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It’s pretty simple how they accomplish it. They actually have Conservation Officers that are out in full force and enforce the laws on the books. When it takes a GW 3 days to get to a poacher complaint, the state ain’t worried about the wildlife. I can tell you for a fact that there don’t play in Missouri. Especially when it comes to OOS hunters. We were checked every year I hunted up there. Thankfully we were never in violation of anything but you better have all your ducks in a row. Heck, as crooked as Louisiana is, our Wildlife and Fisheries agents are on the ball compared to Alabama. As said before no matter what rules or laws are put in place, outlaws will always outlaw because there is no enforcement and just the honest hunters will follow them. I could go with lowering the buck limit to 2 but I like the 3 buck limit. I’m usually good for 1 or 2 every season but I like having the third option to keep me going to the woods.

Pwyse, the buy in is the problem. Matt and I have discussed this at length. While some claim not to care, I’ve never run into an Alabama deer hunter that didn’t want to shoot the biggest racked buck on their property. Personally, I think it’s a function of most hunters seeing and killing young 1-3 yr old, small racked bucks for all their hunting careers, and that “typical good Alabama 8 pt” mentality is ingrained in their hunting style and harvest expectations. Why? Because that’s all they’ve ever known, seen and killed, due to their past harvest decisions/actions and more importantly all those hunting around them with that same mentality. Alabama is not the Midwest, Texas, or the Mississippi delta by any means, but I think people would honestly be shocked at what can be grown with just age, on timber co land, in relatively poor Alabama soils. It’s a catch 22, chicken and egg scenario. People have to personally experience it to “buy” into it, but the only way to experience it is to pass those deer, those 2-3 yr old, 95-115” bucks that they’ve been told are trophy bucks for their area, and the best that can be grown in their given area. They probably are because if you kill 90% of your bucks as 2-3 yr olds, you’re not going to have many older bucks to harvest. There are quite a few guys on this forum, 5-6 that I know of that compare and share pics, that have killed and currently have pics of dozens of live bucks that most would swear were not taken in Alabama. Unfortunately, the key to having and keeping those type bucks, is not posting pictures of them on a public forum. Even if they were posted, most people would still be of the belief that there was something extra special about the property, the genetics in that area, that they were taken inside a fence, or that the pics are from another state. It’s inherent in human nature to doubt what one has not personally experienced. I’d venture to say that 85-90% of Alabama hunters have never harvested or seen a net 125-130” buck while hunting. I’ve hunted all over the southern and central part of the state, and setting the bad neighbors part aside, have yet to see any property that didn’t have the potential to grow a 130” or in most cases, a much better buck, with the right mgmt and long term harvest restraint. Why don’t people buy in? Because across 95% of Alabama, with the terrible sex ratios, marginal habitat, annual excessive over-harvest of bucks, and terrible age structure, you’re talking about a 5-7 yr program at a minimum to get there. They’ll get started and say “well we’ve been on it for 2 years and our bucks havent improved so this isn’t working.” If youre starting at ground zero, and your bucks need to reach 5-6 years to express those genetics, and not every buck that reaches 5-6 yrs old will have the genetics to wear a huge rack, and it’s Alabama so you know your neighbors are going to kill 50% or more of the bucks you are trying to get into older age classes, then a minimum commitment 7-8 years is required. Fact is, very few have the commitment to do it and as per my previous post, unless the people around you are on the same page, then your just trying to push a rope up the hill.

Had to turn down a leg hit today on 9 acres........

Spolier alert: ....Gonna be a shake up in the numbers on Tues.....folks been wearing out some does this week....

Self control period I mean dam calling a warden or sheriff seems a little extreme. I would try to talk to folks before doing that. That’s a double edged sword and can bite u back just saying. If they on public or private and 1 acre or 1000 if they are in the right who needs to involve a game warden but can see some who think they are entitled doing just that

The amount of bucks that died this weekend in NW AL is mind blowing.

Not sure I would label it mind blowing but they are going to gain 2-3% on the previous buck map in several NW counties.....

My wife has been showing me pictures of all kinds of bucks being posted on the Alabama Deer Hunting facebook page. They are steady laying them down.

It’s weird I’ve seen more normal activity today than I have in 2 or three weeks. I mean it went to pretty much nothing. Maybe there will be an uptick for most.

I beginning to see if it ain’t your opinion it’s gotta be wrong. Good grief

Been that way for the last 13 1/2 years.

Wait for it.....wait for it.......

Some good ones too

I figured they feeling sporty with all those vitels they’ve had available
Pastures didn’t turn brown until the second or third frost and acorns galore

I’ve hunted the Midwest a few times but I am certainly no expert. My experience is that the people there grew up with tighter regulations and heavy repercussions for breaking those regs. They are not used to killing a deer anytime they want to during the season. They are not used to a doe a day. They didn’t grow up shooting 10 deer a year. Or it seems that way anyways. Also, it seems that a lot of the locals do not deer hunt. They might hunt the rifle opener and kill their one buck and then they are done. It seems like hunting as a lifestyle is not common like it is here. A lot of people that lease land there are from out of state. And land there is sky high. Prices that we are shocked by here is considered cheap there. Go to Missouri and hunt public land and you will see that most hunters you run into are from out of state.

So my answer would be, other states can do it because the culture and people are different.

Exactly. It’s a culture problem. Our club struggles with it. We say we want to kill mature bucks and do what it takes to grow them. We don’t have a problem with trigger restraint. Our guys will wait till they are at least 4 but most are 5 or 6. The problem we have is our people like to put pressure on the place. Not gun shots, but riding around on sxs feeding corn and moving cameras and stands. ALL THE TIME! Well it’s hard to kill mature bucks like that. But they enjoy that part of the club and they don’t wanna trade it for low pressure. I get it. It’s fun.

I think that’s a damn good answer and better insight than I’d considered before. In bama it would be like putting the genie back in the bottle. In Kansas he never got out in the first place.

Exactly

We've had a 3 buck limit for nearly twenty years now....just sayin