Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Are your buck numbers off this year?

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.

Neighbors killing young bucks is always going to be a problem until you solve it. Either go take the lease from them or move and find better neighbors. This has been a problem for trophy management for years.

I imagine its pretty tough to lease up all the backyards in an area......

Better watch out Marsh you gonna get on Aldeers most hated list talking like that. I have been there a couple of times for my views on the matter. Anyone hunting 5-10 acres is a parasite, no better than a tapeworm in the gut of the guy who owns the larger tract adjoining them the deer actually live on. It’s legal and it’s their right but then again so is abortion.

I’m just trying to figure out what they want done. There’s no way to control human nature. The big guy is always mad at the little guy for shooting deer they are trying to grow. The little guy is always mad because the big guy thinks he should only be able to kill the deer because he owns way more land and the little guy shoots every deer he sees as a way to show the big guy. We are very fortunate that we have great neighbors that we all work good together with. Just like here at home. It’s unfortunate that can’t be the case everywhere. As I said, I understand both side as I’m on both sides.

I’m just trying to figure out what they want done. There’s no way to control human nature. The big guy is always mad at the little guy for shooting deer they are trying to grow. The little guy is always mad because the big guy thinks he should only be able to kill the deer because he owns way more land and the little guy shoots every deer he sees as a way to show the big guy. We are very fortunate that we have great neighbors that we all work good together with. Just like here at home. It’s unfortunate that can’t be the case everywhere. As I said, I understand both side as I’m on both sides.

I remember the club and I wanted to allow kids or adults that have never killed a buck to allowed to kill a younger buck. On 5000 acres I felt 5-10 2.5 yr olds wouldn’t have been a big deal. 🤷‍♂️
The adults got all upset wanting to be able to kill theirs too. After all they paid a lot kid money to be in the club. I tried to get BSK to agree a 2.5 yr old 6 point would make a good target for those guys. He wouldn’t.

Greed can be good to a point but greedy Dee Hunter sat hilarious and sad at the same time.

The one mentality I never understood and I’ve known a few this way. If it’s a buck it’s gotta die no matter what. I’ve had several good friends with that mentality. They always complained they never kill good though so might as well. They finally with buck limits let em walk and suddenly state killed really big deer. There’s a few others that have killed a lot deer and still will kill a year old spike every chance they get. 🤷‍♂️

I imagine its pretty tough to lease up all the backyards in an area......

We have a few backyards around but not many. And those folks are killing deer there. But it’s like I said, either lease it out from under them or change places. No one is making you hunt there. You chose to hunt there.

The guys I know around Shelby county that hunt private land are having normal years. I haven’t heard any complaints. I’m personally glad that I hunt public land and don’t have to deal with this corn/ neighbors BS. It has its own challenges but I’m having fun.

There’s a lot of public ground less crowded than private clubs and small tracts scattered across the landscape. There’s pretty good hunting to be had on a lot of AL public lands.