My two cents on this topic is as follows: 1- Hunters have unrealistic expectations these days. Myself included at times from too many hunting shows..lol. This is Alabama and a mature buck scoring 125-135 is Great deer in our state. I’ve not pulled back an arrow or pulled the trigger on anything less than 4 + yo buck scoring 130” or more in over 20 years. Since then I’ve killed a total of 4 bucks in Alabama. That averages out to only 1 every five years and I consider myself very lucky and fortunate to have hunted some of the better parts of our State. I’m not saying that we don’t have a lot of deer bigger than that, but only that they are not going to be where you are hunting every year and even if they are you may not ever see them or get the the chance to shoot them. I’ve got 3 mature 8 points on property this year that I hope to get my granddaughter at shot at and an exceptional 3 year old 10 point that will be special in another year or two. Other than a trophy 6:5 yo cow horn spike there’s nothing else to ponder shooting until some strange buck shows up during rut. 2- Deer populations and their sex ratios will continue to ebb and flow with various environmental, habitat, and other influences through various sections of property. I always see changes in these make ups from year to year. Never do they seem to remain static. This year I’ve seen more bucks than does by far while hunting. A lot of scraggly antlered spikes, 3-4-5 points and several basket 6-8 points. We’ve got great recruitment. But I know from camera surveys and collective hunter sightings that we are skewed heavy with does. Most does with yearlings have twins this year. We need to remove more does. This is just a snapshot in time of our property, but guess what? Just like the weather it will change and I for one am glad it will. It would probably be boring to have the same groups of deer year after year. The moral of this story: adjust your expectations and you’ll enjoy hunting more, while worrying less about things you can’t control.
