Bucks:1
Doe: 2

So if those numbers are correct and we as a state have an "estimated" 1.5 million deer, why isn't the deer population growing exponentially?

Personally because I think our estimate is way high. I wouldn't be surprised if we have less that 1M head.

Bucks 1
Doe 0
2 hunters

I think that the estimated population is high.
We, as AL hunters, are taking a higher percentage of the herd thanks normally depicted.

One thing to keep in mind is that we’re just looking at an estimated hunter harvest……not total mortality. In order to estimate total annual mortality we would have to add in the number of deer hit by cars, eaten by coyotes, died of disease/fighting, etc…..

No joke, four got killed within 200 yards of my house just this deer season. The # of car related deaths statewide would be staggering.

Just doing a quick search I found an estimate for 2013 that said 2100 deer/car related crashes…..That seems like bullchit. Maybe its not a real significant number compared to hunter harvest but I see dead deer all over the damn roads around here. That seems really low for statewide. Their estimate must just be insurance claims…..Maybe there’s a lot that are hit and not turned in on insurance.

I think coyotes are probably the biggest secondary factor next to hunters. However many coyotes there are in the woods…..you might as well just add that number to the 180,000 human hunters. …..how many deer (on average) does each yote kill during the whole year to add on to the top of our harvest???......

I should have said vehicle related deaths, I bet most are by semis at night, and they never check up.

1 doe.

me:
1 buck
1 doe


daughter
1 buck

I know a trucker who said he, himself, hit 14 deer this year... and your right, he never checks up, keeps the hammer down.

What’s the percentage of people that have commented vs the people that have viewed the post?

One buck two does tween me and my boys.

Big fat 0/0

Bucks three

2 Bucks
4 does

Could have easily tagged out on bucks, but hoping they survive till next year.

Total for the other 11 club members (plus 3 kids and 2 spouses that hunted some):

14 Bucks
22 Does

So, 16 Bucks and 26 does killed on our club.

Alright fellas, voting is now closed.......Here are the final tallies

394 hunters surveyed
322 bucks killed
286 does killed


Bucks killed per hunter 0.82
Does killed per hunter 0.72


Total estimated buck harvest 155,800
Total estimated doe harvest 136,800

Total estimated harvest 292,600

Good job, CNC. I would think that your final numbers are reasonably close to what actually happened. The number of hunters you used is probably low because you didn't count the unlicensed hunters, but the hunters that are interested enough in deer hunting to post on this forum probably killed more deer than hunters that just go a time or 2, so the errors may balance out and be pretty close. One thing in your survey's favor was that the deer killed per hunter didn't change a whole lot as you got more responses.

So this survey wasn't random and you had less than 400 to participate, and you still got a number very close to what the hunter survey has been showing for years. It was random and got more than 3000 responses, so maybe more folks can understand why I've always thought it should be correct within the standard error.

But the hunter survey method of measuring the deer harvest had no provision for enforcement of limits. Could it be that was the primary purpose of GC and all the talk about better data was just a smokescreen? I honestly can't say for sure, but I am sure the GC numbers are worthless unless most hunters start to participate in it.

Good hunting to all.

There were over 2900 views of this post yet only 197 replies. Less than 7% response rate. Does that factor in at all?

Thanks PCP!……..

We may still be off but I think we’re at least somewhere in the ballpark. The buck % has been slowly decreasing throughout the survey so if I had to guess I’d say we’re overestimating a little.