Originally Posted By: Dream Buck
I think Alabama in most areas of the state has inferior genetics compared to the Midwest and Northern States based off where the deer originated from the initial stocking in the 1900's, however there are some exceptions in the state such as Bankhead Forest.

Article In AON
Alabama's Top Bow Buck... And From a WMA!
By Nick Carter
As far as public land goes, there is not a piece of property in Alabama that produces big bucks like Bankhead National Forest’s Black Warrior Wildlife Management Area. Year after year, the WMA consistently produces trophy-class bucks, but none of them hold a candle to the buck Randy Coffey killed there in December of 2000.
The first known restocking attempt in Alabama occurred in 1925 when the Department of Game and Fish and the U.S. Forest Service purchased 105 deer from Michigan and released them in what is now the William B. Bankhead National Forest.

“The different rut dates are apparently indicative of different genetic populations of deer,” Bill Gray said

"Many areas in our state were stocked with native Alabama deer, and those deer have a January rut date. But we also have some areas that were stocked with deer from Michigan and North Carolina that rut earlier.”

“The Bankhead Forest has about 180,000 acres and is the largest public land holding in the state,” biologist Ron Eakes said. “It’s a rugged area, but it’s not as steep as Skyline or Choccolocco. Some of the biggest bucks in Alabama are being taken here.”

So even Biologist agree that different subspecies/genetics of deer produces different rut dates and contribute to larger antlers.

As far as why i think that, here is why.
We have numerous clients that have high fenced their property and their story is all similar.
1.) They high fence their property.
2.) They pay a biologist to help them manage their property for age, sex ratios, nutrition.
3.) They have had their place managed from 4 to 30 years depending on the client and the largest deer any of the clients have shot was in the 170's.
4.) They see they have a genetic problem, not a age or nutrition problem, so they kill many of the native deer.
5.) They restock with superior genetics, and all clients are producing 170-220 huge frame typical deer consistently.
One client for the first time has 2 yr olds that score 200 and he managed his place as good or better and never shot a deer over 160 before.

So its obvious to me that on the same ground with the same management techniques, that when you implement genetics, and you get different results, genetics are the difference maker.
Common sense really.


Re-stocking (importing deer in an area where there are no deer) is not even close to being the same as adding more deer to an already high deer population. Both from a disease point of view and also from a genetics point of view.