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

Ask Matt - you get honed debating these issues with landowners and hunters all the time Any wildlife biologist will tell you that in general hunters that have shot a squirrel have acquired more wildlife knowledge that we ever will.

You call it Muddying the waters, I call it common sense. In my 40+ years of hunting experience, I’ve never seen deer in any kind of pressured situations continually go to those stand locations. At least not on any property or states I’ve hunted.

I think you and I will disagree on the impacts of “two acres and a feeder”, but of more importance to me today…lead me to a thread showing your smokehouse build and setup please.

^^ only because it doesn’t agree with your theory

Correct

Its not a theory when you've tracked 3 bucks for the same guy shot off the same feeder on 10 acres before bow season even ended…..…….I could sit here and name off the places and scenarios I’ve seen like that one after another if I needed too……I’ve been to where they were shot over corn piles behind places of business and I’ve been to corn piles behind people’s singlewides and I’ve been to corn piles behind million dollar houses…..I’ve been called about deer shot over corn piles two streets over from McDonalds, beside city parks in the middle of town and behind shopping malls…..I’ve been to one a mile from my house dang near on the golf course…….I’ve been to corn piles that were 300 yards apart in back to back days for two different hunters on small acreage that didn’t any know each other…… You’re like….”Man you’re not gonna believe this but I tracked a deer 300 yards through the woods that way for your neighbor just yesterday”…… and I’ve actually done that more than once…… I’ve tracked deer shot off of feeders and corn piles in enough places now that I feel really sure its not just a theory of what’s happening or where…..

I don’t know though maybe those are just anecdotal observations..... Maybe there arent really corn piles in every wood lot even though I've been to them and seen them

Every year when the leaves fall off my sightings go way down.

That’s a fact. A wildlife biologist is the only career path you can take where everybody else has more knowledge about said subject than you do. EVERYONE

Yeah the 2 acre corn pile feeders have made a huge impact on deer in some places. Previously, those were properties where deer were not being killed. Now a bunch of them are. We had a place that was 37 acres beside us once and a group came in, started putting out corn and cameras, saw an unlimited resource, and would shoot more bucks in ONE weekend than we killed on 2000 acres the entire season. They repeated said harvest strategy all season and wondered why the quality of hunting deteriorated every year. We eventually quit hunting that whole side of the property because it was a waste of time. That’s a case of 37 acres affecting an entire 2000 acre property. Now imagine, having 2000 acres of managed ground, and having a few 2 acre parcels with feeders and booger lights and losing 10-15 bucks every year that previously were not getting killed. It makes a huge impact. Not for the good. It may be legal, but it ain’t good for the resource.

....and the folks who just want less deer love it ^^^^^

I can do that for you,Sir!! I’ll try to get a detailed description for you.

Much appreciated! What happens after they hit the ground is something we CAN agree on!

I nailed it with the real estate didn’t I??.....That makes sense why some are fighting so hard along side the deep farm folks to discredit what I’m saying…….It probably makes those “prime” hunting tracts harder to sale if folks think the area is going downhill and isnt so prime anymore..…Again though, the state’s actions are to blame for it….not the messenger…..I imagine quality is a whole lot easier to sell when it actually exists

I wish I could find some of these small acreage places that can be hunted/killed on and the deer keep showing up
.
Also anyone doing something like night hunting or killing over the limit isn't going to change their ways because a new rule/law is enacted.

We hunt north Marengo just south of Hwy 80 and own a 1 acre old home place that’s across the street from our property. This one acre parcel backs up to land that isn’t hunted and occasionally we put a little feed out and a camera. Every once in a while a straggler will show up and a few does, but it’s not like you could sit there and shoot all the deer you want by any means. Take it for what it’s worth.

I wonder how long it will take for CNC’s theory to come true? He’s been pushing it for 2-3 years now hasn’t he? This is the 7th year hunting over corn has been legal. Game cell cameras have been prominent since before then. I wonder when we are going to see a decline in deer and harvests?

People have been hunting over corn FAR longer

The backyard people with corn are a problem always have been but it’s much worse and more widespread now. Couple that with the extended season and the basically non enforcement of game laws and here we are.

The decline in bucks started about year 4 in a lot of places……It took a few seasons for hunters to max out the number of squares occupied with feeders and for harvest to peak……Years 4 and 5 is when doe harvest really ramped up and last season, year 6, was when we started seeing less bucks and does both in a lot of areas…..That’s about how you would expect the timeline for a scenario like this to play out……Thankfully we upped the doe bag limit this year to help correct the situation

We who?