20 something years ago up until about 10 or 12 years ago (forgive me if my years aren't exactly correct), Alabama only had a few weekends that you could legally kill does. They then transitioned to a 2-week long doe season before finally opening it up to a season-long doe season. Even after the doe season was "liberalized", many hunters still resisted shooting very many does, preferring instead to shoot every year-old buck that wandered by. That is what I meant by "if it's brown, it's down". The first year we started the management program, the biologist issued us 50-plus doe tags to thin them out. The next year we got 30-something, and since then, we have managed to take our goal of does every year without the tags, which is usually in the 25 range.

We do some year-round feeding, usually planting a mixture of soy beans and cow peas. About 1/3 of the land is farm land, so a good portion of it is planted in peanuts every year by the local farmers. We do not do any supplemental feeding (protein pellets or corn), although I do pour corn out in front of the deer cameras during July and August while we are taking our summer time pics.

Of course, we plant oats and wheat for the winter, and last year started mixing in some clover to help with the early Spring period.