I haven't read this yet but I will Mash here !
Outdoor Alabama One of those should work.

Based on that report, it ain't happening.

From what I read "it ain't hapenin" about sums it up. I agree with there reasons though. I wonder if any one has considered zoning the state. That way north Al would start earlier and get full advantage of the rut. And south and central would start latter so we get full advantage of the rut....and cooler weather.

Klow, it is almost like they can't figure it out. Florida is broken into 4 different zones with different seasons, bag limits and other resrictions in all of them.

Close the season during the first two weeks in December and extend one week in to Feb. Everyone would be happy and I could duck hunt more. Give the deer one less week of hunting as well.

Their argument reminds me of the " we can't have a playoff in college football" argument. The bottom line is, it would require doing something different than it has been done in the past, which scares the crap out of some people for some reason.

Turkey season dates aren't the same for each county statewide. Dove season dates aren't the same for each county state wide. Why do they make out like it would be some kind of financial catastrophe to change the dates in the extreme southern counties?

How would it to hurt small game hunters to add two weeks of Feb. to deer season in exchange for removing two weeks in say, early Dec.?

What is the point of the argument on that report suggesting, extending deer season into Feb. would adversely effect the gains attributed to the 3 buck rule and ultimately hurt the statewide buck population? Are you kidding me? Does that mean the state deer population would benefit by having fewer bucks in the counties that get to hunt the rut, while having more bucks in the extreme southern part of the state. Incredible logic; the extra bucks in Baldwin County could just run up to the black belt and fill in for the bucks that get taken out up there. Masterful thinking.

It works great! Bottom line is that they don't want the more mature bucks killed. So why don't they limit the hunting during the rut in other parts of the state?

What about adding a shotgun season (slug only) that would start on Feb 1 - Feb 10. Just saying lots of states have shotgun only seasons I think it would be challenging and also would make the State more money cause you know everyone of us would need a "new" slug gun.

I've seen the argument that they don't want to kill the older "breeder bucks". I've seen studies where they put several different aged bucks in a pen with a bunch of does and after a year they kill every deer in the pen and check the DNA. Several of the younger 2 1/2 year old bucks were the dominant breeders and some of the older bucks had very few offspring. Isn't the DNA of a 2 1/2 old buck the same when the buck gets to be 5 1/2 anyway?

It's kinda funny their worried about more bucks being killed. Every other state hunts some way before, during and after the rut.....why is overkill of bucks not a problem there? States like IL and IA have seasons that even run into shed season where bucks are being killed thinking their does.

I would settle for take away the first two weeks of bow season and add two weeks of bow only at the end. that way it wouldn't change anything for the masses that gun hunt only. they could say it was for safety reasons due to the heat/snakes in October.

I'd go with this plan.....

I agree with that about the bow hunting as well. For many reasons I don't get to bow hunt in October anyway but would honestly rather bow hunt in January than gun hunt. Another route would be to give those who want to an option to have a PW (Primitive Weapons) time during December but limit it to a true muzzleloader and not those inline guns which are honestly no different than a modern day rifle.

That same "older breeder buck" would pass a long the same genes at 2.5 and 3.5. They don't have to be old and big to pass on good genes. Considering does play a major factor in antler genetics this weakens the argument even more. All that said i seriously doubt the committee is concerned with producing trophy deer.

I agree. Start bow season Nov 1st, extend season to Feb 15th.

I talked to a friend that used to be on the state board, but still attends the "open" meetings. The biggest opponents to extension are GW's and small game hunters.

He said over 75% of the people that showed up for one of the public opinion forums last year were small game hunters. They were arguing that deer hunters won't let them rabbit hunt during deer season, and thus FEB is their month. They also stated they had JUST as many rights as the deer hunters. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy rabbit/squirrel hunting as much as anyone, but that really ticked me off. They DO have the same rights! Next time a 600 acre tract pops open at $12 an acre, LEASE it! Rabbit hunt every day from Oct 15 through Feb 28.

I don't think anyone is looking to squeeze out rabbit hunters. But, if you took the 8 or 10 counties at the southern end of the state and gave them a week or two in Feb, would it really ruin the rabbit hunting for the residents of those counties? This whole argument is laughable.

Ha Ha....exactly.


Our advisory board has so much more intelligence than any of the surrounding states on the impact to our deer herd with an extension on the season...blah,blah,blah

It appears to me the advisory board, DCNR, etc... are going into this whole thing close minded. The whole report is a montage of their "facts" why it's a bad decision to extend the decision.
Ms, and Ga already have an extended season that runs into Feb. and most areas around the country are allowed to hunt throughout the rut into the post rut. (Whatever that is, never have seen it here)

Let's just close deer season down in the middle and northern part of the state as well just as the rut begins , since we're going to kill too many bucks hunting throughout the rut. With that logic, seems like we should only be seeing pics. of does and small bucks coming from the rest of the state.

Guess we'll haver to start restocking the rest of the state again pretty soon from our herd down here in Lower Bama.

Georgia doesn't have any dates in February, but the Florida Panhandle, extreme southeast Mississippi and the entire state of Arkansas have February dates for archery and/or primitive weapons.

Kinda odd that small game hunters are complaining that they get less hunting time than deer hunters. I hunt WMAs and get less time in the woods due to weekday hunt scheduling. Not complaining just a fact. I just moved to Mobile from Meridian and from what I have been told by people I know is that the south of Hwy 84 hunting had no adverse effect on the herd. The commission also adjusted bow season back two weeks there to evenly distribute the amount of days between the districts. I was raised in the panhandle of Fl. and hunted S Alabama from Nims Fork to Blue Springs. In my personal opinion the herds have been mismanaged. They say buck to doe ratio is to high on certain management areas and have every scheduled dog and non dog hunt either sex. So when you kill 1500 deer on 19000 acres in less than six years the herd depletes somewhat. That's the accounted for deer killed. When they say no they mean we have no more for you to kill. If you want to hunt in Feb ya gotta call the car insurers to clear it through the commission.

I wish in the part of the state where I hunt season wouldn't start until Dec 15 by the time the rut gets here they have been hunted so hard that even the does that you see first of season are hard to find by the end of December.