I would love to hear from Mbrock on the situation many of us are facing. Here in Jefferson county the bucks are about done rutting it seems. Most of the mature ones have lost a lot of weight! After the hard freeze, it seems as if the fields where completely wiped out and now are dead. This also goes for woody browse, Forbes, greenbrier, and just about any green vegetation in this area. Furthermore the acorns seem to all be split and rotten. Every day, I see more deer heading to my corn feeders. I have serious concern that my bucks my be over stressed post rut and that if we have another cold snap, several might not make it.

I plan on getting about a pallet of corn out asap but I am not sure that will do it. Would triple grip or a feed with peanuts help the situation? Or am I just overthinking this whole thing? Seems like if I don’t do something then I might be suffering the consequences of not working a plan.

Thoughts????

Our bucks further south will be getting worn down late jan - early feb - lose lot of weight

I wood imagine Feb - March April could be tuff - even Jan if food plot don’t rebound - but mine looking lot bettr

I’d say February to April are the most crucial time for the deer. Just about all natural browse is done until spring green up, and your annual greenfields are played out. That’s where certain clovers really shine.

Greenbrier and honeysuckle are not fazed by cold snap. I totally agree it’s a supper tough year up our way also. Almost no acorns to begin with and plots got burned up with freeze. Privet and locust pods are a couple other available. I haven’t seen them eating bark off cedars yet😬.

How did they ever survive without us……

I’d feed roasted soybeans mixed with corn if I was that worried

👆

My fields are coming back, but I have seen a ton of foraging on green briar.

My deer are feeding like crazy on privet where we have it... up until yesterday I hadn't seen any deer grazing in plots since the cold. However, yesterday my son saw 10-11 eating grass again... so maybe it won't be as bad as it could be. I also added a third to what I'm broadcasting on corn at my feeders.

I think you'd better shoot them all before they starve to death. Because we all know there are starving deer widespread across the State of Alabama. We've just never seen one starve to death but they are there....

Trust the Science.

Sincerely,

Dr Fauci

According tho the how many deer do you shoot thread, alot of staving people too!!!

There’s plenty of food in Alabama without any help from people. 😂
When they opened deer season west of HWY 17 in Millport (Lamar co), there was some huge deer my grandfather said. That was the first deer season for them. Admittedly the population was very small, but the native food/browse is still here + all the man made stuff nowadays. Deer browse all day, and very little of that time is spent in a greenfield or feeder.

I agree with Goatkiller........you better shoot some to prevent them from dying.

Y’all ought to stop.

At the rate this winter is going it will be in the 90s about the end of January so everything will be green and tender they won’t be worried about our burnt up green patches

In some places the deer population is exceeding the land's capacity to support them. Deer on my place were hitting privet before the cold snap and a lot of that has to do with no acorn crop this year. A friend of mine who lives in the Northport area regularly has 30+ deer that visits his house feeder daily. In the area he lives, there's no way there's enough native browse to support that population. Now... contrast that with a hunting club near my house that has over a thousand acres of 8 year old clearcut. That's two different scenarios!

So you're proposing an aldeer group hunt on BB's property to reduce the herd down to the currently reduced carrying capacity of his land. I like it, cutting edge management idea, but I think that BB is probably willing to pony up the money for whatever supplemental feed required to keep the aldeer mafia off his land. I know I would be if I was him. LOL

Ill take this one. You are way overthinking this. Deer have been around for a long time and can handle a few days of cold, not going to die they are very adaptable and wil lfeed on a multitude of available food sources. How long have you been deer hunting?

The bucks will be fat again up here by April from eating all the privet.

I live near Liberty Park. Had a 4pt chasing a doe in my front yard last night when I got home. Saw a dead doe on Overton Rd near Mnt Brook high school last weekend. They are going hard right now here. First week of Jan has been this way for as long as I've lived here.