Is it just me or are there more people looking for new clubs or land to lease than ever? Seems like there are a lot of unhappy people with their previous situations. I wonder whats going on?

Deer populations are down across the board. Most people arent seeing much. And are looking elsewhere

I figured that had something to do with it. Too many does have been killed for far too long.

I think more people are hunting than ever too. They want us to believe its a dying sport and youth hunter numbers are down but i just refuse to believe that. Ive never seen so many kids and bee hunters as i see now.

I'm one of the ones looking myself. The last 2-3 seasons have been steadily declining for me in terms of deer sightings on my properties I've been hunting in North AL. The '15-'16 deer season is the first in 20 years of hunting that I went without seeing one deer at all in the stand.

I'm personally going to put in a lot of sweat equity throughout the Spring and Summer on these places I've been hunting to do anything I can possibly do to attract and hold more deer.

This. And it will continue to be this way until something is done about doe harvest.

Amen from me on that as well.

Amen from me too. The years of doe harvest have created an absolute mess. The deer aren't nocturnal, they're not moving because it's hot, the DEER POPULATION has DRASTICALLY DECLINED!!!

I'm just saying the heck with it. I'm actually lining up some visits to look at some property in Georgia. It's probably going to cost me about 3 times what I pay in Alabama, but I'm not wasting another year hunting in Alabama until I find a group that believes in taking care of deer as a whole, or our state DNR wakes up and realizes what a freaking pile of wet turds they've created.

What part of North Alabama are you having touble with?If you don't mind saying.

Franklin/Lawrence county line roughly.

I see..I am hearing Colbert co is loaded..I have some good friends hunting Red Bay..They struggled until the middle of Jan.Then they killed 9 racked bucks in two weekends between 10 members..Thinking of joining with them,but have not decided.

Were you in a club or hunting pvt land?

I was thinking the same thing. I don't think there's a deer hunter that lives and or hunts in Etowah,St.Clair or Jackson County that's not looking for a new club or lease.

Yeah the Freedom Hills WMA portion of Colbert down Hwy 247 to Red Bay in Franklin is great deer hunting. As a kid was in a club in that area that was great. I should have spent more time on the WMA honestly this year in retrospect.

I have hunted either as a member or a guest in a club on the Franklin/Lawrence line(South of Hwy 24 and North of the State Forest) for the last 5 years that, when I first began hunting, was one of the best places I'd ever hunted. You'd see at least 4 or 5 does almost every hunt and saw or had a shot at a management buck each season at least once. Good antler restrictions in place, didn't shoot many does either. The last 2 or seasons have progressively gotten worse in terms of deer sign, seeing deer at all, especially deer harvest. As far as I know we had 0 management bucks killed this year. One was shot at but not recovered. We are all a bit perplexed as to what happened. Not sure if folks around us are shooting too many does, feeding/hunting over corn(my suspicion), or what has happened.

Seems a lot of people had a different kind of season than they have had in the past..I think that weather and corn are gonna be the biggest factors..Corn being the biggest.

They should either make corn completely legal to hunt over or completely illegal to have out at all during the season. I vote the latter.

im gonna go with weather this year, I know clubs that have always put out corn, and this season sightings were down. Too much browse growing. Folks always try to blame it on the corn.

I agree, I hunt in FL where there has always been corn and it has been a horrible year for NWFL as well.

Weather did play a lot in the hunting equation this year. But there are more factors than that. Alabama hunters were told for many years by the wildlife dept. to basically go out and shoot anything that moves. And people did for a long time. Now the state has put some brakes on the killing. About time huh? It may take some time for some of areas to recover. And we don't have everybody on board in keeping their finger off the trigger. I mean it is very easy to beat the system as far as that goes. Another factor and there are many concrete studies and field test data to back up coyote problems. The fact is they kill a lot of fawns. And there are not many good solutions to deal with them. Alabama deer populations are spotty. Some areas still have good numbers but there is a lot of areas they lagging. The magazines would have you to believe they are behind every tree. But those of us who hunt a lot can quickly correct them. We live a lot off of our past reputation .True the county I hunt in was once a deer factory..... in the 80 ' s and early 90's. I hope we can somehow build our herd back up. It may never be like it once was but I believe we can really improve upon it.

I think ya'll oughta quit whining I had a great year. The people that I know that always kill good deer killed good deer. The majority of them on public ground.

We are not talking of a small circle of friends or people I might know. As far as that goes I still take good deer here and some of my friends do. But on a state level things are not up to par. And when the discontent starts to reach the levels it is now it amounts to something different than being labeled a whiner. I and many others that still kill good deer here believe we have some serious issues at stake. If a person feels everything is a wonderland and has no concerns about our hunting; so be it. I also hunt in another state where the deer hunting is tightly regulated with very strict harvest limits and very limited gun days and believe you me, it has very high payoffs. One of the best things that could happen in Bama in my opinion is for the amount of gun days to be cut pretty harshly. Now I like to hunt as much as the next guy but over 2 months of gun days ? Come on. A lot of you guys don't realize how that much pressure changes deer behavior . The other state I hunt gives me 7 days. And guess what I can do better in 7 days there in what I can in 100 days here. I still enjoy hunting here but I will take quality time over quantity time everytime.

This isn't that other state this is alabama it isn't Ohio Kentucky or illinois. If people not just you feel like we don't need to shoot anymore does then don't shoot anymore does. I'm sick of people getting all upset cause they had a bad year and wanting more rules and regulations. If you do better in 7 days up there than a 100 here then lease a big chunk of land and only hunt it 7 days a season. The reason a lot of people had a bad season Is that there are still good acorns on the ground and I'd venture a guess to say 80% of hunters don't know any more than to just go sit in a shooting house on a green field. I'm not trying to say I'm the great white hunter because that's far from the case. That's just my 2 cents

When did having a civilized discussion become whining?I saw no whining and we had a normal,maybe better than normal season..Not everyone did..I hunted Wheeler Wildlife Refuge alot.Wheeler usually has acorns rot on the ground there are so many..Almost none this time.I still saw plenty of deer they were just scattered and hard to pattern..

Take a look at the American Indian and compare them to the White tailed deer. Not many Indians roaming the woods these days. Wait a few more years boys and there are not gonna be many deer roaming the woods either.

Think about the Bobwhite Quail and the Cottontail Rabbit also. I used to have literally hundreds of them here on the farm and now I cant tell you the last time I saw a rabbit or a quail here.

Put that in your thought processor and kick it around for a while. I am going to leave it at that. We need some help here in North Alabama no matter what some of you experts say.

The way I look at it, instead of calling people whiners that aren't seeing deer where they've traditionally seen them or aren't harvesting deer where they've traditionally done so, be grateful for the success that you've had and pray that God would bless you with continued success. To insinuate that somehow those who aren't killing deer are not doing so because they are inferior woodsmen is a bit haughty and even ignorant of the reality that we're not all playing with the same hand of cards here.

The truth of the matter is, whether you like or dislike the deer hunting regulations in Alabama, they are written in the interest of the large tract hunting clubs and leases and the insurance companies. Insurance companies are the largest lobby in the state and they want deer populations down to reduce car collisions with them. The conservation of the animal and creating an excellent hunting experience for the average hunter is an afterthought.

From an outsider looking in, Alabama has some great deer hunting.
I have some distant family with land south of Montgomery. Hunted there a few weeks ago. Every time I hunt there I am amazed at the number of deer I see. Nothing for me to see 15 to 30 deer a day on their property. And all day at that.
But, they hunt smart and don't pressure the place very hard and don't shoot many does. Same for the land around them.

All I'm saying is most people that I personally know that aren't seeing deer don't put in the work to see them. Over the years I've seen the majority of hunters shift to shooting house green field watchers and that's a fact whether you want to admit it or not. People are pressuring the deer more. I think game cameras hurt more than they help. You are leaving more scent in the woods by checking them all the time. People leave more scent when they are going into the woods to fill there corn feeders. Now I may be wrong but that's just my opinion. I do my scouting this time of year and when I hunt I go straight to the tree or blind I'm hunting and get in my stand. I don't walk around for 30 mI mutes looking for tracks and sign before I hunt

It is a fact that I start seeing deer and lots of them on the side of the roads starting Feb 1st. The corn bags also disappear from the roadside. A logical conclusion is when the corn piles are gone in the woods then the deer are on their feet & looking for groceries.

Fairly certain one of my hunting locations has low sightings because of corn. The only deer killed there was full of it. The other areas were all better than normal. Time to drop that lease.

Whatever you do, do not come to Georgia hoping for better hunting, with some places being the exception most of central GA has been shot out. The qdma guys talked a bunch of idiots into believing they had to shoot every doe seen to be able to kill a big buck. I live in Ga but hunt more in Tn,Ky, and Mo. Funny how I can hunt a Midwest farm and see 30 or 40 does and still see several big bucks., hopefully the guys up there won't fall for this horse hockey about having to shoot every doe they see

It might be too simple a mind-set when it comes to shooting does, but seems to me that less does = less fawns, some of which will be bucks. The logic doesn't make sense to me.

I have not seen an increase in people looking for a new property. It is always busy this time of year.

Have deer sightings been down? I'm not sure but I do know that my local processor is about 30% down from last year. (Last year was a record high). It is the ebbs and flows of deer hunting... way too many variables to say exactly why. Most likely, it is a combination of several.

I realize that you can't take our state and and make it identical to the Midwest. But don't you want to see us better our hunting anywhere we can ? I mean if it weren't for folks like Dr.Warren Strickland whining (if that's what you want to call it) we would still be at the buck a day rule. I know some of you guys don't like rules and regs but it was absurd to tell a man he could shoot a buck a day for near 3 months. I and others before the 3 buck limit was passed pleaded with wildlife heads to put a limit on harvest and it fell on deaf ears. They told us basically that everything was fine and you could just keep killing and they would keep multiplying. I didn't buy into it. And if you went to where I lease land in the Midwest and backed of on the rules and regs and said Have at it ,in a few years you have a wasteland. I want us to move forward. Some of you guys don't know it but Forever Wild recently purchased one of the finest tracts you ever laid eyes on. I know personally the man who overseen this approx. 2000 ac. Alabama river tract. And it has been managed for years for trophy bucks. I can almost guarantee you it will , under the states control will have little or no buck regulations and in a few years dramatically alter the hunting there and not for the better. I would like to see us move forward and whether you agree or not rules and regs can make a big difference in the quality of hunting.

Bingo. Need to go back to the 10-14 day doe harvest season for at least 5 years.

There is no doubt unless your property has passed its carriying capacity causing does to be in poor enough health not to produce fawns. Less does absolutely meens less fawns which meens less bucks. Not sure how dumb you have to be to not comprehend that.

Another logical conclusion would be that winter has taking more of an effect on the local browse, another logical conclusion could also be that every tom, dick and harry is trapesing through the woods hunting the rut, and/or blasting everything that walks into the food plot and the deer have changed there routine. theres alot of variabels that go into deer movement.

That's how I feel about it.

If we go back go 10-14 days of doe days I'll sell my stuff and hang it up. I know a bunch of older guys that quit hunting when we went to 3 bucks

All that is true. Can safely say there won't be corn sacks decorating the county roads .

I wish they would go back to doe days shorten gun season by about a month, and make it mandatory to call in your kills and double the price of a hunting liscence. And then all the people that claim they would quit hunting if they done any of those things could take up knitting or bird watching. We would have more deer less hunters and lease prices would go down. It would be a win win for everybody.

Is it so bad to only be allowed 3 bucks a season ? If I kill 3 good bucks in a season I am beyond happy ! 2 good ones and a scrub and I'm still ecstatic ! Throw in a doe or two for meat and what more could I ask for ? When I was younger I thought I should be pulling the trigger everytime something brown got in front of me. Thank goodness I grew out of all that. Been deer hunting 40 + years now and hunted most areas of our state from North to South. And Alabama has a lot of potential especially if we can get more folks on board in selective harvest.

Yes Mike, I'm right there with you. Real limits on does.Real tagging system. About a 3 or 4 week firearms season. And bump the license up to $100 or so and we would thin some of the hunting herd and you would see a change for the better in our hunting.

Well I hope you enjoy fishing as you throw your lollipop in the dirt and walk away.....

With all due respect, that's insane. Do that and in 20 years no one will be hunting due to expense. Keep in mind hunting is a RIGHT in our state. Just like freedom of speech, just like our cherished guns.

If you feel so strongly about deer management I encourage you to work longer hours, pay for a 2,000 acre lease and hunt it only 3 weeks a year. And don't bother the rest of us that are perfectly content actually enjoying deer hunting with our friends and family all winter.

Here's how it went no deer during the daylight but at night in one weeks time I had 567 pics. Warm weather all the rut took place during darkness. One hunter in our lease would kill anything on a greenfield,this quickly educates deer especially if there are other deer on the field. As to reducing doe season go for it I grew up in south alabama when you may have got 3 days of doe season. As for bucks you want bigger bucks 1 per season for 5yr.as Kentucky does. I really think that there are plenty of deer they are just wiser than we are.

Ill run my squirrel dogs and fisj. I hunt just enough to fill the freezer then I quit. I don't think I picked a rifle up but maybe once after Dec 4th and that was when doe days came in on the forest land

I'm looking now because I've never had a lease of my own. This past season was the first time I threw in with a buddy on a very small tract. Saw nothing but does on it. Always just asked for rights and went with friends/family but now I desperately want my own tract (or me and a buddy or two) that is close to me. I still see plenty of deer on the places I hunt for free, but I absolutely hate killing deer on places other people have paid for.

If thats insane someone needs to tell that to Ky and Indiana cause with that thinking they evidently shouldnt have any hunters by now if that was the case.

Don't let the door hit you where the Good Lord split you.

I saw more this year than last year. I only saw one little spike last year, but I saw deer every time I went except for 3-4 times this year.

Maybe we should start paying the deer reparations. It worked for the indians in Poarch. There's so many of them now, you can't shake a stick at them.

The problem is the three C's. Corn, Cajuns, and coyotes. LOL