Taken slightly out of context.

I’ve mainly said the three tier combination of cams, bait and February extension has and will continue to increase buck harvest in areas that don’t need an increase in buck harvest. YET, even as that plays out, it’s also more difficult to harvest deer with a great acorn crop, mild weather and no food plots. They can both be true at the same time CNC.

And I have not disputed your claims. I’ve just stated that those factors could also lead to lower harvests this year. Your claim and mine can both have an impact. I’m not against you. I’m just throwing more information into the equation.

Fair enough……..

Let me throw this out there though…….The three tiered changes that have occurred cant increase harvest forever…..There’s a point where it’s gonna peak and then go back down and start a new trend line according to the changes that have been made….Each time you adjust the “rules of the game” you have the potential to create a new norm for your trend line….There’s probably a technical term for what I’m talking about. I think this is the year when the buck harvest numbers start going back down from the peak cause by baiting…….eventually forming that new norm for many areas....Dont forget that doe harvest has increased as well by a good bit.....which means less bucks likley being produced

Absolutely. A lot of hunters just don't know how to kill deer when it's not easy , period , end of discussion.

Mbrock, does it lead to MORE buck harvest? Or does it lead to DIFFERENT buck harvest? In other words, instead of shooting every decent racked 3 year old they can, are hunters now using corn, cameras, and longer season to kill every 4-8 year old they can. Did the numbers go up or did it just switch age class?

I know at our club it led to a different age class and fewer bucks killed per year.

Camera pictures have saved many, many 3-4 yr old bucks on our place. When you know what you have walking around and have a chance to kill, if you hunt smart, it makes it a whole lot easier to pass that 125-130" 4 yr old buck that you normally might be tempted to pull the trigger on, late in the season. We are real selective to start with, but cameras have definitely gotten a bunch of bucks additional years, simply by being familiar with them and knowing who they are and how old they are when you see them from the stand. Sometimes you dont have much time to judge and make a decision and it really helps to know what's running around.

On the flip side, if we wanted to do it, us and our neighbors could take a bunch of cell cameras and bait and kill enough 90-120" bucks to fill a semi-trailer, and really do significant damage to our herd and age structure.

I think it is a wash.... for one guy it leads to more selective hunting. They use the bait and cameras to get a better understanding of their inventory and decide what to kill....


On the other hand if you give Billy Trigger Finger 2 more weeks and a feeder - he's gonna blast a few more Spikes and several more does. Truthfully there are far more Billy's than people who are selectively hunting IMO.



You really have to look at some statistics including the number of points to get a real understanding of actually what is being shot. "Bucks" really doesn't tell you a whole lot other than it had balls.

Never forget my neighbor telling me 5 or so seasons back he had a great year and killed over 25 deer... When I asked without even checking up if he shot any good ones he says, Naw... mostly just spikes and does but I seen one good'un over by the _____ and couldn't get a shot. Meaning....... he saw but was unable to blast a 2.5 year old deer with more than 4 points. He is pretty much unaffected by feeders and cameras but the extended season did help him.... however at some point you can't shoot any more than you can physically handle. That's where he's at.

It's not having the same effect in all areas…..It’s having a disproportionate effect in areas where the land is more fragmented with smaller property sizes and higher hunter densities….Some counties will be far more effected than others….Bullock Co will probably be one of the least effected.

So are you thinking the problem you're describing would be almost exclusively at the hands of the 1-10 or 20 acre homesteads and not so much the large acreage landowners and leaseholders? I could definitely agree with that, in concept. That's always been the problem with trying to manage deer in Alabama. No reason it would change now, but it could definitely get worse than it was, with legalized baiting. Same guys were hunting over bait before, but now they dont have to worry about the GW. What was a hidden 3 lb pile is now a 300lb pile in plain view. Still baiting just like they used to, only now it doesnt have to be hidden and they dont have to worry about the ticket anymore.

I've seen what cnc is talking about when I was in Florida. Everyone who has ten acres hunts. I had about 300 acres I was hunting by myself one time, and a guy from south Florida bought 10 acres next to it. He had three stand on it! He would put people in all three and a deer crossing that ten didn't have a prayer. I asked him why he shot everything he seen his answer was if I don't shoot it when it crossed the line the neighbor would. Not saying it's right or wrong, I believe your land is your land, and do what you want on it. But it does affect the deer population!

If you like seeing good bucks, that is a list you don't want to be towards the top so it really is not reflective of quality.

I wouldn’t say it’s exclusively the problem but yes there’s a LOT more small parcels accounting for higher harvest numbers now than what they used to……Being able to just put a feeder up and draw deer into any location makes properties that were poor spots in the past easy places to shoot one now. I tracked 3 for a guy during bow season on about 15 acres that would have likely never been able to shoot one of them without the feeder. I only say that to show that I’m not just making assumptions but basing what I’m saying off of real world situations……I’ve tracked them behind businesses that had corn piles in the back of the parking lot shooting them from the loading dock lol…..Corn is definitely getting more deer killed

It was happening before. Every hunter I know hunted over corn before it was legal. They just weren’t calling trackers as much back then. I don’t really know of anyone in my circles who didn’t hunt over corn before it was legal but does now but 1 guy. And I know at least 10 people that hunt.

I've never hunted with anyone my whole life that illegally baited except for one group of guys and they were shut down the first year

Well we just cancel each other out then 🤣

In clarke county - i hav way more young 3 year old 8 points than i ever hav had - sometimes see 4 at a feeder - future bright n clarke - i got a nice 5 year old that was decent last year - 9 point. Think my stud that disapeared last year may b around - would hav been 130s last year (caught a partial rack on cam - think it him. Think it comes down to trigger control on your lease and killing a 5 year old or older how ever u do it is going to b hard

Updated map as of today.......Again, this is the percentage of bucks killed so far this year compared to last year's total. Interesting how much variation there is from one county to the next with a month to go in the season

They rub when they want to, increasing as they need to mark their territory and communicate. And cnc might be right. Also everyone wants to get their peashooter in a picture to show off. If I see a small buck last day of the season and have not killed a deer, and there’s no minimum size on the property I’m hunting, I’m killing it. The young uns been getting slaughtered!

You can tell where the rut hasn't started yet

Here’s the same map for just does…….Something to note, unless I’m reading it wrong, Zone C doe days are over and the rest of the season is buck only except for with a bow….In other words those numbers in Zone C are close to being final…..Blount, Marshall, Morgan, Cullman, etc


Doe Map

So Limestone County is at 96% for Bucks and only 58% for Does. Is that bad????????