There’s been a big swing in the habitat type/usage from “the good old days”……There’s way more urban sprawl these days……habitat fragmentation…… along with lots of cattle being raised. Back in the good ol’ days most of Alabama was rural, less fragmented and people in the blackbelt were growing crops. Things are set up differently now. Deer can inhabit those subdivisions and urban outskirts but there’s a higher density of hunters when you divide the remaining habitat up into 100 acre parcels....500 acre parcels....etc……The black belt can still produce some dandies but when the vast majority of the acreage is worn out cattle pasture….then the amount of total deer to go around is much fewer. Add coyotes into the situation and here we are……..