Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum There is a segment of Alabama deer hunters

I would gladly give up the whole month of December but then you north Alabama people would be complaining. I see more chasing in turkey season than deer season, mostly due to the deer going un nocturnal by then but still. I like the idea of it starting November 15

Yall just keep in mind that if us extreme southerners wanted the season to extend to the end of February, the dog deer hunters season will be extended also.

Hunting the rut is like using a crossbow. Dang cheaters.

It would take a significant reduction in the length of the season before it would begin to have any substantial impact on total harvest…..assuming we’re not cutting out rut hunting. It would take reducing it down so much that I doubt anyone here would be ok with it. Most hunters kill 0-2 deer. That won’t change much simply because the season is 2 or 3 weeks shorter. All that would be accomplished from shortening the season a little bit like many are suggesting would be a reduction in the amount of opportunities you have to go hunting.

In Etowah County you can drive 45 minutes from where I live in any direction and catch the pre-rut / rut from early November till February. How would anyone go about zoning that ?

It's not about killing a buck you can do that all year long, but down here you will not see hide nor hair of a mature buck outside of January/ Feb time frame. I have hunted down here a long time with a lot of serious hunters and put in 70 to 80 hunts a season at my peak, but when you hunt the same properties all your life and look at the statistics that only one or two mature bucks have been killed outside that time frame in twenty plus years it isn't hard to figure out that unless I am hunting with a headlight i am doing nothing but educating deer hunting earlier and more often. Oh you are railing ...... you have gotten over the years to be very smug and tend to put down anyone that doesn't agree with your line of thought in your own little way of putting things. I bet you still couldn't kill a mature buck during the rut down here and I am willing to give you a chance since you think it's so easy. Mind you off 1600 acres only two bucks were killed during the so called easiest time of the year.

I personally don't care when they start the season as I don't start hunting Alabama until January and ending it on Feb 10 is fine by me too. I definitely think this State is too big to have a one size fits all strategy but I always find it amazing how some hunters from the Northern part of the State always want to bash the Southern part for wanting to hunt during the rut it just reeks of hypocrisy and being self centered.

I think you are spot on

Bullschit! Shortening the season would take SOME pressure off the deer in the beginning. Breaking up the shortened season with a couple of closed weeks mixed in would further take pressure off and mature deer sightings WOULD increase. This would enhance the ACTUAL rut, regardless of where you live/hunt. I'm not for a one size fits all by any means but unless pressure is taken off the deer, seasons adjusted geographically based on SCIENTIFIC data collected thru RELIABLE means, Alabama will always have what Alabama has. It IS the definition of insanity.

I've never advocated not having the season extended for whatever time period is needed if hunting the peak rut is (a) ongoing in the southernmost counties and (b) not biologically harmful, giving y'all the chance to hunt during that time.

Given that across the border in Florida those two things seem to be true, it would seem that Alabama's southernmost counties could possibly stand for a season through the end of February. I'm all for that. Wouldn't have an issue with it. Never have had an issue with it, either.

Perhaps the ongoing Game Check data and further push from you southern guys might help get the seasons changed or segmented to help you.

What I was trying to state simply was if you dont want to hunt the extended season.. well then....DONT.

If you do..then DO.

Its like the meat hunting / trophy hunting argument to me. Senseless!

I do not CARE which you do.

Do what makes YOU happy. Ill do what makes ME happy.

Hunt when YOU want, ill hunt when I want. Pretty simple.

If you want to hunt until Feb 10th in North Bama with No doe days...good luck. i hope you kill a good one. But I highly doubt that you actually will, odds are against you. But congrats if you DO.

If you want to hunt in October in South Bama...good luck. ( bring lots of BUG spray or a thermacell)

Ive hunted all over this state. From the Blackbelt, to Bankhead, to Central bama, High Jackson, Mississippi line to the Tenn line.

Our season covers it ALL...so adjust and hunt other locations if you like rut hunting.

And you cant say you dont have land to hunt..there is public land all over Alabama in all rut zones.

If you dont, hunt the times you can. Heck yall got 4 months...why complain?

Ive been in MANY states that have 7 to 10 days of gun hunting..and some you cant even use a rifle, just a muzzleloader or shotgun.

Call yourselves lucky to have so many choices!

And the only way to keep the population good in areas it is low is don't shoot a lot of does . We dont. And in doing so we have a good , well balanced herd even with the lowest deer density in the state.

Again, just my opinion.

Just go out and have fun yall.

I’m assuming that by removing pressure you simply mean keeping hunters out of the woods and not anything to do with less deer being killed. “Pressure" is a very site specific variable that can easily change from one property to the next. Its not something that the state needs to manage. There’s really not any significant negative impacts to the deer herd due to “pressure”….it just alters where and when deer move in the specific area where there is a lot of perceived danger. Just the simple presence of a human does not always equate to pressure either. It comes through the deer associating the human presence with negative experiences which is basically you shooting at one when others are around to link the negative experience to a human or maybe linking the danger to a certain location. I’ve had whole herds of does that didn’t care that I was in my stand because they didn’t associate me with danger….therefore my presence alone was not pressuring them and altering their patterns…..and when the rut hit the bucks were there in the daylight with them. You would be surprised how hard it is to run a buck off of a hot doe when the doe isn’t scared of you and doesn’t leave.

The only person who could have a significant negative impact to your property through pressure is you and possibly your immediate neighbor and that’s assuming you only have a small parcel to hunt. If its something the size of many hunting leases such as 1000+ acres then you control most of the pressure on your deer and how they respond to any around you. YOU and the folks you hunt with determine how the deer perceive your property. They can either see it as a safe area to avoid the surrounding danger or they can see it as full of danger just like the neighbors. Its your tactics and management practices that determine that. Much of the quality of the rut hunting will revolve around how your doe groups perceive your presence and how pressured they have become by mid to late Jan or whenever your rut may be. Bucks will typically follow suite during the rut with whatever the doe does. If she moves during the day then he does too. He might not walk out in the open like she will but he’ll still be on his feet with her. The state should in no way reduce hunting opportunities for everyone in an attempt to reduce pressure to all properties, YOU staying off of your property while everyone else pressures theirs is how you deal with it. Only shooting lone does that come out early in the evening and not blasting one right at dark when the field is full of deer is how you deal with it. I know this tactic all too well and I do it with FAR less land than what many here hunt

This turned out well!

Your kidding, right ? Extending gun season in the front in,not taking days away in the middle, was seriously discussed ?

I like deer hunting.

I knew this was coming after the corn ruling, everyone said it was for less goverment control and now that they shot their limit over a pile of corn in one week they want everyone else to stop hunting. well guess what, my daughter hunted hard all season and didn't get a deer so I guess they need to extend the season.

You read it and tell me your interpretation:

MR. HARTZOG: Mr. Chairman?

CHAIRMAN DOBBS: I'm sorry. Mr. Hartzog.

MR. HARTZOG: Not a question for Mr. Jimmerson, but a question for Chuck. I think at the last meeting because -- I mean, I know some states that's got 30 different zones in it. And, remember, I think I threw out a suggestion. Since we've got a three-buck limit anyway, would it be easier for the State to do a statewide and just move the days earlier, still leave the February the 10th? Has the State looked at that possibility of doing that and that way we don't have to worry about gerrymandering this part of the county? Because my county is one of the counties that was affected. As you know, we've got three different distinct DNAs, you know, in Barbour County. Have we -- I think I brought it up at the last meeting for us to possibly look at the -- just go ahead and giving, like Mr. Jimmerson, his 10 days up front and still have the February the 10th and hunt your rut when you got your rut. Have we looked at that, or would that be ...

DIRECTOR SYKES: Yes. Anything is possible. We've looked at it. As Mr. Jimmerson said, the data is there. We've got it in your county too. It's just whether you want to add more days to the front. That's up to y'all. We've got the data. You can hunt from October 15th to February the 10th. So however we need to do it, all we just need is direction on what needs to happen.

MR. HARTZOG: What would --

CHAIRMAN DOBBS: Mr. Hartzog, we've been through this several times, and I'm tickled to go through it again, but let's do this. Let's form a -- if you want to, let's form some sort of guidelines. Let the Board talk about that or send that to the Board and then to staff for their review, and then we'll vote on it at the next meeting. We'll hash it out then.

MR. HARTZOG: That's fine.

CHAIRMAN DOBBS: Is that acceptable?

MR. HARTZOG: Yes, sir.

DIRECTOR SYKES: Absolutely.

CHAIRMAN DOBBS: Okay. Thank you.

Sounds like the guy doesn't want zones, but wants to hunt in his county more, and Chuck said sure we have the data for that. So, since the guy don't like zones because his county would have more than one, they are considering statewide. Is that the gist of it.

That's the way I read it also. I fully expect it this coming season with the "data is already there". At this point, I really have no opinion on moving the front end. Guess I'll wait on the pros and cons.

I gain more and more respect for Charles Kelly every year that goes by. What I notice, good or bad, is that all discussions and changes are self centered . What's best for me, never what is best for the resource, or am I just imagining that.