Successful deer hunters in South Carolina have learned there's always something to do, regardless of where you live, if you want to open your deer season with a literal bang.

The opening day of deer season in South Carolina is one of the most anticipated events in all of the outdoor hunting sports in the Palmetto State.

However, opening day is not just a single event in our state. For gun hunters, for example, it's a series of opening days that are staggered from August until October. The special opening day will vary considerably depending on where you live or hunt.

For those who hunt with rifles, the season can open anywhere from August 15 in the lowcountry to the last rifle season opener on the 11th of October. And there are other game zones in South Carolina with season openers in between those times. There is even a 10-day muzzleloader season in portions of the state from October first through the tenth.

It is all based on the specific game zone you hunt. While a complete rundown of each opening is far too detailed to explain in this feature, check the SC Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) Rules and Regulations for specific season opening dates. It will be broken down into easy to understand guidelines and locations.

But regardless of when your season opens, you need a game plan for preparation. Some hunters are energetic and take advantage of more than one opening day hunt in more than one game zone with the varied opening dates. That is a good tactic because hunting deer before they have been hunted by others is a distinct advantage.

There are specific things you can be doing right now to help improve your odds of success when your opening day and week opportunities arrive.

For lowcountry hunters, deer season opener is almost here. In addition, in other areas bowhunting opportunities will also begin mid-August. For hunters in other areas the season opener may still seems a long way off. But in either case the hunters in all parts of South Carolina should have one thing in common: They should be busy as heck right now getting ready for their season opener.

Getting ready for deer season in July and August, even if you have a later opening date, is not at all "jumping the gun" and is a critical step in improving the odds that your season will be a good one. While you do have time to plan and implement a good strategy, there's no time to waste.

We'll start in the lowcountry and look at planning strategies for the season opener for gun and bow hunting. That first season opener is August 15.

It's almost time to be pulling the trigger so hopefully you have done some of your homework already. While the SCDNR has pursued a purposeful and reasonably successful emphasis on harvesting more doe deer in recent years to balance the herd, at this early point of the season only bucks can be harvested.

That should influence your strategy in terms of where you hunt. During the early season in the lowcountry, both does and bucks are primarily interested in food, cover and water; bucks are many weeks from altering their patterns to search for does. That means on opening day, seeing a lot of doe deer will not necessarily mean you'll see a big-racked buck slipping along with them. Later on, during pre-rut and rut, hunting where a lot of doe deer are present is a great idea.