What is your desired deer density?

We hear a lot about killing more does, and even more about there being very few deer in parts of the state. So, what is the ideal deer density for an average Alabama property. I know, I know....."it depends". Let's rule out large agricultural areas and just say mixed woods with a pine plantation here and there.

My desired deer density would be one where i regularly see deer while still having a handful of chances at a mature buck each year. Im pretty happy with where my place is at. I have averaged seeing 6-8 deer per hunt each season for the past three years. Every now and then i get skunked but sometimes I’ll see 20 or 30 deer in a single sit. Our doe:buck ratio is roughly 2:1 and I see a handful of mature bucks each year and usually kill one or two.

Where ever it was in the 80's and early 90's would suit me just fine

A few more then I have now. We see 2-3 deer on average a day with some sits better some worse. I'd like to be able to see 5-10 deer a day with the regular small rack buck in the mix and some decent ones around. If I had 3-500 acres where I'm at now I think I could do it. Too many neighbors though unfortunately.

what ever the land can carry

I wish we could go back to the 2 week doe season instead of this year round doe slaughter now...I remember growing up seeing 36 deer in one field and we killed not only about the same number of big bucks but also the same size of bucks as they are today...now we see 2/3 deer if that on the same field after the change of doe season..I'm not against killing an old barren doe at all but not any more than 1/2 a year...my two cents...With that said, I want the deer density to be maxed out for the carrying capacity of a property and not be this "1 doe to 1 buck" with half the deer killed off to obtain anywhere close to that bull crap that spread from Texas and other states...

It depends....:)

I got several hundred acres to hunt by myself and havnt shot a doe in 4 years that was with a bow and I'll see a deer 1 outta 4 sits. I'd like to c one everytime I ive seen more bucks than does this year but it's not every time I go. As long as i know theys a good un to hunt ill be after it tho

Haha darn right. I use to cruise Stockton and all the little towns north (Blacksher, Uriah, Eliska etc) in the 90s, and we would literally see herds of deer, any see many a fine buck deers also...

Take away the doe slaughter. Get the numbers back up so kids can enjoy the days of old. During the 80's a lot of kids were afield deer hunting because they saw deer, and lots of them. Take a kid hunting a time or two without them seeing a deer, and the kid quits hunting. It is ridiculous what our extended seasons have become. Reminds me of Hitler trying to eradicate the Jewish population.

I saw a post on TNdeer where a hunter had killed his 19th and 20th deer-Both were does. There is no way that individual can use that many deer. I think it boils down to ego like "Mines Bigger". I'll be glad when his deer population goes to zero so he can see what is happening because of his actions.

I've been on record forever as saying, "in Alabama, free-range deer, the concept of 'over crowding' is not real" (yes, yes, before you give me your examples of browse lines and blah, blah, blah). Back in the late 80's and 90's every place I hunted had AT LEAST 5X more deer than it does now, heck maybe 10X. And absolutely NOTHING is different now than it was then, except you don't see many deer now. Body weights were the same, does birthed twins and even triplets (crap, it seemed most of them had twins), the bucks were the same size (I'd argue they were bigger then, because you saw enough bucks back then that you didn't feel pressured to shoot the first "average" one you saw just because you haven't seen one all season). As thick as most of Alabama is...our places were all cutover, with more privet and browse than deer could ever eat, and still lots and lots of acorns too, plus our food plots, it's virtually impossible for Alabama to be "over crowded".

I don't know what density I want, I just want as many deer as you could imagine. I want it to be like kicking the top off an ant bed.

More than it is now. I am lucky to be able to see a deer one in four sits.

About the time we started getting a decent population up was in the early 2000's and that's when they changed the doe regulations from the two week season to season long.

I feel like we need to be on a deer tag limit in the area. Two does at most and a buck. I feel like it would help.

Our deer numbers continue to increase. We have more now than ever. We don’t shoot does. Only mature bucks. Not sure what our density is but it’s high. Hunt every day and always see deer

For the vast majority of the state, I would agree. Are there 2 acre food plots in this state with 80 deer on them? Yes, but that puts you in the 1% club. Really not worth generalizing.

It seems to me the places with the most, and best big bucks also have a crap ton, and I mean a crap ton of deer. It's a numbers game.

North Alabama, North of the Tennessee River, has the biggest (best) bucks and they also have the lowest deer density. It ain't a numbers game, it's a habitat game, genetic game, trigger control game.

What I mean is, high deer numbers don't impair your ability to grow big deer. Within reason.

Blue tongue hit em hard around there. The population is just now starting to come back to decent numbers, but it still ain't like it used to be. We now have a bear that shows up on a regular basis too.

We don’t have 80 on a 2 acre plot, but this year we’ve seen up to 24 in a 2 acre plot. Honestly I believe we have 80-100 deer per square mile. We have very typical bama land. 900acres total. 600acres pine plantation, 200acres hardoowds, 25 acres food plots..... we see deer every afternoon generally between 5-15. Mornings are usually very slow and if you see a deer it’s a good hunt. According to carrying capacity we are prob over populated, and we don’t see a bunch of 130”+ bucks. I wouldn’t want any less of a population though I like seeing deer. I’d rather keep it where it is and improve my habitat to grow bigger deer.

More than it is now.

Keep the deer coming, ill plant enough food for em to eat. It would be alright with me if they crawled up in the shooting house with me and laid down by the heater

Username checks out

I think a lot of folks that had your place would probably try and kill 30-40 does. I just don't get it.

My ideal density would be one really fat doe and a 12 pt

Back in the 80s and early 90s there was not a huntable population in North Alabama. Everyone I knew who deer hunted then, went to TN or S Alabama. Exception being Bankhead. I was a diehard squirrel hunter back then and never saw a deer track much less a deer up here. Late 90s and 2000 that has changed. I have killed several deer on TVA property where there used to be none. I don't know how much S Bama has changed during that time frame but N Bama has more deer now than it did 25-30 years ago.

Is this a general question or a december lull question? My first 3 sits this year went doe, doe, 4.5 yr old 8 pt. Now I haven't seen a deer in a week (4-5 sits). They always clam up down here at this time. And also, normally I'd never shoot 3 deer my first 3 sits, but my freezer took a dump this summer and I lost all my meat, and then the 8 came out on my 3rd sit. Whats a guy gonna do? Ha

So of you that have replied to this thread, what do you think your deer density is per square mile at this time ? And what do you want it to be ?

For me, I'd estimate 20/sq mile in Alabama (pretty low), and probably a good bit better in Mississippi, at the places I hunt. I haven't accumulated enough experience here to know.

I can't imagine a density of 50/sq mile wouldn't be sustainable most places. That's less than a deer per 10 acres.

I'm not exactly sure most of land i hunt around house is 4yr old cutover with planted pines, they r very hard to spot and scout i would say there's at least 15-25 in a square mile tho

I'd say that many places around here in the good areas are 50+ with some properties being 75-100 DPSM.....You could probably reduce the numbers on some of those higher properties and add some weight and inches onto the bucks but you're still not gonna be growing a bunch of world class deer.....just a nice 'un here and there about like they do now anyways.

It kills me to hear folks start saying that they're "seeing too many does so they need to shoot some".....They have an abstract number in their head that has nothing to do with actual carrying capacity.....or they base it off of a poorly managed, 1 acre greenfield being eat down to the dirt so they think it means they need to start shooting. I'd wager a guess that many places in the state could hold more deer if folks laid off the does.

That's basically why I started this thread. I think it's just an excuse to kill does. Killing does is great, and I 100% support it. But folks act like you're doing the world a favor.

that sound the arrow makes when it hits them is fun though

I live in an area where the DCNR says there's <15 deer per Sq Mile.
I've often seen that many in my yard, so I'm pretty sure there's a few more in the adjacent 630 acres.

I am more concerned with ratio's than numbers

You don't think you'll see as many bucks with a field full of does?

On the two tracts I own, it’s gotta be 75 deer per square mile or more. I’ve got another place a couple miles away that is timber company lease and I’d guess it’s closer to 40 or 50 deer per square mile on it.

I’m happy with the numbers we’ve got, but I’d be happy with more deer as long as buck:doe ratio stays in check. We shoot a few does for meat every year.

I want as many deer as possible especially does.

Personally, I think the number is just right. After totaling 8 cars in ten years commuting to work, the collisions have subsided over the last 5 or 6 years. (KNOCK ON WOOD)

I'll concur that it can be rough driving in some of these higher density areas at night or just before dawn. It was a blood bath down hwy 29 on that last full moon we had. I hit a baby pig and damn near slammed a doe that just stood in the middle of the road. Somebody ended up coming along and taking out the whole family of pigs a few days later. For some reason they were rootin in the ditch every night. It had to have totaled the car or truck that hit them unless it was a 18 wheeler. I’ve never seen a massacre on the roadway quite like that one.

Buddy of mine was heading to the Everglades a few years ago at night and was running 55 behind a semi that hit a sounder of pigs. Now that was a massacre. The whole front of his truck was covered in pig blood and pieces.

I would say we have less than 15 per square mile and would like to see it double.

The place we hunt in Kentucky is probably 50+ and I think it may be a bit much but its some fun hunting and keeps things interesting.

When my kids get big enough to hunt that is where I want to take them starting out.

Nope. If you're looking at a field full of does you probably won't see any bucks.

I think we are at 20-25 with almost a 1:1 ratio. This is based on actual camera pics and boots on the ground. 4 years ago we were at 12-15 with the same ratio. In 5 years on this property we have shot a grand total of 2 Does. M Brock has been on my place several times and i am curious if he agrees with my assessment.

I would love to have 50+. Bow season is great for seeing deer but I have only seen 3 does while hunting since gun season and 2 bucks that I jumped walking in. I think another couple of years of NOT shooting does and we may be able to get to 40/sq mile

I just want to see a deer, hear an owl, smell the pines.

This pseudo management concern takes all the fun out of it.

BFD

I don't know why, but I've always thought around 40 deer/Sq Mile was about the right number, depending on habitat, of course. I know you want it to be under the carrying capacity of the land and a growing herd is typically a healthy herd.

If you are seeing 20 does every sit you don't need to worry about killing them I would focus my efforts on figuring out who is shooting all the young bucks.

You can't effectively manage your deer herd with your trigger finger. If you want the proper balance, buck doe ratio, whatever that is... stop shooting them and within 5 years you will have it.

I have a place I own that nobody shoots anything because everyone shoots everything they see around me. That situation is you can't beat them so you might as well join in the fun and blast everything you see.

I have another place nobody shoots anything that isn't worth mounting and I can take a kid out there and kill a 120 inch deer this afternoon - no lie. When you are seeing multiple small bucks in your plots early your numbers are about right..... and your odds of seeing something worth killing are good and only going to get better But you can't see a bunch of small deer if you shoot all the does. Every doe you kill is 2 deer you won't have next season and possibly (likely) 1 buck that will never be born.

You just have to exercise trigger control. That ain't happening with most of y'all.

I only want to see one.... The biggest buck, in the daylight, while I'm there.

My current place is low, probably less than 20 DPSM. I wish I was like some of yall and had to kick them out of the way to climb in a tree.

The vast majority of those, we're kicking out the way, are does, yearlings and basket rack bucks.
I'd rather have low density and bigger racks.

As many deer as the land can hold at it's worst. So best year good summer rain lots of AG field and food plots do great with bumper acorns so the green fields grow throughout the winter and deer have food all year is awesome. And that year you can hold a ton of deer. But what about the years of summer drought terrible crops that get cut early. No acorns and plots get flooded in December rain. Those years the deer will suffer and bucks won't reach full potential. So personally I want as many deer as the land can hold on a bad year. And on good years with more food than deer then we will have major growth. They way to check for density is to do a camera survey and have a cage in the plots. If the caged area is significantly taller than the outside you have too many deer in the area for the food available.

I wish the doe days were back down to 2 weeks, we have plenty enough food for them!

So you’re saying that its not ok for deer to have any noticeable impact on the forage? Are you talking about baskets in food plots or exclusion pens for natural forage?

Yeah, cause killing all those does and basket racks magically make racks grow bigger.

What people in Alabama need to figure out is that it don't matter if it's only one deer (a buck) PSM, we don't have the soil and ag to grow big bucks like other states. Knowing this, I want as many deer as possible

Our land is just like yours. We have some decent bucks on camera nothing huge. The lease holder of the property told us to shoot some does but it’s kinda hard to shoot when just about every doe or every other doe has fawns with them. Then we see a few small racked bucks in the afternoons but every year it’s the same way. We will see two year old and occasional 3 year old bucks in the food plots every single year. For all the bucks we let walk to get bigger where the hell do they go the next year.

Enough that if you look real hard you could possibly see the beginnings of a browse line about the end of Feb begining of March.

Noticable and significant are different things. I mean if you have fully grown plot in a 3 foot circle in middle of plot and bare dirt outside, then you have too many deer for that plot.

How big is this plot we’re talking about???..... One acre?......Three acres?......Why is that small area used as the measuring stick for how many deer you should have?? Aren’t the other 100’s of acres surrounding that plot more important than that one small area? Shouldn’t that be taken into consideration? Are you basing your deer density goals off of what a small food plot can keep up with?

Doesn’t matter if they have fawns. The fawns will be fine. That’s an emotional decision. Not a biological one.

A lot of those bucks aren’t getting bigger. They’re as big as they’re going to get. I met with a guy not long ago who had several hundred acres, bordered by a thousand acres, and between the two of them they didn’t kill more than a couple bucks a year. He asked me where all their young bucks were going. After looking at his trailcam pics he had quite a few 4,5,6 year old deer but didn’t recognize it because he was only looking at racks. There’s a whole lot of bucks around here that are never going to score more than 100-115”. 115-125” is where most of them will top out. The 130”+ is a rarity and only a small percentage will ever get there.

They also roam a long way at times. Deer die off the property and you never know it. Natural mortality is also higher in areas with a higher Buck density. Lot of factors at play.

No, I don't. We did the, "Go easy on the does because they will be bait during the rut", thing for years. Once I started doing what my daddy always said and tried to get the ratio as even as possible we started seeing a lot more bucks. I have been a lot more heavy handed with the does than most would be comfortable with. I get a lot of guys shaking their heads when we get to talkin' about it. Most will disagree with it but that's okay, I reckon. To each his own.

^^^^^^^This new hunter recruitment is down because thanks to State's liberal doe harvest / the push for too many years to kill does far too many kids go hunting and sit in the woods for days without seeing a deer.

You must be blessed with a very healthy deer herd, or feel comfortable sitting on a food plot for 4 hours and seeing a single doe. I just don't have the patience to sit all day and not see deer. I love seeing them on my place.

I do think this happens a lot on properties where people are only trying to kill big/mature deer. I am as guilty as th next guy at letting one or two go that should have been shot that just didn't have enough head gear that was probably over 3-4 years old.

Hard to survey the land from a stand or while hunting. It’s best to have several mineral licks on your property with cameras. You can keep a record of the bucks per their RAck. Does are much harder to assess but early season they tend to stay together so you can count them somewhat. One must understand that bucks get pushed out by their mothers their second year, so they must find their own range. This makes them very mobile and they get killed if your neighbor does not share your harvest goals. The idea is to have the best habitat so you can to keep enough food and cover to “hold” as many mature bucks as possible. That is why many people on this site spend tens of thousands of dollars each year developing their land. Not completely to build the heard, but to enjoy the complete process of deer hunting.
I was at Auburn 1987-1991 when the deer population was exploding and we must of had 100/mile. It was awesome and the bucks were big. Now I am in a big $$$ leads in green county and we have about 40/ mile but lots of does. However my 1800 acres in Jeff co has more deer and a much higher buck to doe ratio.

The biggest question to ask is how you your fields look by January. If they are tall and lush...you can have more deer. If they are mowed down and 2% of your land is planted...you might want to take a few more out

Is 2% in plots the goal? That doesn't seem like much. Now, if you've got 10% of acres in green fields, and you've got serious browse, you've got too many deer.

If you did 10% in fields.... that is a ton!!! That means every club that has 1000 acres would have 100 acres in green fields. If the average “club” field is 1 acre, that means the club would have 100 fields. On paper land, that just doesn’t happen. Get my point? If we are taking ag land, that is different. Mostly, only the boys in N.Al have land like that.

I’ve hunted land with 100-125+ deer sq/mile and I’ve also hunted land with 10-15 deer sq/mile.

It made it a lot easier to get out of bed when seeing deer was a given. Deer were healthy, lots of fawns, lots of bucks. As someone said, it looked like kicking dirt off an ant bed in the afternoons.

Not everywhere can accommodate those numbers but the majority of the state is very much below carrying capacity. There is an ABUNDANCE of browse all over the state.

I would say the majority of the state could easily carry 60+ deer sq/mile. I would think that would be a good balance for herd health and great hunting.

Thats right percents sound small till u actually figure...ag land will make a difference but...

I'd say a minimum of 5 acres of plot for 100 acres of land to get a feel for if they are impacting too much. Personally I think a property will do better with closer to 10% planted food sources. I see what you are saying about the surrounding area, but there is usually not a lot of natural food in hunting season. I don't care what is planted for summer cause the deer have a ton of natural browse. I'm talking about in February, when all deer have are Woody browse which isn't their favorite and food plot that have better greens or soy pods. That if those plots are bare dirt, you have too many deer usuing your land at that time than the land can hold. Same as if deer are eating multiflora rose. It is not their preferred food, so if it is eaten down. Then they have nothing else and you should decrease the deer or increase the food. The deer may be using it for several reasons. Food, hunting pressure, thermal cover ect. But that is how I would gauge a property.

You’re getting into some real hypothetical situations now. I’ve been around to a lot of properties and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen one that had 5-10% of their acreage in food plots…..even the big wigs. I’m sure there’s a few out there but its few and far between. It’s also incorrect to say that there’s no natural browse in late winter. Some of the highest deer density properties in this area are nothing but 100’s and 100’s of acres of natural browse supporting deer densities that are likely 75-100 DPSM or more ….think of your quail hunting type plantations. How do that many deer survive without us planting massive green fields for them?? It’s through browse…..We don’t recognize just how much of a goat that deer really are……

All I’m getting at is that using food plots to determine how many deer you need to shoot is not a very accurate gauge. Also, what each person thinks is an acceptable density is very subjective. So what if the deer are eating sweetgum sprouts or multiflora rose? Are you finding dead deer that have starved to death? No probably not….Take for example some of the high deer density property where hunters tell me about seeing 50-60 deer on an evening hunt….Should we tell them that they need to start shooting a bunch of them just so that the deer aren’t eating sweetgum sprouts?? Why? So that the bucks will weigh a little more or the does start having twins instead of singletons? Maybe they like seeing a lot of deer. See what I’m getting at…..where we choose to manage is very subjective.

It's ironic to me that the highest deer density parts of the state are also the places with the biggest deer and the best racks.

That’s not necessarily true…….There’s some good deer killed in these high deer density areas but for the most part its just a bunch of average dinks. I’ve seen better deer come from other counties that aren’t as well known. For example, I tracked for a guy the other day that had a wall full of true studs that all came from Autauga Co....we're talking about deer scoring in the 150's and 160's. I've seen some whoppers in Elmore Co too. I’ve also seen deer of the same size though come from Bullock Co where populations are really high. From what I see it doesn’t matter which area we’re talking about….there’s only a small handful of high scoring racks coming off of any property regardless of the population. The high deer density areas produce a few and the lower density areas produce a few. There are some areas with better soil that produce better racks on average though….

I’m no wildlife biologist but I don’t think this is true. There are huge bucks that come out of Bankhead and the deer density is below average.

One less.

That's because they've got a genetic strain that is from the north. I don't think those deer can be compared to other parts of the state. They just get bigger once mature.

Exactly.

Autauga isn’t known as a black belt county or a major deer hunting county but look at how much Ag land Autauga County has. I’ve seen some studs killed here and there’s no telling what’s all been killed in Autauga County or any county for that matter that no one knows about. I know as a kid hunting with My grandpa and uncle they would kill 15-25 deer a year on 600 acres. They where not trophy hunters but would kill a mature buck every 2-3 years. My grandpa only mounted 4 deer in his life the biggest coming out of Bullock county. 2 where shot at Bear Creek swamp. And the other one came from that 600 acre Property which was located around Independence Al.

I think Lamar co has more deer than ever. I hunt 600 acres in Bibb county that lost a lot of deer to blue tonaje in the late 90s. Just now starting to resemble the good ole days. I’ve got 3 real fields about 6 acres total and about 20 acres in cut pasture with no cows. On a good day you can hunt all three fields and see 40 deer. Maybe kill 3 deer a year

Here in SE Bama, I think the dpsm is much less than average. I've sat 13 or 14 times and have only seen 4 deer..gets discouraging sometimes when you feel you're doing everything the "right" way. Btw, I have been a long time reader of Aldeer and just decided to join tonight. Ya'll don't be too hard on me.

Welcome DG!

I’d like to see a higher density in the places I hunt. Shockingly, I see more bucks on property with higher deer densities. There are places I’ll go to meat hunt, but won’t shoot a doe on my land. I do wish there were some public land that was buck only til the population grew to 60/mi. I’d also love to see better wildlife management on our public lands. Most of the public land I’ve hunted seems to managed for timber over wildlife. I’m not a forester or biologist, but opening up some of the canopy and rotational burns would pay huge wildlife dividends IMO.

I prefer a middle of the road density. Somewhere around 20 dpsm

I meant no disrespect to Nighthunter or any other biologist! I wish y’all had more resources and say in how the public lands were managed!

Agree completely. I spend a lot of time on WMA’s and on the ones I frequent the most there isn’t any deer management going on other then a few scattered food plots and aging\ recording dead deer. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining and I’ll continue to make the most of my opportunity to hunt public land. Maybe the DNRs hands are tied on how much they can really do on certain tracts of land? I don’t know.

I’d rather hunt higher density land. The idea of killing “big bucks” just doesn’t mean the same thing to me anymore. It’s not some dire pursuit I’m on to prove something…..whether it be to other people or myself. When it’s over it’s just another rack on the wall. It’s the hunt itself that I enjoy far more now. With that being said, I’d rather consistently see a lot of deer when I go hunting versus sitting out in the woods not seeing chit in pursuit of that one big ‘un. Hunting is a lot more fun to me when I’m seeing deer.

I think the only people that "don't" feel this way are the people that already have a ton of deer and somehow think having a lot of deer is the reason they're not seeing Big Billy Buck. But who knows. Maybe lots of people are fine staring at squirrels for 10 days straight.

Exactly.......if you gave me the choice of exclusive access to a property where I'd consistently see multiple "average" deer on most sits, vs a property where I only saw a deer every 4 or 5 sits, but they were above-average, I'd take the numbers every time. Wouldn't even be a tough choice.

I think people that say they'd rather see very very few deer, and have a chance at a monster buck either 1. have killed so many deer in their life, seeing them isn't fun anymore or 2. don't really understand how miserable hunting for a week is, without seeing any brown fur.

A week? LOL...try hunting for an entire SEASON and not seeing brown fur. I know it ain't always about killing, but damn...

I've been there, Gomer. I said a week because some folks simply can't imagine that there are places like that in Alabama. There's a lot of em. And frequently people think you need to kill more does in those areas.

"That doe was the first deer I'd seen in 2 weeks....so I shot it" How many times have y'all heard that? Makes no sense to me

Funny you say that....there has only been 1 deer seen all this season so far on our lease......a doe....that one of the members shot.

Y'all been reading to many books

That is a terrible way to spend a deer season. I have never went entire season without seeing anything but have went all season and seen 5-10 deer, and that was hunting every weekend, holiday, and usually week of vacation. If I had to go back to hunting those places again I would just quit.

I don’t really care what biologist or qdma says, I’ve hunted a lot of properties in Alabama, and if you told me to pick 3 places that I felt most confident I could hunt for a week in the rut and kill a 125+, all three places that come to mind, have a lot of deer. Like double digit sightings a majority of the time. Those places also have very few deer killed, one place hasn’t had does killed since 1987. That place, you might see 30 deer on a good sit, maybe only 3 or 4 bucks, but your liable to see a mature deer just about every day. I just have never seen a positive correlation to drastically reducing your does and having better “big buck” hunting in the future years. It’s always been the opposite .

I'm like you in that I just don't really care about what they say................the way I see it is only 1/2 the deer are capable of giving us more deer. and if you start wiping out those deer, well, that just seems counter-intuitive. Sure, I'd shoot a doe here and there on a property that had good numbers, but killing the "fawn factories" because numbers are already too low just seems dumb.

I live in marshall county...be very thankful you see deer and have decent places to go because we have very few deer. I live far enough away in every direction from any decent hunting..not only that...i havent been able to swing the money for a decent club in the pastfew years and im married now so its even harder to get away an beat up on public land like i use to so i juggle work, husband stuff, and hunting on some at best..mediocre public land that is at its closest 35min away...i worked hard and scout when and what i could..and i have hunted a grand total of about 8 days this season..which is the least ive hunted since ive been hunting...ive seen 4 deer... And i worked my butt off just to catch a glimpse of them.....hard for me to pay for gas and take time off for a gimpse..3 of the deer i saw..on a piece of property that ive been hunting my whole life and if you add up how many deer ive seen there in the past 8 years of me hunting it hard it would make 5...i couldnt break 10 if i counted all the ones ive seen in my lifetime there...my ideal density....enough to warrant me going and hunting them and not feeling like an absolute waste of time.

Where do you hunt Gomer?

This has been my experience as well. I hunted as a guest with some 80+ yo fellas on 500 ac a few yrs back, they shot NO does and it was that way for years. The does didn't even pay attention to you. It was some of the best hunting I ever had experienced. Saw almost 30 deer in 4 hrs almost every time I hunted with them and multiple mature bucks. Say what you want, I don't care what books and experts say, I know when I was a chasing buck, I looked for where the ladies were at and the more the better.





It's like shooting hen turkeys and wondering where all the turkeys have gone and why their numbers are down.

Greene Co, north of the interstate, but I won't hunting this place after this year. Will either lease a small property by myself or find a club to get in. I'm not gonna piss away any more time, energy or money on this place.

Just crunching the numbers - (rifle season longer than ever + doe season liberal as ever + coyote predation more efficient as ever) = Wth is wrong with us

It took days for me to work that out but thought I’d share

It is hard for most people to comprehend this so hopefully they will read it slowly over and over again LESS DEER DOES NOT EQUAL BIGGER BUCKS JUST LESS DAMN DEER.

THIS!!!! 100% THIS!!!!!!!!

I've yet to figure out how folks who hunt both deer and turkeys can be so staunchly against shooting hens, then come deer season shoot does.

^^^^ Totally agree top to bottom with this post.

What biologists are telling you those? Everyone I’ve talked to recommended very few does being shot and QDM never said shoot a bunch of does. They approach the situation based on carrying capacity, ratios, etc.

Shooting does only depletes the population, nothing to do with having trophy bucks....piney woods mean piney deer.....Why are the bucks so big in the North?.....Food supply....Row crops make big heavy deer.....Genes make big horns...

Cold weather....They got to eat to survive....Further north you go the bigger the deer are...