Two words Coyote and blue tongue Down here in the lower part of ala we have seen the blue tongue to be a factor. Last season it really hit the mature bucks more so than does . I'm a taxidermist down here and have heard of several occurences last season. So far it does not seem to b a factor this year though. Maybe due to rainy summer . Anyway we r also eat up with coyotes . Rumor has it Fort Rucker Al conducted a survey last year I believe. They took 9 bread does inserted a micro chip into the fetus of the doe . When the fawns were born ; within 48 hours 7 of the 9 does had lost their fawns due to coyotes. Long and short coyotes are our bigest problem. That's the reason the numbers are down in our area in pike county. I can remember back 20 years ago we would see tons of deer. Wherever u went tons of deer. Now we still see plenty of deer but the fawns seem to b missing hmmm! What could b causing that . Coyotes that's what! Now I'm not saying we don't have plenty of deer . We r simply talking numbers. I believe our quality is improving over all state wide but we need to really consider the fact that coyotes r detrimental to the deer . When you factor that in and the fact you can kill two does per day of season then maybe we should re evaluate. Last thing ill say is for a fact our numbers in the taxidermy studio have been on a steady downhill fall for the last four years. Our numbers are presently about 50 percent off from where they allways have been for 16 years. May also b the economy as a factor as well