In my opinion, the low density in Bankhead is due to very poor habitat from old growth forests rather than hunting pressure. Therefore I don’t think surrounding high density January rut deer are going to move in rapidly as CNC suggests.
Second, I agree with others that deer are wildly loyal to home ranges, especially does and their female offspring. I have hunted most of my life in areas in southeast AL where deer were never restocked in the 60s and 70s and the population was extremely low and confined to river and creek bottoms. As surrounding ag and cattle fields began to be planted in pines, it took decades for deer to move just a mile or two from those core ranges into just as good of habitat right next door to them. Still to this day there are pockets in Houston and Geneva County where deer in one square mile are extremely overpopulated and a mile away the same habitat type will barely have a huntable population.
This.
I live maybe 10 miles north of the forest. There just isn’t enough habitat in the forest to support a lot of deer. I have some deer here at my house but not a lot. Different story where I hunt on the Marion - Franklin county line. Plenty of deer there. In Bankhead the best week to hunt is the week of the muzzle loader hunt. At my house it’s mid December to Christmas. At my lease in Marion co it’s January 1 till the end of the season. I disagree with CNC the Bankhead is a very different animal.
