us to hunt on. It’s about 1,700 acres, near the river,” said Price, 18, who was in the store to buy some scent cover.

&#8220Deer smell really good,” he said.

Besides deer scent cover, other items on the list include, camouflage and shotgun shells.

&#8220I probably go through two cases of shells a season,” Price said.

Deer season, with guns, begins Saturday and will run until Dec. 1. Hunters will be limited to one legal buck (at least four points) and one legal doe.

Danny Skipper is an avid hunter but said he will miss Saturday’s opening day.

&#8220I’ve got to take some sheet rock to the coast for some houses down there that were torn up by the storm,” Skipper said of the coastal victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Skipper, however, was able to participate in last week’s youth hunt, a statewide event for hunters under the age of 15.

&#8220I carried a youth who got to kill his first doe. He was 10 years old and shot a 105-pound doe from 125 yards out,” Skipper said.

Once Skipper gets back from the Coast, he’ll head afield. He expanded upon some of the things deer hunters are shopping for, heading into Saturday.

&#8220You got your grunt calls, scent eliminators, boots, gloves and bullets. Then there are some arrows, if you bow hunt, and fannie pods and tinks. There’s a product they’ve got called ‘Tinks 69′ (doe urine) that attracts bucks,” he said.

One of the most seasoned hunters in the shop was 72-year-old Henry Dawson of Mer Rouge, La. He’s been hunting for 55 years, most of the time in Issaquena County.

&#8220I hunt out of Valley Park, near the Sunflower River,” he said. &#8220It’s one of the best places around to hunt, mainly hard-wood, bottom land.

&#8220I think it’s going to be a pretty good year. The people there take care of the land and are good to the herds,” Dawson said.

These days, most deer hunting is done in private clubs. Skipper, Williams, and Dawson all belong to a hunting club. Going out into the open forest or a wildlife zone, especially at the start of the season, is dangerous.