Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Doe numbers

This is intelligent and I believe this. Truth is in my land, we just don’t shoot many deer. We have tons of deer! Tons of bucks! We only like shooting big mature whitetails. Now having said that, I like shooting deer, always have! But because my most valuable asset is time, I tend to not shoot does because I become very focused on shooting certain bucks we have pictures of. If I shoot a doe, my hunt is over.

We spend a ton of money on corn in the fall and triple grip in other parts of the year. Many of my feeders, I will have 12-15 does trying to eat on all times of the day. But that is the right thing to do! Right!!?? I feel that if I am going to take resources off the land, I need to provide for the rest of the resources! Habitat improvement, feeding, minerals, and keeping poachers away is something I can do. It is the evolution of a deer hunter. Once again, I love shooting big bucks but I also love the management of the land and the animals! It’s the whole process that I enjoy. Same goes for the guys I hunt with. By doing things this way, we should never have problems with deer numbers.

None of this matters if you don’t have self control and trigger control. End of story!

It could but it could also support that increased Hunter presence during Covid accounted for the increase, now decrease in harvest numbers. Regardless of which is applicable now, you’ usually don’t side with the most simple answer being correct.

I’ve been feeding corn, free choice, for 2 seasons now. I have killed exactly zero deer on the property. I won’t shoot a doe. I won’t shoot a immature buck. I’m not feeding corn to kill deer. I’m feeding corn to keep them from being killed. I probably have one of the best looking food plots in Marshall county. I do it to try and increase the deer population, not to kill deer. I run multiple cell cams to monitor deer and potential trespassing issues.

Not everyone who has a corn pile on small acreage kills all the deer, some of try to improve the herd.

I feed literally a ton a week year around. I've killed one deer in the last two years. It's not the corn killing them buddy! And feeding was never banned in alabma, it was only baiting if it wasn't 100 yards away from your stand and out of sight! Go back to a few.doe.days a year and leave the three buck limit and the population will get better.

The problem is not the corn. It is the general mentality of the majority of hunters in this state. Kill kill kill. “I’m a big man because I limited out on bucks every year for the past 10 years. Or I killed 19 deer last year see how much of a great hunter I am.” Corn will definitely cause a deer to move through or go onto a small inferior property, but that doesn’t mean that deer has to die. That decision falls to the man behind the gun or bow. Alabama’s problems, herd decline or growth, nocturnal deer due to over pressure, piss poor age structure due to over harvest of young, immature bucks, etc is all 100% due to the hunters in this state and their complete lack of trigger control. Thank goodness there are still a bunch of us that manage deer and have big properties all over the state that can somewhat protect the deer and act as nurseries. If we hunted like some of my neighbors, there wouldn’t be a deer left in our area. Now that it’s legal, we feed corn and beans, not to kill deer over it but to try to keep them from roaming onto to other properties and getting shot.

Alabama’s DAs running things don’t help one bit either. They make decisions not based on herd management and health. They are now political decisions based on $$$. Kill a doe a day is stupid. You can hunt over corn if you pay for a license to break the law is really stupid. Extending the season in areas where the rut is well over, is stupid. And this is going to offend some on here that hunt almost everyday of the season, but having a deer season that runs for 118 days, with 102 of those days being rifle season, is dumb as hell and stupid too.

Sitting here watching 8 does and cams showing at least 7 others in another plot. Doe numbers here in Conecuh county pretty strong between the 2 properties I hunt and talking with a few others who hunt in the same areas.

Lot of truth here. Sure, corn and cell cameras are cheat codes.

So is the guy feeding a ton of food per week, or the guy with equipment to plant acres of food plots. All are done to attract deer, improve habitat (grow deer) so that we can harvest deer.

If we all used common sense this could solve itself. Since we can’t, I am in the boat that the season is too long.

Call cameras and corn are only as detrimental as the hunter. Some people use them to improve their deer population, as already mentioned. Some don't. The doe jihadist would do what they do regardless of the current tech or regulations regarding baiting. It's always been that way.

Supplemental feeding of any type changes the carrying capacity of the land and pulls deer from your neighbors that have poor land or don't feed. Then folks see all these deer using their land and think they are overpopulated and need to kill some. If I am at the end of the season and I haven't killed a buck I will shoot a young doe for meat, not for population control. Two big clubs that I pass on the way to my place have a 4-point minimum. And for some people the season never closes. This doesn't help either IOM.

Absolute cold hard truth. And most people would only have about 2 days off from work to hunt that 1-week doe season. So, at best most folks could probably kill 2 does. Now you can start killing a doe a day in October. And you can keep on killing a doe per day through November, December, January, and 10 days into February. That's 118 days. And yeah, I know most people won't have all 118 of those days off to hunt either. But that span includes about 16 weekends of wide open doe season that most people do have off. Anyone who thinks corn has made more of an impact on deer numbers than expanding the doe season from 7 days to 118 days is living proof of the old saying, "common sense isn't too common".

Not with a rifle season from Nov 18 to Feb 10 and a doe a day stupidity!

Yep. If someone is dumb enough to kill every deer on their property then laws won’t change that.

Unfortunately if that dumbass is your neighbor you are screwed. That's what nobody wants to discuss. We all share deer with our neighbor and when we talk about people giving up hunting or not having a good experience this can be part of that. Especially if you own your land and can't just easily move on to another spot. Go out there work your tail off and improve your property for your neighbor to just have more young bucks to kill. 100% that is reality.

I agree with just about everyone.... Corn doesn't kill deer.... people with itchy trigger fingers kill deer.

Baiting doesn't impact other States like it does Alabama... Why? We are the most lax State in the entire country with our rules that's why. No other State operates like we do. I am not suggesting anything just pointing that out.

Dead on the money. Corn, cell cameras, and extra long season dont mix especially in areas with lots of small properties where everyone is competing. I personally know multiple people that are waiting for there camera to go off in their back yard to slip out the back door and knock another one down. Over time this will decimate the herd in these areas and it wont take long.

Here's an updated doe map as of today showing this year's harvest compared to last.....Covid must have really done a number on those northern counties abolt......

Alabama may eventually need to do something like the below - New Jersey. NJ closely monitors the herd in different parts of the state and adjust tags annually accordingly.

Some areas 1 doe. Others unlimited.

NJ Archery Seasons and Bag Limits
NJ Hunting Zone Map

I guess all those heavily populated, fragmented counties in central the south end of the state must not be hunting or putting corn out. Nobody lives in Bibb, Shelby, Chilton, Tuscaloosa, Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia, Covington and Geneva counties. No fragmented properties in those counties. Those are all made up exclusively of nothing but big 10,000-40,0000 acre private tracts all over those counties right? Yet they are all pretty much on target to be pretty much right in line with last years harvest, once you figure when the rut starts and all those guys are just now about to start hitting the woods in force and hunting hard from now til the end. But you're right CNC, EVERYTHING that happens now, in the deer woods, is now the direct result of CORN!!!!!! Say it slowly with me, IT IS A PEOPLE & GAME MANAGEMENT PROBLEM. LOL

You also gotta take into account average property size and hunter density…….as well as the fact that this is just the beginning…..Like Goatkiller said, you expect the impacts to happen in the 3-5 year time frame…..North Alabama is just seeing the first of the impacts……