Our club and several other clubs in NW Alabama are in the early stages of getting a DNAP setup. So I am curious and was wondering other clubs had used this program in the past or are currently involved in the DMAP, what are your feelings on this program? Any Pros or Cons would be most helpful. Thank You!!

We have been in it over 20 years and have enjoyed the input.

Our club is in the second year of participation. It's a good program but it takes time to see results. Your members will have to have realistic expectations and fully commit to collecting the data. If you take shortcuts like guessing body weights instead of weighing them, the data will not be accurate.

Secondly, it should be a long term commitment. I can tell you that we already have members that are second guessing our participation in the program because they had disappointing seasons. I believe the main reason they had disappointing seasons was because 1/3 of our property was thinned and a neighboring landowner clear cut about 500 acres right up to our property line. This drastically changed the deer movement across our lease but these guys didn't change how or where they hunt. Lastly the weather was unusually warm for most of the season which lead to fewer deer being seen on afternoon hunts for much of the year. If your club decides to join, I hope they all agree to stick with it long enough to see some positive results.

Honest question: If your property is not at/near carrying capacity, what can DMAP possibly accomplish?

DMAP cannot do anything that you cannot do by yourself IF you have the expertise and commitment. Most have neither....

I have the commitment, though probably not expertise. I just wonder if DMAP would tell us to kill "x" does, even though we don't have many deer? ( And should accordingly kill zero does).

you can sit down with the biologist and discuss your current herd status and goals.

Registration in DMAP requires you to select your stated goals, whether it be for numbers of deer, quality deer, or trophy deer. They will give you recommendations based on the goals you select. Let's face it, most hunters want lots of deer with primarily big bucks running around. That's not realistic. If you want numbers, you'll sacrifice a little quality. If you want quality, you may sacrifice a little in terms of numbers. It all depends on what you want.

My question is with so many people pissing and moaning about the number of deer killed, not seeing any deer, not seeing 25 year old bucks, needing corn to see the deer that they are not seeing because everybody else is shooting them, we have to have a tagging system to fix deer hunting in Alabama, why aren't they enrolled in DMAP or doing some other management plan on their property and providing that information to the DCNR? Seems like a great way for the DCNR to actually get decent information from lands that people actually manage instead of obtaining minimal information from dead deer through mandate and threat of penalty!

Kind of makes me shake my head at 1. the arrogance that government believes that since they have the authority, that they can use it and the people that pay their salaries be damned and 2. That people grovel at the feet of government to get them to "fix" stuff instead of finding ways to voluntarily assist and be assisted by the government personnel that they employ!

most folks think DMAP is all about killing the hail out of does. Actually it pretty much got its start under just that idea. DMAP folks were allowed to kill more does than those not on the program, up to a set number. They were expected to kill that set number by some landowners like Gulf States.

You don't have to kill ANY does under DMAP if that is your program. The biologist will give you advice on what to do.

yeah, DMAP can't keep people from killing all the 2.5s and 3.5s on their club property.....~

Thanks guys for the input we are meeting with a biologist soon. We are in the very early stages of gathering information, data, etc.

Thanks guys for the input we are meeting with a biologist soon. We are in the very early stages of gathering information, data, etc.

I will actually talk in this thread...

First... Cutover- are you meeting with me or Matt?

DMAP gives specific recommendations based on an on-site visit (maybe more than 1) with a biologist. We take into account habitat, most recent deer harvest logs, deer observation logs, hunter goals, and more.

When it comes to recommendations, we may recommend shooting 10 does or zero. We may recommend shooting every 3.5 year old buck you see or shoot only 4.5 year olds. It all depends. Every property is vastly different and nobody gets the same harvest recommendations. We also give ample habitat, food plot and general management advice.

Nighthunter, we were told the biologist from Hartselle if I am not mistaken. Sounds like a good program and looking forward to an informitive meeting with you or Matt, thanks!!