I know it's hard for some on here to believe but there are places in AL that NEED to kill more deer. Removing mouths does indeed improve herd health. And populations with fewer does is the ideal situation for killing a mature buck up on his feet, NOT having 25 does in a field as a "lure".
In your opinion, what percentage of the state would be considered over populated? I've hunted most parts, and I would guess less than 15% was over populated. The problem that I am seeing is that kids are going out and not seeing deer and getting bored with it. I still have not been able to get my boy out and see a deer from a stand.
I can't answer that because I don't know. It is certainly site specific, property specific.
A few things.
People completely take what Bios say out of context. If managers partially put into place what is recommended, or apply a biological concept of deer management wrong it can have bad or unintended results. That happens a lot. Deer management is very easy. Keep deer below or at what the habitat can support. Kill whatever fits your management criteria. That's it. You can do ALL that and keep people happy. Problem is folks take biologists recommendations too far, or not far enough. I can't tell you how many site visits I make and never hear back from the folks. I have no idea if they applied what I said, went way overboard, not enough. They might think I'm an idiot and don't know what I'm talking about. Fact is, biologists make recommendations based on scientifically proven results. If you want some dang fine hunting in AL, provide enough food for your deer by either increasing harvest to bring the herd down to a manageable level, or provide more food for the deer you have. Best thing to do is a combination of both. Monitor your results every year and make necessary changes. It's easy. If I suggests a landowner kills every doe he sees. That doesn't mean do it into eternity. That means take advantage of every opportunity to lower the deer population now, monitor, slack off if necessary, and monitor more. Deer management is very fluid. You're constantly tweaking harvest according to trends. Another issue is large areas of small land ownerships. That's a disaster waiting to happen with very liberal bag limits. That is what has happened over large areas of this state. Every 40 acre landowner can not continue to kill 5 deer per year and sustain a deer herd. Other areas in the state have large land ownerships, and not enough hunters to kill what is needed.
