I've hunted for years just north of Vicksburg, and a major difference is they put age on the deer. Most shoot 130 or better over a very large cooperative area. That, and the alluvial soil is very rich. The rut, around Christmas, literally just explodes. Its incredible.

And that right there is why the delta also kills a higher percentage of big bucks. There is nowhere in the entire state of AL that manages deer on such a large scale as the alluvial soils in the delta. Some properties in the delta manage for 145" 4x4s and 160" 5x5s. Anything less than that is not a shooter. When you manage 10,000 acres, and your neighbors to the north and south manage their thousands of acres, with little to no human habitation inside a levy, you can do that. AL has no such place.

You're right on Matt. Catfish pointe and Montgomery island are a few I've been blessed to hunt. Nothing like it here in bama.

Trigger control? Somehow I thought this was about genetics.

good soil is a huge advantage i didnt mean to imply it isnt, it is my opinion that it is not magical minerals in that good soil that makes the deer bigger, things grow better in good soil= more food.if your into commercial agriculture your much more likely to grow on good soil, agriculture = big deer. all that being said poor soils can be fixed, the hardest thing to overcome is sandy soil that just wont retain moisture. like texas, where they had this argument 10 20 years ago, will you ever grow deer that compete with northern whitetails probably not, genetics do play a role,but in no way should you think the deer in alabama are expressing thier full potential. i own 155 acres in 3 years of feeding 4 to 6 tons of protien and several tons of corn,plus going from 1 acre of tillable to 6 acres of tillable ground i have seen a big jump in deer size weight and antler mass, this year i opened up to 12 acres and will eventually have 15 acres of tillable ground with summer and winter plantings,my point being you dont have to have 10,000 acres,the other thing i do is share pictures with my neighbor, i know crazy im gonna show him where they are and he'll kill them right? wrong now that he has seen videos of me passing big bucks he is much less likely to shoot it because he not worried about me getting it first. what really did it for me was seeing the deer return the next year after having so much food,the ones i have passed, worth it every time, dont get me wrong some serious contenders have gone missing every year, but new one have always shown up too. maybe we dont have the best genetics in the world but getting them to reach thier full potential is where the fun is for me. and if you shoot them at 2 your just really cheating yourself. and your neighbors. remember everytime you say if i dont shoot it the neighbor will,you create that very situation,its just as easy to say if i pass that buck and tell the neighbor maybe he will too. even brown and downers deep in thier hearts would prefer to shoot big bucks.

Todd, i leased 275 acres 10 yrs. I planted spring and fall .
I planted crops not kill plots. i provided food, not just grass to provide shots. The deer will return ans stay close if food is there. Brassicas and clover in fall, soybeans, peas and corn in summer. Providing nurishment and age will give Alabama some fine deer. Dr Grant Woods maintains that planting crops is better than feeding pellets. In the time I leasaed that farm I saw the average doe go from 90 lbs to 140. Its hard work but very rewarding. More people should look into QDMA.

I think it's because the democrats that run Birmingham must be the reason,
As stated about the Mississippi delta that place is almost unreal what it produces and the number of critters

Man you got that right. HUGE difference in our deer hasnt it been???

Gotta love corn, soybean and that winter wheat. Year round feed!

Genetics is the number one excuse used by people without adequate trigger restraint. VERY few are willing to admit that they have control over arguably the MOST important factor of the three at play.

Age, Nutrition, Genetics. In that order and it's not really close.

"They're nocturnal" and "neighbors are baiting" are 2nd and 3rd.



PRESSURE is the main cause of Hunter lack of success. People hunt stands regardless of wind, too often, and ride ATV's all over the lease and THEN wonder why they don't see anything.

The most common screwup I see is stands set up in such a way that they can't be hunted without walking through the plot. Nobody wants a stand off the plot.

Good post.

If I wanta shoot a mature buck, I won't be sitting on a plot.

well said,

However, mature bucks can be killed on plots with very low pressure which is hard to find in club type situations...

Sure they can, however, the majority killed in the hills of NE Bama are killed in the woods.

Most of the good ones killed in North Central bama are too...at least in my experience.

Too many hunters and small tracts hurts our place. Our club is 8 outside ears or mature, next best around us is 6 or better, and a few that don't regulate. Our only hope is the wildlife refuge that borders east side of club. Sit on e side of property you're liable to see 20+ deer in the woods, rest of property is a gamble if you'll see anything at all. Have 20 plots, and only one deer was killed off plot. Guest killed it, mature 8 probably 130" deer. Rest of plots didn't get hunted much. Only during "rut" which wasn't impressive. Several good bucks seen but none killed. Of 13 members, 4 bucks were killed. Primarily bow hunt only. However, it sounds like a war around us most of the year with gun shots. If only you could get neighboring properties on the same page. The "if I don't shoot it, the other guy will" clubs ruin it for everyone.

I agree perchjerker , I didnt mean to imply that protien rations were the answer, in most cases they probably have no effect at all, Im talking about putting a couple bags in a trough every couple weeks here,Thats not going to do anything,if it isnt measured by the tons per month in most areas its just bait. i agree growing food is much better, i rented a dozer this year and opened up 9 acres in addition to the 6 I had on 155 acres, Im also cutting 20 acres this year and 4 acres of that will go to crop production,so 19 acres of year round ag in 155, plus feeding.protien and corn year round by the ton. im hoping this gives the deer more than they need year round,

Im also not trying to sound like I know everything, I dont im relatively new to this, but I love learning and spend hours every day researching, from biology texts to basic animal husbandry,wildlife management , timber management,how to get the most from my agriculture efforts, blah , blah, anyhow Im sure Im getting some of it wrong, thats why I like discussing it in places like this.

so thanks for having me lol.
that being said my neighbor of 350 acres has great habitat and doesnt hunt, so im feeding his deer too.

I went and looked at a table of state records by state. When compared to other southern states we are right on the thick of it. Our best typical is only a couple inches less than Mississippi's and Georgia's while our non typical is better than one of them.

The one state that surprised me for size is Kentucky. Both of their record bucks well exceed ours.

Now just imagine if Alabama reverted back to having more row crops like we used to.

Guess us Yankees are a little sharper, we never quit row cropping to plant stupid pine trees.

I grew up hunting in Mississippi, both in the delta and elsewhere in the state. For the past 20 years I've hunted in Alabama too, both in the black belt prairie and elsewhere in the state.

I'd obviously have to set aside the MS delta as a stand alone testament to itself for all the reasons already identified in the thread already.

But in other parts of MS and AL, in my non-QDM simple lay person opinion, I see a trend in big deer, in no particular order:

1. Big River bottom land- deer that have river bottom habitat are often bigger than other areas. Great farming soils equate in my mind to outstanding browse groceries, either natural or ag. Ms examples I know well are the Big Black River and Pearl River in areas not in the delta.

2. Farm land--deer that have access to row crops year end and year out are just bigger than other areas. Better food supply.

3. Age: Areas where deer get to grow up and get 5-6+ years old with regular occurrence are obviously bigger. Doesn't take a degree in wildlife to figure that out. Low human population, lower hunting pressure or either strict management rules = larger, older deer--even in the non river bottom or ag land areas. Even isolated areas, pockets, can produce huge deer.

4. Genetics: I don't know enough to even speak on the genetics. But I'd suspect that even lesser gene deer can be the most they can be with great land, great food and little pressure.

We've all heard stories and even seen photos of suburban big mature or even "monster" deer around B'ham. The hunting pressure is almost zero, but for a few bowhunters on ninja hunts. The biggest threat is car traffic. The areas doesn't have much agriculture row crops, but tons of browse and plants and gardens. I've seen and heard of really large deer rivalling anywhere in the state in pockets in Hoover, Liberty Park, and other places in Greater Bham area----where there is basically no hunting at all. Same is true for Jackson/Ridgeland/Madison, MS---minimal if any hunting pressure in these pockets.

That leads me to believe that age = big, mature deer and add to that great soil and groceries to make outstanding size deer.

Please PM me his phone number.




Great post, Stray. I would tend to agree with everything you've said.