11... First of all,
12 I'd like to call on Ted DeVos and Tim Gothard
13 with the AWF.
14 MR. DeVOS: The deer management
15 subcommittee met, like you said, several
16 times. And one of the things we're looking at
17 -- I want to commend this board as well for
18 putting together these subcommittees. I think
19 it's a real responsible way to look at the
20 issues. There's a -- biologists are well
21 represented on these groups, both the full
22 subcommittee, as well as this deer management
23 subcommittee to provide input from a
1 biological standpoint. Our group met, looking
2 at buck regulations, whether or not we needed
3 to try and address buck limits or antler-based
4 restrictions in the state as a whole and the
5 targeting goal to reduce buck harvest numbers
6 across the state, which would lead towards a
7 more balanced buck-doe ratios, better age
8 structure in our buck cohort of the population
9 and just essentially it ends up leading to
10 earlier fawning dates, a healthier deer herd.
11 That's kind of the target. Most states around
12 us have gone to doing this. And ultimately if
13 we can maintain doe harvest, we can lower deer
14 herd numbers as a whole by doing this. It was
15 agreed in this group -- there were six of us
16 on the group, five biologists, and we agreed
17 unanimously that we needed to at least propose
18 some form of buck restrictions in the state...

... 17 Looking at AWF's information, Wildlife
18 Federation, Tim awhile ago went into this a
19 little bit more, the Wildlife Federation's
20 position on these things. But that three buck
21 limit has the potential to save -- and this is
22 purely from a limits standpoint of something
23 like a three buck limit -- has the potential
1 to save twenty-five to thirty thousand male
2 deer in the population.

MR. PORTER: And who do they
3 represent?
4 MR. DeVOS: Myself, and I'm a
5 private wildlife biologist consultant here in
6 Montgomery; Dr. Barry Graham of Auburn
7 University; and Kevin McKinstry, he's out of
8 -- [Westervelt] a private wildlife biologist as well; Bill
9 Gray and Chris Cook who work with the
10 department; and Mr. Grant Lynch. That was the
11 group.

8 MR. HATLEY: Tim, how many members
9 are in the Alabama Wildlife Federation?
10 MR. GOTHARD: Right at about
11 eighteen thousand.
12 MR. HATLEY: Eighteen thousand?
13 MR. GOTHARD: Correct.
14 MR. HATLEY: How many licensed
15 hunters do we have in the state of Alabama?
16 MR. PUGH: Two hundred and twenty
17 something thousand licensed deer hunters.
18 CHAIRMAN MOULTRIE: Two hundred and
19 twenty thousand deer hunters?
20 MR. PUGH: Two hundred and twenty
21 thousand plus deer hunters in the state. Over
22 two hundred and seventy thousand licensed
23 hunters.