OK 49er, I will bite this one time. I am dumb. I am stupid. I am asking YOU to enlighten me, to educate me. Questions #1. How does the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources gather the info to determine the number of man days it requires to harvest a deer, hog or turkey on WMA land? Question #2. What is the deer density of .... (pick a county) ... Clarke County, Alabama? Question #3. What is the harvest rate of .... (pick a county) .... Clarke County, Alabama. Question #4. What is the sex ratio of Alabama's deer herd? Question #5. What did the 300 pound canary say to the cat? And, a person becomes educated and informed by asking questions. DUH!
BSK: I am pretty sure that is you. Iv used mine for 15 years too. You remember?
States do not manage deer to produce B&C deer, or trophy deer, or to help land owners increase value of their land. States manage deer for 1 reason - population control. By hunter's opinion, some states do a better job of managing deer than others. Anything hunters get in the way of BIG antlers is The Cherry On Top! Every talks about how well Iowa manages their deer. Iowa manages their deer for population control, just like Alabama, or Georgia. Id say the only state that does not fit this to a T is Texas. The land owners manage the deer in many places, so it is not apples to apples. But as BSK pointed out, the MidWest has things the SouthEast does not; VERY fertile soil, SHORT gun seasons, SMALL buck limits, a Gazillion Million tons of nutrition that is grown in that VERY fertile soil, a different subspecies of deer then what we have in the SouthEast ...... and more. I am GLAD to see Alabama went to a 3 buck limit. Buck Deer are not an infinite resource. All natural renewable resources have to be managed to ensure their future. The deer cant do it, they just aint smart enough. But, the deer are the easy part to manage. The human-beans are the tough ones to manage!
TrueDouble: Liberal Limits and Long Gun Seasons do help drive lease costs. But from my experience the biggest driving force is BIG antlers. For Example: South Carolina has a gun season that is 4.5 months long. NO limit on bucks. Bait is legal. Dogs are legal. Antler restrictions apply per the state on only a few state lands. They are multiple ways to harvest doe deer (ADQP, Doe Days, Individual Doe Tags). You do not have to wear orange. Almost anything and everything is legal on private land. But, the cost of leases are half of what Alabama's is. $14 is high. $24 an acres would cause state wide panic! Alabama does not have as long a season. Limit of bucks is 3. There are state mandated antler restrictions in place. Blah Blah Blah .... and the cost to lease land in Alabama is "outrageous"!!! Thanks to the TV shows and DVD hunting movies, the cost to tag a BIG set of antlers is what has driven the cost up. This is all anyone ever talks about anymore .... Booner Bucks, Stud Bucks, Swamp Donkey, Cactus Donkey, GIANT.
After hunting deer for almost 40 years I have arrived at this ....... When I have 5 minutes of life left in me, I will NOT be worried about who killed a button buck, or a jake turkey, or who killed the most or the biggest, or what the cost of gas r land is. What I will be thinking about is this - I wish I had more time to spend with my family and friends to go hunting and fishing.
