Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Deer and Natural Resources

As an avid hunter and many days in the woods I have noticed something over the years and I was curious if anyone else had noticed it to... So I used to hunt a well known particular area that always had big bucks taken from it. I killed three 140+ on the land too. Anyways I couldn't never figure out how the deer here were getting so big. The land got Sold and the 1100 acres got cleared off and I was left without a place to hunt. I joined another club and never got the opportunities to kill a big deer like I previously had. So I ended my membership last year. This year I decided I was just going to bowhunt only. I was thinking if I'm bowhunting only why not take a year and learn some Public land. As I began mapping a few areas before season started and placing a trail cam here and there, I always got a few good bucks, but nothing big. I decided I wanted to go scout out an area that caught my eye on the topo map, and I found several solid trails and some decent Buck sign. I put out two cameras approx. 300 yards from each other to see what was in there. Sure enough big bucks. I got two 160+ on camera. So I bowhunted some with high hopes, but haven't got one yet. According to my cameras all the deer are nocturnal. Last week as I was checking cameras, I found 21 scrapes between the two cameras, but I also found something else. It hit me. The land I was hunting years ago had this same thing and a lot of it. Much like this spot does. When I say a lot, I mean a lot. Wanna know? Coal! Laying all over the top of the ground, trees fell over with coal sticking to the roots. It's everywhere in this area. So I started investigating. Where the coal stops, the deer sign stops. It just so happened that I had both cameras in this one area. I took one camera and moved it away from the area, but not far, within 300 yards on another solid trail. I checked the camera today, different deer and one small Buck. Has anyone ever ran across anything like this and could there be a correlation to coal and Big Bucks? It sounds crazy, but I'm more than curious now. Sorry for the long write up, but this deserves a discussion.

No coal around me. I would say minerals in the ground do effect the deer.

I would almost think the opposite. Most of the areas strip mined in the state are some of the worst areas to hunt. At least in terms of deer numbers. Top soil is usually pretty shallow in those areas. too. I'm sure there are big deer almost everywhere though.

Mulberry fork was strip mined in the 60's & 70's and a few time since then in different spots. The bucks there are average with the occasional very good one. Right now they are clearcutting everything there including my favorite spot being marked for cutting soon. The topsoil in these clearcuts is washing away into the creeks taking everything good for deer antler growth with it. I know deer will browse the briars and honeysuckle that will come up and I know folks will say "I love hunting clearcuts" but that's beside the point of what we're talking about

I figure your finding the coal and deer high on the mtns?

Yes in the mountains, but not close to the top.

Club in jefferson co off 15th street by those mines have always held big bucks. Ever since i was 12-13 years old riding all of the hunting club trails and roads we always saw a bunch of deer and on a few occasions saw some big bucks. Of course we were on fourwheelers and dirtbikes causing hell back then, but young and stupid was what we were.

I know some strip pits that produce great bucks every year. I'd hunt them in a heart beat.