Why do we have SPECIAL seasons?

I support whatever legal weapon anyone chooses to use for hunting deer. That being said why is there a special season for archery and muzzleloaders? I here most say they like the challenge of hunting with these weapons. Ok. COOL! So why do you need a special season? Wouldn't it in fact be more challenging to hunt pressured deer when everyone can be in the woods? Just trying to figure out the logic. Sounds like special interest groups to me. I say just hunt and use what you like.

Why does the method of harvest matter?

I agree completely, just deer season is blank to blank hunt with whatever. Dont get the youth seasons either. Take tour kids hunting when you go regardless

You must not bow hunt

I hunt with a crossbow just to extend my season by a month. I have killed my second biggest buck with a crossbow. I still enjoy rifle hunting just as much if not more. whats your point?

So the answer is "No" you don't bow hunt.

its not that the challenge of actually hunting is more enjoyable its just more satisfying after the kill why would anyone want to make it harder than it already is? i love having bow season separate from gun season.

Good one! why do you care how I harvest my meat? Whats enjoyable to you may not be to others. Just hunt.

gun season couldnt run from October 15 to February 10th our deer population would suffer from it I enjoy hunting the deer, being out i the woods and am able to scout before gun season with a bow. the few bow hunters that actually kill in october affect the population near nothing imagine an extra month and a half of gun season tacked onto the normal 2 months. gun season lasts as long as it possibly can without causing population decline you cant just throw it in with bow season and get the same results.

In theory, I totally agree. The less rules/laws the better. But it sure is nice bow hunting a crisp November morning with a bow without having the woods get blown up from all directions after sunrise.

Why arent you wondering about the special season with more days to hunt than those you listed? That would be gun season. 1 reason I like bow srason is the chances of some dummy scoping me or shooting me

Exactly. I hate that crossbows were legalized. It just put a bunch of lazy hunters in the woods “to extend their season” as he put it.

Funny, you ask a question, you get questioned and get defensive lol

Speaking of lazy, timber company approved class 1 electric bikes for non-motorized hunting. Boo

Special seasons are due to special interests,who lobby lawmakers for the special seasons to sell their products.

As always...FOLLOW THE MONEY.

Maybe not where you're hunting 🤣

AU338MAG is correct. However, I also agree, no way guns go from 10/15 to 2/10. I enjoy all types of hunting so I like a long season. Really don’t even understand this topic or the point of it????

In my opinion, if you have to ask, you’re just not going to get it.

If there is a 3 buck limit why cant the season be 4 months? If you shoot your 3 in a week with a rifle you are done if you hunt them all season with a bow or gun and dont kill 3 why does it matter what you hunt em with? You can shoot a crossbow over 100 yards these days I bet at least 50% of rifle shots are under 100 yards.

Also since we have the 3 buck limit why can't we just shoot all 3 in one day 😀

Agreed. Shoot em if you got em

Bow season is the hunting season for REAL hunters. Gun season is special for the less capable!!

j/k

Because "bow hunters" wouldn't feel special if they didn't have their own little season to look down on us sorry ass lazy rifle hunting orange wearing hillbillies. Seems theyre still a little butthurt over crossbows being legalized too

And at night? I mean why stop with daylight? Hell let's just hunt all year.

Special seasons for shooting sticks were implemented long before the 3 buck limit.

Few years ago the manufacturers noticed they sold very few muzzleloaders in Alabama....

I guess spear makers forgot to pay their lobby dues. 😆

The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is the foundation that fish and wildlife management is built on. It is an easy read and will answer a lot of questions about the role of state wildlife agencies (purpose, authority, funding), who owns wildlife (public trust doctrine), and how wildlife resources get partitioned for user groups to enjoy (seasons, bag limits, methods). A good read for you guys who really want to know the intent behind some of these regs.

https://wildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/North-American-model-of-Wildlife-Conservation.pdf

The 7 core principles are:

• Wildlife as Public Trust Resource
• Elimination of Markets for Game
• Allocation of Wildlife by Law
• Wildlife Should Only be Killed for a Legitimate Purpose
• Wildlife is Considered an International Resource
• Science is the Proper Tool for Discharge of Wildlife Policy
• Democracy of Hunting

Wow, it didn't take the elitist long to come out. Using a crossbow, is not bowhunting, Really? These same people use $1500 compounds and they are mountain men! What a freakin load of crap!

If you are disabled is one thing, but just to extend your season is another. No you don't bow hunt because you are too lazy to learn how and have never experienced the thrill of running a stick thru a living creature within 25 yds.

Blumsden, you hit on one of the biggest headaches for state wildlife agencies: conflicting user groups. The agency is bombarded by special interest groups that each insist on their version of hunting, fishing, etc. You've seen it play out. Deer hunting with dogs vs. no dogs. Archery vs. rifle season. Bait vs. no bait. QDM vs. kill whatever. Early vs. extended season. And on and on it goes.

Cause the rules say daylight

So can anyone explain in layman's terms. How does the type of legal weapon used to Harvest a deer play a role in how they are managed? I understand the need for A season and bag limits. That is not the question.

there is no bag limit on does only one a day so like said before if gun season was any longer the deer population would suffer. Alabama already has the longest gun season of any state. bows account for alot less kills so they can be utilized for longer without the same population decline.

This thread is a perfect example of why hunting is less and less popular.

How you figure? I only wish that was true. There's more hunters today than we can tolerate.

I think most would quit hunting after killing their bucks, I quit hunting and start trapping after I kill a buck and a doe most years (this year I will wuit after each kid gets a buck and a doe). There is only so much meat a person needs for a year. I got there woud be exceptions but I imagine they are already hammering the deer now. The new baiting law should really increase the bow shots taken this year I suspect as well. Hopefully by the time gun season rolls around they are corn pile shy.

Think of legal method as simply the state's official list of weapons deemed appropriate to harvest a particular game animal. The WFFD looks at each method in light of its lethal capacity, safety, popularity, and even public perception. Without sensible boundaries, for example, somebody will arm a drone and deer hunt from the couch. Legal method is also a way to manage total # of animals harvested. You would expect 50 rifle hunters to have a higher success rate than 50 bow hunters on the same property. So a wildlife manager can use that as a way to distribute pressure and spread out the harvest at the same time.

Rules also say Oct 15 - Feb 10 it’s legal to hunt with archery equipment. Nov 18 - Feb 10 muzzleloaders and now air guns are legal. Firearm season is Nov 23 - Feb 10. If you want to hunt before Nov 23rd this year, get the appropriate weapon and get after it. Don’t sit at home crying like a liberal snowflake because someone else goes through a little extra work to extend their season. I don’t get ya’lls argument at all. Boils down to good old fashioned jealousy I guess.

About 15 years ago my parents and I had a lease. Because my mom believed like y’all and didn’t think it was “fair” for bow season to begin a month early, I wasn’t allowed to begin hunting the property until the gun opener. I agreed to it mainly for my son’s sake because I wanted him to hunt with his grandparents. After we had the land a couple of years my mom wanted to learn to shoot a bow. So I set her up with a bow and taught her. Once she saw all the work it took to become proficient with a bow, she changed her tune. She only tried hunting with one a couple times and decided it wasn’t for her. But from that point forward my son and I were able to enjoy the bow season on that lease as long as we had it. I even offered to get my mom a crossbow, but she said she would just wait for the gun opener. The main reason she wanted to learn to shoot a bow was so she could go with my son and I to shoot archery tournaments.

around here its like a dang free for all on who can kill the most deer we got people that shoot everything that walks out and try to fill up their whole extended families freezers. Its like that in most real rural areas ive ever been alot of people still hunt for food not just antlers to hang on the wall. we have to kick a few guys out of our clubs regularly because of it then they go around bad mouthing you because " They got mad that we was the only ones killing deer and nobody else ever shot anything because they dont know how to hunt" no we got mad because you killed every spike and 4 point and little 6 that walked out on the field that we could have killed in bow season 5 times over before you. and they think membership including immediate family means bring your wife and 3 kids and set them all in a different stand every time you hunt.

Hunting Pressure is real. That is why we have special seasons. Bow hunters don't want the gun hunters to come along and start blasting does making all the deer skittish as hail... the gun hunters don't want the dog guys coming along and chasing their deer all over the county, etc.

The easy solution in my mind is season limits. If you want to go run dogs, fine. Once you shoot 4 button bucks you are done until next year. Same with shooting house hunters. You blast your 4 deer, 3 does and a spike... ok then.... see ya next season.

In my opinion what has been lost in having the length seasons we already have here in Alabama is that nobody small game hunts anymore. All the do is deer hunt weekend after weekend. There are few that squirrel hunt, rabbit hunt, dove hunt after opening day, etc.

Once deer season opens everyone rushes out and rides their tree for 3 months.

If you want to talk about season lengths and bag limits causing kids to not get into hunting and the outdoors, then let's talk about why you don't take them rabbit hunting and the fact that all you ever do with them is put them in a shooting house watching a field and getting bored if they don't pop the first doe that sticks it's nose out of the bushes.

I'm ok with the season length. I'm not ok with our current bag limits. I think everyone should have the ability to shoot a few deer.... then they should go do something else, not just ride the hole and continue popping does every weekend. Plenty of other things to hunt than deer especially for kids and developing that love of the outdoors.

That is being lost in Alabama and IMO the real reason for the decline in hunters over the period of decades. Kids just riding the shooting house blasting does, which is far too easy and takes little to no skill... that's the real problem in my mind.

this is also an issue I get my share of rabbits and dove before the season but then no one allows small game hunting on private land after the opening day of deer season we do get a month before and a month after on rabbits though but no one hunts them, for a kid aint nothing much more fun hunting wise than rabbit hunting a place with a good population. i need a dog or a friend with a dog to take with me we load up on them just walking around our place is over run

Must not. Nothing like being 20' up a tree on opening day.

Blah blah blah blah

Y'all stick slingers can have the early season. Too damn hot and too many skeeters.

Speaking of heat and skeeters, Florida's south zone season opens Saturday morning. First whitetail deer season in the U.S.

It's fun. Challenging with skeeters, panthers, snakes and everything else, but fun. Wish I was down there.

I wonder how many people will be hunting?

A lot. It's their opening day. If you enjoy deer hunting you go hunting. And some nice bucks, for south Florida, will be killed.

It's only supposed to be 87 there Saturday. When I was there it was mid-90s by 10 a.m. and pushing 100 by early afternoon. I killed a deer and saw others, along with sandhills, hogs snd probably had a bear or panther come close. All the birds stopped singing, the squirrels climbed into the trees and got quiet, and the cows out in the pasture kinda bunched up and watched whatever it was without moving. It was freaky.

South Carolina opens in a couple of weeks. I can't stand to hunt in October, I couldn't imagine trying to hunt in August.

Hunted opening weekend (or day) there about 10 years ago. I was in an unbuttoned short-sleeve shirt sweating my ass off. It was worse in SC than south Florida. Didn't see anything, either.

I think it’s much safer for small game hunters during bow only season too. That might be ONE factor also. Kinda gives folks a chance to do a little small game hunting early season.

Do you consider being the first ones in the woods to be an advantage?

not with a bow that requires me to get within 35 yards of the animal im hunting. but the deer are slighty less skittish before the lead starts flying. corn will probably change all that im sure alot of rifle hunters are gonna go out and buy a crossbow to sit 30 yards from a cornpile so im looking for season dates to start changing up soon.

Couldn't agree more. Early season is my favorite time of year. I love the weather and watching leaves change and acorns drop.

Why does it matter when i kill my 3? I could kill a buck at breakfast, then again at lunchtime, then again in the evening, so what's the problem? Also i have shot bucks just to have another just stand there like WTH just happened? So why can't I pop his azz too? 😀 I mean dang if i get all mine in 1 day wouldn't you be happy, cause that's one less hunter in the woods lol. I guess i must see more bucks in one day than some of ya'll see in a season 🤣

My history may be a little fuzzy but I believe when archery was just getting going in the late 60s and early 70s, Bowhunters of Alabama was a but, well organized group. Probably one of the largest organized “user groups.” They sought a separate season to have a few weeks when they weren’t competing with gun hunters and got it.
Don’t begrudge them. Nothing to keep anyone from joining in on the fun. Get a bow or crossbow and have at it.
I’ve hunted all methods and enjoyed em all.

Oh. And I always wanted a “special” season last 2 weeks of September.
8 point or 16 inch spread bucks only. Only one during the Special Season. Lot of deer on their feet around here that time of year.

Scent control is pretty much out the window when you are sweating like a hog. Does anyone remember before the invent of ScentLok or Scent Blocker, there were chlorophyll pills sold to make you body smell less?

When you farted, did the pills help with the smell? 😀😀

Buy a bow, buy a muzzleloader, buy a gun, buy corn and pour it out and kill deer with whatever is in you hands in the particular season. So, what is the issue again?

Or when your breath smells like you just ate a turd sammich. Did the pills help with this too ?

That would be awesome. I know it's hot, but I would love to kill one in velvet. That actually might not even be early enough for velvet depending on which part of the state.

So how many of yall consider a 4 week head start an advantage to bow hunters who say they want a bigger challenge? Just saying! Lets manage the heard with Seasons and bag limits and not weapons (also know as tool of harvest)!

I hate people.

I dont think it's an advantage cause I have no desire to hunt that time of year, but do agree set the season, hunt as you please by any method and everyone will be happy.

Actually it's a shame that the Dept has attempted to make anyone happy. That's not their job.

I haven't read through the thread, but this was the thinking of the dcnr back in the day when they started having a bow season and then expanded it. Bow season provides hunters with many more opportunities to hunt, while having very little effect on the resource. It is one of those win-win scenarios that don't happen often.

The AL ML season was about money.

I don't know when AL started the archery season, but I know we had one in the early 60s and I don't think it was due to lobbying by any group. It just made sense to let people have the opportunity to hunt when there was very little chance most were gonna kill anything. Younger folks may not believe this, but there was a time when the department used common sense in setting seasons, and money wasn't the driving factor in everything.

It took a skilled hunter to kill a deer in AL with a recurve or longbow in 1963. The equipment was nothing like we have today, and most places didn't have many deer. I mentioned 1963 because that was the first time I ever heard of anyone killing a deer with a bow. All of us kids were absolutely in awe of the guy who did it. Most grown men in our area had never killed a deer, and this guy killed one with a bow.

I always felt like special weapon seasons existed to promote the use of a particular weapon. You know to insure that these more tradition weapons and the skills needed to use them wouldn't fade away. Because lets face it you could accomplish all your game management goals with modern guns by lengthening or shortening the season or by increasing or decreasing bag limits if that is all you cared about. To me I always looked at the extra days in the woods as a reward for mastering a specific skill like shooting a bow.