Changing the mindset of hunters here in Alabama is a long tough process. We are used to having the current system and the thought of losing days or the opportunity to shoot a doe a day feels like something is being taken from us. For those of us who are old enough to remember, it has not always been this way.

I started hunting in the early eighties on a property in Marengo county where it was not uncommon to see 30 - 50 deer on a green field. We started whacking does and within the six years in that club deer sightings dwindled every year. This club would definitely be described as 'it's brown it's down' and we shot over 100 deer a year on 2800 acres. Haven't hunted Marengo in 30 years and from what I've read, deer sightings can be hard to come by in some areas.

I'm also old enough to have known hunters who refused to shoot does because that's how they were raised. They thought is was wrong to shoot a does and wouldn't do it for any reason.

This state has had wild swings in attitude and traditions in the past and it can again. It will take a lot more than two or three zones to manage the diverse herd in this state. I do not want to have burdensome regulations where you will need to drag a lawyer with you to go hunting. Game Check isn't perfect, but it is a start to changing the attitudes about herd management.

Ultimately, it is up to us, the hunters, to manage our deer herd for the type of hunting we want. The deer herd in Alabama was decimated a century ago by too much killing before and then it became over-populated due to several reasons. We can change our attitudes, we've done it in the past. We just need to be sure we learn from the mistakes of the past.