From my perspective and it means nothing. We have had our place for 13 years now it was clear cut the year we bought it and replanted in pines. The first 6-7 years we saw and took several 200 lb+ 4-5 year old 140" bucks. Over the next several years the body weights of does and bucks have remained the same but the inches of antlers have decreased. Sighting have decreased, but that's understandable because you're not sitting on a 200 acre clearcut that you can see 1/2 mile. I 100% think the inches of antlers have decreased because the habitat will not support what the heard was 15 years ago. When you walk into the pines, there is simply nothing for them to eat. We have made the decision to start thinning the pines and start burning earlier than what most would just to get some sunlight to the ground and get the groceries back in the woods.

I think our situation is a lot like what is going on across the state. We have traded soybean fields in the 80's for pine plantations in the 2000's. Just last week my dad and I rode to some property that we both dog hunted when I was a teen in Talladega and drove past the fields that we actually put in beans and wheat. Now they are 15 year old pine plantations probably with the same issue of little to no food in the understory.