I can actually kinda get on board with this. I have hunted in most areas of the State excluding SW AL. I have hunted in high hunter density with smaller land tracts and I have hunted in areas with only large tracts.
I'm gonna call it the corn crash as well I like that term. I have not looked at the data but I would expect areas with high hunter numbers and smaller land tracts to eventually begin to be impacted by hunting over corn. I would have expected that 3-5 years after corn implementation.
Anyone who thinks corn feeders don't make it easier to kill a deer buck or doe... is foolish. Be honest... y'all are not trophy hunting.
It will be really interesting to see if Alabama actually uses this Game Check data or if this really will just be a huge waste of time and money. What I would do is go by the numbers and if people aren't reporting their does then I would declare the population is down and put them on a doe days. Youi gotta send a message at some point or you will remain as irrelevant as you really are.
Exactly……what you would expect to happen would be for a pretty significant increase immediately following baiting being legalized followed by a crash 3-5 years afterwards…..then eventually your trend line stabilize at a new norm…..That’s exactly what’s happening. In simple terms your populations in these effected areas are going to be lower long term unless rules change or hunter attitude changes. After looking at what is occurring in places like Blount Co I don’t know how much implementing doe days will really help it…..They already have a pretty limited amount of time to shoot does and they’re going to see a 40% decrease this year. If we’re going to have a 3 buck limit then tags will have to be implemented too or it’s a useless rule…..Compliance right now is likely very low.
I think this is just the beginning of it and we’ll likely see further impacts over the next few years before we reach a new level of suck in the effected areas. I also think that they’ll be more areas impacted than just what we’re currently seeing….The concept that is playing out in North Alabama also occurs in other areas on a smaller scale.
I agree with what both of you are saying, but I think it has more to do with the extended doe season, then the corn. Weather anyone admits to it or not, people were hunting with corn way before it was legal. The baiting rule was so bs, 100 yards and out of sight, that no one went by it . The only time someone got a ticket for hunting over bait, was when gw was mad at them for something else or someone turned them in. And even then I don't believe it was enforced very much. When you kill a buck you kill one deer. When you kill a doe you kill not only her but all her off spring,AND here's the big one , the offspring her offspring would have produced. Just sit down with a pen and paper and draw a graph. Assume one doe would have twins and half those twins would be does having twins. That turns out to like 32 to 64 deer you take when you take one doe. Now I know that's not right because other factors influence that. But when someone shoots five does.........next year will be fine, five years down the road, not so much!
