Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Where have the deer gone ?

So are you saying that I'm just making it all up about what the hunters in the area are telling me??.....Apparently I didnt receive a phone call from one of the big clubs in the area reporting an 80% decrease in sightings wanting to know if others are seeing the same??....It must have just been a dream when I stopped by the plantation across the road and they said the same thing..... Am I just imagining food plots that are foot deep?.....Explain where I'm full of shiite

Your anecdotal observations are just that - anecdotal observations.

That’s about the kind of answer I expected……You have nothing to refute any of it…..Your opinions that I’m wrong are based off of far less than the information I’m using…… It seems like for some reason folks just don’t want the public believing that our management decisions are negatively impacting a lot of areas

How is it that what those hunters are telling you is the irrefutable truth, but what the hunters on this forum telling you is wrong. I don’t see a difference.

And to clarify. I think Alabama’s management is a complete and total joke. From does to buck rules to season length. All of it is a joke.

Is it a real estate thing??.....I guess I havent thought of that angle......Is it that folks just don’t want the public knowing that the states decisions are tanking the quality of some of these high end areas??

Don’t get me wrong……I think there ARE places that arent being effected as much or at all……and I believe that was the plan all along…..They knew when legalizing baiting that the least likely impacted would be the big rural areas where you have lots of large landowners like southwest Alabama for example……I think it may have impacted areas that they weren’t expecting though and now its like “Oooops……Pay no attention to the guy pointing it out!!.....Its not really happening!!”

When you legalize baiting and have no enforced limits then it becomes about the number of squares in an area……Hunters will flock to good areas to occupy any square they can……and there’s a lot of little squares around Union Springs, Aberfoil, Midway, etc……I bet you that every black family in Bullock Co with a backyard has been approached by someone wanting to know if they can set up a feeder and hunt….I know this is happening because I get called out to track the deer that get shot on them and I see the feeders and corn piles for myself…..I wouldn’t call that “anecdotal”…..I just had a call a few days ago from a hunter on 2 acres that gut shot one that I had to turn down because of lack of permission on other properties.

I think everyone agrees with you that the 2 acres with a feeder are a big problem, but from an age structure perspective not total population issue.

anecdotal
adjective
an·​ec·​dot·​al ˌa-nik-ˈdō-tᵊl
1
: based on or consisting of reports or observations of usually unscientific observers

Yea, not anecdotal at all

If all I owned was 2 acres and had deer around the area and set up a feeder to kill a deer or 2 and it caused you to have issues with it, you could put your issues in one hand and shit in the other and mash em together. It’s no ones business what I do in my property. People need to worry about what they can control. Heck if you think I killed a deer or 2 too many on my property, shoot a deer or 2 less on your property if you’re worried about the population. It’s really pretty simple.

Its acorns and its warm. That's all it is.

If you own two acres and feeders are legal, I blame the state not you. That is the point.

Hallelujah!!!

If wildlife biologists sponsored a debate team, you’re my guy

Yep.....sounds like we’re back to it being “a hunter problem”……Maybe we need to look at the graph again on that one.

The state is the one that set up the structure for allowing it to happen…..They are also the ones that allow for these places to be used to take “bonus bucks” since nobody is concerned about an enforced limit…….I can tell you with assurance of being 100% accurate that there are folks set up on small properties all around these plantations that have been slaying deer in spots where they wouldn’t have been previously…….I’m not judging whether its right or wrong……I’m pointing out what’s occurring and the end result from it…..That’s the rational truth and not the emotional debate some are trying to muddy things up with. Another rational truth is that hunters are now ramping up doe harvest to try and correct the issue of the overharvesting of bucks

I laughed way too hard at that

There must be lots of dumb deer up that way. I can tell you for a fact that in Monroe County, if you shoot more then a deer or 2 at a feeder, you can just go ahead and relocate that feeder. Hell we can’t hardly shoot more then one deer on a small food plot before they get wise to it. And we have 1000+ acres.

Because the state made it possible for the small guy to finally compete with the big guys? I’d be willing to bet my retirement that the guy with 2 acres has not killed near as many deer since baiting has become legal as the big “hunting clubs” have killed in the same time period or before. Sure I agree there could be a population problem but I have a hard time believing it’s the small landowner. Heck the first couple years we hunted in Conecuh/Butler co. we were surrounded by big dog clubs. We would kill 10-15 deer a year and they would tell us they were killing 2-300 between the 50 members they had. Who was hurting the population more? The small guys or the big guys?

(Muddying the waters ^^^^)