I would say that a lot of those states kill just as high percentage of young deer as is killed in Alabama...
Absolutely true. Hunters in the Midwestern states kill about the same percentage of yearling bucks as hunters in most of the Southeast states, and hunters in some of the notorious "trophy" states kill quite bit higher percentage of yearlings (in Ohio, 50+% of the kill is yearlings).
The difference is they have corn and soybeans growing in very fertile soil and we have pine trees growing in very marginal soil.
And that's the Final Answer. TN hunters actually killing more mature bucks per square mile than KY hunters, yet KY hunters are loading up the B&C recordbook and TN hunters are not. What's the difference? Soil and habitat quality.
